An examination of refugee protection attitudes in Southeast Asia

Internal Pressures

<p>This thesis examines how Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia sought to articulate attitudes towards refugee protection during the Indochinese and Rohingya refugee crises. While countries in Southeast Asia are known to be reluctant to discuss and participate in refugee protection, preferring to follow the norm of non-interference encapsulated in the ‘ASEAN Way’ in recent years, over time, attitudes towards refugee protection have varied significantly. The thesis explores the internal and external pressures that have impacted on changing perceptions of refugee protection in Southeast Asia. To explore changes in refugee protection attitudes, I conduct a comparative case study between the Indochinese and Rohingya refugee crises, analysing the responses and the rationale justifying the level of refugee protection in Thailand and Malaysia. These two countries have employed a variety of arguments such as ethnicity, religion and economic costs of treaty accession to inform their practices of refugee protection. In addition, regional/international dynamics and the labelling of refugees have also affected the level of refugee protection as well. Overall, their selective engagement with international refugee law; ethnic considerations; regional influences and the securitisation of refugee crises contribute most to arguments as to why refugee protection attitudes in Southeast Asia have remained poor. My findings indicate that due to the overlapping nature of these factors, any examination of refugee protection attitudes cannot be answered adequately by a single explanation, be it the practice of non-interference or a non-ratification of the 1951 Refugee Convention. These attitudes are mostly influenced by internal pressures, with national and regional factors interacting in tandem to produce higher levels of insecurity for the refugees studied in this thesis. Ultimately, this thesis will demonstrate that while refugee protection attitudes in the two refugee crises were influenced by shifting notions of national security, race and regional dynamics, not much has changed in terms of the consequences for refugees.</p>

An examination of refugee protection attitudes in Southeast Asia

10.26686/wgtn.17068475 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Yin Cheung Lam

Keyword(s):

Southeast Asia ◽

Comparative Case Study ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

Refugee Law ◽

Regional Dynamics ◽

External Pressures ◽

Regional Factors ◽

Internal Pressures

Canadian Exclusion Jurisprudence post-Febles

International Journal of Refugee Law ◽

10.1093/ijrl/eeab034 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Molly Joeck

Keyword(s):

Supreme Court ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

Refugee Status ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

Refugee Law ◽

The Supreme Court ◽

The Status ◽

International Refugee Law

Abstract This article examines the state of Canadian refugee law since the decision of the Supreme Court in Febles v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) [2014] 3 SCR 431. Drawing upon an analysis of a set of decisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board, the administrative tribunal tasked with refugee status determination in Canada, the article seeks to determine whether administrative decision makers are heeding the guidance of Febles when excluding asylum seekers from refugee protection on the basis of serious criminality pursuant to article 1F(b) of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. In doing so, it examines the controversy around article 1F(b) since its inception across various jurisdictions and amongst academic commentators, situating Febles within that controversy in order to demonstrate that the Supreme Court’s reluctance to clearly set out the purpose underlying article 1F(b) is in step with a longstanding tendency to understand the provision as serving a gatekeeping function, that prevents criminalized non-citizens from obtaining membership in our society. It argues that by omitting to set out a clear and principled standard by which asylum seekers can be excluded from refugee protection pursuant to article 1F(b), the Supreme Court failed to live up to a thick understanding of the rule of law. It concludes by calling for a reassertion of the rule of law into exclusion decision making, both nationally and internationally, in order to ensure that the legitimacy of the international refugee law regime is maintained.

Part II Sources, Ch.12 International Humanitarian Law and Refugee Protection

10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0013 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ziegler Reuven

Keyword(s):

Frame Of Reference ◽

International Humanitarian Law ◽

Humanitarian Law ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

Refugee Law ◽

Scope Of Application ◽

International Refugee Law

The chapter considers the interrelations between international humanitarian law and international refugee law. It seeks to illustrate that, in displacement contexts, interactions between international humanitarian law and (global and regional) refugee protection regimes, which continue to apply during conflict, are rather challenging given that, whereas international humanitarian law shares international refugee law’s concern for vulnerable individuals, its frame of reference (unlike that of international refugee law) is minimization of harm. Given that the regimes have evolved at different times and with their own specific sources, institutions, and ethos, the chapter appraises how ‘regime interaction’ would (or should) work. It then assesses the scope of application of international humanitarian law norms, looking at the significance of international humanitarian law classification, including who classifies conflicts. The chapter concludes by exploring international humanitarian law displacement-related norms and the extent to which international refugee law interpretations affect them.

