"They must get off the boat for registration and verification whether they are refugees or not," Manuel Jordao, the UNHCR Representative in Indonesia, said after holding a meeting with representatives of the Sri Lankan foreign ministry and immigration office at the Sri Bintan Pura international seaport, Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands, on Tuesday.
The UNHCR could not give any guarantee to the immigrants before their status is known, Jordao said.
"We can guarantee them only after knowing their status as refugees. Their current status as mentioned by the Indonesian government is illegal immigrants," he said.
He hoped that the immigrants would be willing to disembark from their boat where conditions had become unhealthy because of over-crowding.
"We came here to give the best solution to them and we hope they are willing to disembark soon," Jordao said.
Up to know, the asylum seekers were discussing among themselves on whether they should remain on the boat until their demands are met or disembark.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian government has asked the UNHCR to verify the cases of 87 Sri Lankan immigrants caught in Indonesian waters recently to determine their status.
"We have facilitated the immigrants` wish to meet with the UNHCR and so we ask the UNHCR to verify whether or not they are refugees," head of the Sub-Directorate of Humanity of the foreign ministry`s Directorate of Humanity and Human Rights, Masni Eriza, said here on Tuesday.
Masni said the Indonesian government still considered the people as illegal immigrants, not refugees as they had claimed.
"They could be called refugees only after they pass a process of verification by UNHCR," he said.
(Uu.F001/HAJM/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
