Refoulement, a French word meaning to reject; or backwash, is a contentious issue in the international law and policy. However, the word is unknown to most of the public world – the Australian government operations to deter asylum seekers titled ‘pushing back the boats', ‘operation sovereign borders' are questionably pushing the limits as to what's refoulement and what isn't – but the worded meaning in the convention relating to the status of refugees is the process by which a persecuted asylum seeker is forcibly removed back to a place where they are re-exposed to the same danger from which they are trying to escape. In this article, the author hopes to provide information to others who are interested in the area of refugee policy and, in particular Australia's role in the development of this increasingly important field of international law as well as the implementation of their own unique approach to dealing with asylum seekers arriving in their territorial waters by boat. in this chapter the author has made every effort to provide an unbiased, politically non-partisan view of the current policies which Australia has implemented under domestic law, which includes the act of turning back of boats and offshore processing in third-nation processing facilities.