Part I International Refugee Law— Reflections on the Scholarly Field, Ch.8 The Intersection of International Refugee Law and International Statelessness Law

10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0009 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

van Waas Laura

Keyword(s):

First Century ◽

Forced Displacement ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

Refugee Law ◽

Durable Solutions ◽

Twenty First Century ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into ◽

Stateless Person

This chapter focuses on the intersection of international refugee law and international statelessness law. While refugee law, policy, doctrine, and research evolved, it was not until after the turn of the twenty-first century that international statelessness law started to draw much attention and to begin to emerge as a field of its own. As global interest in statelessness grows, the interaction between statelessness and forced displacement has also come back under the spotlight. Thus, the chapter provides an insight into the relationship between statelessness and forced displacement. It starts by unpacking how statelessness can manifest itself as a cause or consequence of displacement, as well as how statelessness can be a complicating factor for refugee protection and durable solutions. The chapter then offers a brief overview of key norms relating to the protection of stateless persons and the prevention and resolution of statelessness, setting out the contours of international statelessness law. It also looks at the implications of the statelessness–displacement nexus by exploring the conceptual and practical questions that arise when a refugee is also stateless, and when a stateless person is also a refugee.

Part VI Refugee Rights and Realities, Ch.56 The Digital Transformation of Refugee Governance

10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0057 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sandvik Kristin Bergtora

Keyword(s):

New Technology ◽

Digital Transformation ◽

Legal Rights ◽

Refugee Status ◽

Solution Processed ◽

Protection Policy ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

Refugee Law ◽

Data Subject

This chapter evaluates four selected issues arising from the digital transformation of refugee protection, in order to explore how this transformation shapes and challenges refugee law. It focuses on the following domains: UNHCR’s 2015 Data Protection Policy, a concept (legal identity), a platform (databases), and legal-bureaucratic processes (refugee status determination and resettlement procedures). Digital transformation generates new risks, in part because it is premised on a duty of refugee visibility. The chapter argues that international refugee law, conceptually and in practice, appears to be moving towards an idea of ‘algorithmic protection’. First, digitization and the integration of new technology create risks and harms that can compromise existing legal rights and procedural guarantees but also threaten the integrity of refugee protection in new ways. Secondly, algorithmic protection is a useful concept because the digital transformation of refugee protection means that the duty of visibility and acquiescence to become a data subject has become a requirement for being registered as a refugee, receiving aid (eg biometric banking), and having one’s claim for a durable solution processed.

Part I International Refugee Law— Reflections on the Scholarly Field, Ch.7 Refugees as Migrants

10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0008 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Atak Idil ◽

Crépeau François

Keyword(s):

Forced Migration ◽

Institutional Framework ◽

Freedom Of Movement ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

Refugee Law ◽

Clear Line

This chapter details the long-standing debate on whether refugees should be portrayed as migrants. Several organizations, refugee advocates, and scholars argue for a clear line between ‘migrants’ and ‘refugees’, as a means of protecting the refugee regime. They point to the inherently distinct motivations driving refugee movements compared to other types of migration, as well as to the specific normative and institutional framework for refugee protection. The chapter argues that conceptualizing refugees as migrants does not undermine the specific normative and institutional framework for refugee protection. Rather, it further promotes refugees’ access to asylum and safety. The chapter then examines the literature on the refugee/migrant distinction, highlighting the increasingly overlapping and interconnected motivations and contexts driving forced migration. It looks at the mounting barriers refugees face to reach safety and explores the avenues to safeguarding and promoting access to asylum and refugee rights. The chapter also articulates the role that freedom of movement should play in protecting the rights of all migrants, including refugees.

