WATCH: Refugees plead for resettlement, police get involved

Refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and other states gather in front of the UN Refugee Agency in Jakarta to ask their resettlement to be accelerated.

Most have been living in Indonesia, a transit country, for years, waiting to be resettled. 

But Indonesian law does not allow them to work legally as refugees, so they struggle to find food and shelter for themselves.

Some must beg for money or sleep on the streets for years, while waiting.

Madie, 28; refugee from Afghanistan: So what am I supposed to do? My country is in war. I don’t have a job allowance, no family support, all we have is to wait and die. Literally. We are dying. You can come and check each of these refugees, they’re losing their minds. We cannot sleep. They have mental issues, but they don’t have the money to go to the doctor.

Protesters block the gates of the UNHCR building, in a desperate attempt to convince a UN official to come down and hear their concerns – even just for 5 minutes.

But UN officials say they only want to speak to 5 refugee representatives who must come into the building, which the protesters refuse. 

Police arrive to physically push the protesters away from the gates.

The refugees continue their rally until sundown without blocking the driveway.

They say they will keep returning, until a UN official faces not just one, three, or five of them but all of them.