Six Iraqi and Afghan Refugee Children in Makassar Go to School

TEMPO Interactive, Makassar:Six refugee children from Iraq and Afghanistan have been placed in a school in Makassar. These children are war victims being cared of by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).


Syamsu Rizal, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) Makassar chief, said that these children were initially sent to a dormitory at the immigration detention home in Bollangi, Gowa. However, following a coordination meeting between the detention home managers and the government, the decision was to send them to school because they are about 2 years old.

“They deserve the right to education,” Syamsu said yesterday, adding that PMI, as a social organization must facilitate these children in going to school. The Nurul Fikri Foundation was chosen as the place to accommodate them. “The foundation is the right place because they guide children from any country for free, using an integrated Islamic method.”

The children will be placed in school until there is certainty from their country or central IOM of where they will go. Syamsu and other refugee organizations also sent a request to Australia to take in these children. While waiting for a response from Australia, they will learn to socialize by going to school and meeting other children.

Adnan Ibrahim, chairman of the the Nurul Fikri Foundation, said he gives the same rights to child victims of conflict as he does to other children. “They will get the same facilities as other children,” he said.


SYAMSULMARLIN