Alternative paths to refugee and asylum seeker protection in Malaysia and Indonesia

Asian and Pacific Migration Journal ◽

10.1177/0117196819850946 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 132-154 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Atin Prabandari ◽

Yunizar Adiputera

Keyword(s):

Southeast Asia ◽

International Law ◽

Case Studies ◽

Asylum Seeker ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

The Other ◽

Refugee Convention ◽

Refugee Law ◽

The One

This article explores how refugees in non-signatory countries in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia, have some protection through alternative paths under international refugee law. These two countries provide forms of protection even if they are not States Parties to the Refugee Convention. These two case studies show that the governance of protection for refugee and asylum seekers is provided through alternative paths, even in the absence of international law and statist processes. These alternative paths offer a degree of meaningful protection, even if this is not tantamount to resettlement. Alternative paths of protection are initiated mainly by non-state actors. The states try to manage alternative protective governance to secure their interests by maintaining their sovereignty, on the one hand, and performing humanitarian duties on the other. In this regard, Indonesia and Malaysia have resorted to meta-governance to balance these two concerns.

“It Is Better to Be a Refugee Than a Turkana in Kakuma”: Revisiting the Relationship between Hosts and Refugees in Kenya

Refuge ◽

10.25071/1920-7336.23482 ◽

1969 ◽

pp. 73-83

Author(s):

Ekuru Aukot

Keyword(s):

Negative Impact ◽

Local Economy ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

Refugee Law ◽

Local Integration ◽

International Instruments ◽

International Conventions ◽

The Relationship ◽

Host Relations

The article echoes stories and perceptions of the hosts to the refugees in their day-to-day relations in Kakuma refugee camp with little emphasis on academic abstraction of refugee protection contained in international instruments but rather on the realities on the ground. It is argued that good refugee-host relations enhance refugees’ enjoyment of their rights under the international conventions and promote local integration. The article discusses areas of conflict between refugees and their hosts and how these factors endanger refugees’ physical protection, and it echoes the hosts’ solutions to the conflicts. The failure of local integration is attributed to poor refugee-host relations. Consequently, it is argued that even the enactment of refugee specific legislation “that would give force” to the international conventions will not necessarily improve refugees’ enjoyment of their rights as long as, through a practice of selective compassion by humanitarian agencies and international refugee law, refugees are targeted for assistance without regard to the negative impact on the local economy and its residents.

Expanding refugee ineligibility: Canada’s response to secondary refugee movements

Journal of Refugee Studies ◽

10.1093/jrs/feaa103 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Idil Atak ◽

Zainab Abu Alrob ◽

Claire Ellis

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

Critical Assessment ◽

Effective Protection ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

Refugee Law ◽

The Us ◽

Legislative Changes ◽

The Uk

Abstract In 2019, Canada introduced legislative changes that made asylum seekers ineligible for protection if they have made a previous refugee claim in a country that Canada shares an information-sharing agreement with. Such agreements are currently in place with the US, Australia, the UK, and New Zealand. This article offers a critical assessment of the new ineligibility ground, arguing that the policy is designed to deter secondary refugee movements, particularly those across the Canada–US border which have considerably intensified since 2017. Based on the ‘first safe country’ rule, the new ineligibility ground enables Canada to exclude some asylum seekers from refugee protection without offering any alternative effective protection in Canada. This article demonstrates that the policy is inconsistent with Canada’s obligations under international refugee law.

Part II Sources, Ch.14 National Constitutions and Refugee Protection

10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0015 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lester Eve

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

Constitutional Law ◽

Critical Dimension ◽

Methodological Framework ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

Refugee Law ◽

The Relationship

This chapter explores how national constitutional frameworks add a critical dimension to refugee protection. Given the variability in the protective value of national constitutions for refugees, it considers how States draw strength from their constitutions in response to refugee movements and why they do so in particular ways. The chapter seeks to elucidate some of the complexities in the relationship between constitutional law and international refugee and human rights law, considering the relevance of constitutional text and context, State perspectives on the place of international law, and the extent to which constitutional law has shaped, and continues to shape, international law. The chapter offers a taxonomy as a methodological framework for differentiating these complexities, which suggests that the relationship between constitutional law and international refugee law might be understood in one of three ways: as symbiotic, ambivalent, or antagonistic. It then applies this framework to three case studies. It suggests that this approach may help us to think more strategically about how to harness the protective possibilities of constitutional law as well as wrestle more productively with constitutional law’s limitations.