Legal Gap in Refugee Protection in Non-Signatory Countries: An Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract As of December 2021, about 13.399 asylum seekers had entered Indonesian territory. As a non-signatory party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol, refugee protection is becoming ambiguous and uncertain; specifically, about the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees who are in transit in Indonesia. This study used a sociolegal technique to answer that question, using data from the UNHCR High Frequency Survey: Communication with Communities 2022, which included 400 respondents from the Jakarta Metropolitan Area, collected between 15 December 2022 and 09 January 2023. The finding stated that detention is still utilized to treat asylum seekers, sexual and verbal abuse is still happening in detention centres, also illegal deportation is still common. The legal analysis found that it happens because the asylum seeker does not belong to the subject of protection and categorized as illegal migrant by the current legal framework.