Statement by H.E. Mr. Jusuf Kalla Vice-President of The Republic of Indonesia at At The High-Level Plenary Meeting to Address Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants

NEW YORK,   19 SEPTEMBER 2016

Mr. President,

Mr. Secretary General,

Distinguished Delegates,

For centuries, migration has been a natural phenomenon… where people travelled across boundaries to seek a better future.

Today, we witness unprecedented flows of helpless migrants with more complex motives of migration.

Conflicts, wars and social unrests, in many parts of the world have forced people to leave their home.

In an extreme example, we witness the international community stands idle while countless migrants drown in the Mediterranean Sea.

This is intolerable.

We must work together to ensure that such humanitarian tragedy is prevented from occurring again in the future.

Mr. President,

Even though Indonesia is not a Party to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, we continue to open our arms and provide humanitarian assistance to those in need.

Currently home to almost fourteen thousand refugees and asylum seekers, Indonesia is working together with UNHCR and IOM

to provide temporary shelters, and

facilitating refugee processing, particularly through repatriation and resettlement programs.

In the past we have also taken to providing humanitarian assistance to refugees and asylum seeker.

Between 1975 – 1996 we took over 250.000 (two hundred and fifty thousand) refugees and asylum seeker resulting from internal conflicts from countries in the region.

We dedicated an island, Pulau Galang, which processed theses refugees and asylum over 20 years.

However today, the challenges of addressing refugees and asylum seekers is much more different than our experience back in

Today, a holistic approach is necessary to deal with the multi-dimensional phenomenon of irregular migration…

Preventive measures as well as addressing the root causes are key.

In this context, every country, every Government is responsible to maintain an enabling environment for its people.

Indonesia initiated the Bali Process to holistically address People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime.

The Bali Process essentially allows countries in the region to undertake burden sharing and shared responsibility in addressing large movements of irregular migrants.

However, let me make it clear, burden-sharing and taking collective action does not mean…we share equitable international obligation under the Convention.

Mr. President,

This challenge is too big for any country or region to handle alone.

A better and more inclusive international cooperation is necessary.

This is particularly true, as demographic changes have driven countries to look for productive and cheap labor

( Providing incentive for people to move beyond borders for work and a better life.

Addressing the distressing phenomenon of increased surge of migrants requires a drastic overhaul of our system and management globally, regionally and nationally.

Globally, we must reduce the wealth gap, extinguish conflicts and reconcile political distrust between countries.

Regionally, we must stop external interference, create more conducive situation for cooperation, and empower regional organizations to take a greater part in managing the situation.

While at the national level, we must maintain security and stability, as well as create opportunities for development for the people.

In this regard, Indonesia welcomes the road map towards the adoption of a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration in 2018.

Indonesia further welcomes the recognition by the High Level Meeting of the multi-dimensional aspects of migrants, particularly positive economic contributions of migrants in origin, transit and destination countries.

Indonesia also believes that the commitment to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration, stipulated in the 2030 Agenda, must be implemented to ensure better protection and enhanced contributions of migrants.

Hence, universal ratification of the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Member of their Families is imperative.

Finally, Mr. President, Indonesia sincerely hopes that this meeting will result in real improvements in our response

to prevent more migrants from losing their lives on their respective journeys,

to safe those in need of humanitarian assistance, as well as

to end the sufferings of millions of migrants in various shelters.

I thank you.