Over 140 Rohingya refugees arrive in Indonesia's North Sumatra
The group, consisting mostly of women and children, arrived by boat in North Sumatra's Deli Serdang area over the weekend, adding to a surge of arrivals of the Myanmar Muslim minority to Indonesia.
Rohingya Muslim refugees are transported as they are relocated from their temporary shelter at Balai Meuseuraya Aceh, following a protest for the deportation of the Rohingya refugees in Banda Aceh. / Photo: Reuters Archive
More than 140 Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers have arrived in Indonesia's North Sumatra province over the weekend, state news agency Antara reported.
The group, consisting mostly of women and children, arrived by boat in North Sumatra's Deli Serdang area late on Saturday, the Antara said on Monday citing a police officer.
The arrivals came after the military said last week its navy vessel had driven away a boat carrying Rohingya in waters further north off Sumatra, as the persecuted ethnic minority faces growing hostility and rejection in Indonesia.
More than 1,500 Rohingya have landed in Indonesia since November, according to data from the United Nations' refugee agency (UNCHR).
For years Rohingya have been leaving Myanmar, where they are generally regarded as foreign interlopers from South Asia, denied citizenship and subjected to abuse.
They depart usually for Indonesia or neighbouring Malaysia from November to April, when the seas are calmer.
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees, but has a history of taking in refugees if they arrive.
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