Rohinga Stateless Persons: Role of Unhcr in Refugee Protection and Lack of Adequate Legal Protection in Indonesia

This article aimed to study about how role of UNHCR in refugee protection and the legal protection for Rohingya refugees in Medan municipality. According to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (hereinafter abbreviated to UNHCR) since January 2012, there were 3275 asylum seekers and 1052 refugees. Most refugees come to Indonesia with the hope of being permanently resettled elsewhere, often in America or Australia, but increasingly stringent immigration policies, massive underfunding and a lack of resources to sustain the influx of newcomers have left them stuck here. This research uses a sosio-legal research with statute approach, conceptual approach, and case approach. There are several provisions regarding refugees, but none have specifically discussed the handling of refugees in Indonesia. The positive law of immigration in Indonesia does not contain any special provisions (lex specialis) for asylum seekers and refugees. Because Indonesia has not ratified the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol, the Indonesian government does not have the authority to deal with refugee problems. The authority to handle refugees is given to international organizations such as UNHCR which is a UN organization, IOM, ICRC and various other organizations or NGOs engaged in the humanitarian sector. However, the handling of this international organization has not been implemented optimally due to obstacles