KEBIJAKAN PERLINDUNGAN PENGUNGSI TRANSIT DI INDONESIA KONTESTASI ANTARA KEWAJIBAN INTERNASIONAL DAN KEPENTINGAN NASION

The human tragedy that has occurred in various parts of the world has caused millions of people to carry out mass exoduses to various countries as refugees. Indonesia's strategic position at the crossing of global migration routes makes it face a wave of transit refugees from all over the world. The imbalance between incoming refugees and outgoing placements causes refugees to accumulate and be trapped in Indonesia for a long time. This puts Indonesia at a crossroads or dilemmatic conditions in the face of global refugee flows, on the one hand Indonesia has an international obligation to protect the basic rights of refugees in the form of implementing the principle of non-refoulement, but on the other hand Indonesia is also aware that their existence can be a threat to national interests. In the midst of these dilemmatic conditions, in reality Indonesia decided to continue to allow refugees to enter its jurisdiction. This decision certainly raises the question, why is Indonesia still willing to accept refugees in the midst of the dilemmatic conditions it faces? This study seeks to explain how Indonesia's position in taking policy among national interests vis a vis international obligations in protecting transit refugees. This type of research is literature research with a juridical-normative approach. The source material in this study was obtained from social law books related to the theme raised, then there are laws and regulations, international conventions, scientific papers, popular articles and equipped with supporting information from various social media, especially websites and Youtube. This research is descriptive-analytical, explaining and analyzing Indonesia's position in making policies between international obligations and national interests in protecting transit refugees. The results of this study concluded that Indonesia took a moderate position in responding to the flow of transit refugees in Indonesia. Indonesia's moderate position was realized by the policy of temporarily accommodating refugees through the Refugees Process Center (RPC), which was then followed by the issuance of Presidential Regulation No. 125 of 2016. The fundamental reason why the policy represents Indonesia's moderate position is because it is able to bridge two Indonesian interests at once. On the one hand, the policy is a solution to the national interest to protect national security while reducing the political costs that Indonesia must bear compared to Indonesia had to implement local integration of refugees. In fact, this policy also has the potential to be a stepping stone for Indonesia to strengthen its image and role in the international arena. Furthermore, on the other hand, the policy is also proof that Indonesia has carried out international obligations to fundamental human rights aspects (implementation of the principle of non-refoulement) for the protection of refugees imposed on every country, including Indonesia