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Assessment of the Responsibility of Local Governments in Indonesia for the Management of Refugee Care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2021

I Nyoman Suyatna ,
I Made Budi Arsika ,
Ni Gusti Ayu Dyah Satyawati ,
Rohaida Nordin  and
Balawyn Jones
I Nyoman Suyatna*
Affiliation:
Administrative Law Department, Faculty of Law, Udayana University, Indonesia
I Made Budi Arsika
Affiliation:
International Law Department, Faculty of Law, Udayana University, Indonesia
Ni Gusti Ayu Dyah Satyawati
Affiliation:
Administrative Law Department, Faculty of Law, Udayana University, Indonesia
Rohaida Nordin
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
Balawyn Jones
Affiliation:
Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: nyoman_suyatna@unud.ac.id.
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Abstract

This article assesses the responsibility of local governments in Indonesia for the management of refugee care, following the enactment of Presidential Regulation No. 125 of 2016 concerning the Treatment of Refugees (the “PR”). It highlights the limited authority of local governments in handling refugee issues—which is an issue that cuts across several national legal and administrative regimes including Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Immigration. This article focuses on the constraints of local political dynamics and budgeting in allocating local government funds for refugee care. In addressing these concerns, the authors argue that the PR should be amended to explicitly define the role of local governments in managing refugee issues and to include the regional revenue and expenditure budget as a source of funding. In addition, the authors argue that local governments that are hosting refugees should establish relevant local regulations for implementation of the PR.

Keywords

refugeeslocal governmentfinancial responsibilityIndonesia
Type
Refugees in Indonesia
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , October 2021 , pp. 467 - 489
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Asian Journal of Law and Society

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