Talking Indonesia

Antje Missbach - Refugees growing up in limbo Indonesia is currently home to over 13,000 refugees and asylum seekers, a majority of them young people who are stuck in limbo waiting for their futures to be determined. For most, it takes years, sometimes more than a decade, for resettlement to become an option. In the meantime, for those who arrive in Indonesia as children and teenagers this means that much of their youth and formative years - when they look to form relationships, explore their sexuality and establish their identities - are also ones in which they have very limited opportunities for education, work and recreation. This means growing up amid endless boredom and with few pathways into society. The recent arrivals of boatloads of Rohingya refugees on Aceh’s shores is a stark reminder that the asylum seeker issue is not going away. New solutions are needed to enable the thousands currently in Indonesia, to establish a somewhat normal life. With onward pathways to Australia and beyond cut off and