Australia-Indonesia cooperation on asylum-seekers: a case of 'incentivised policy transfer'

Australia and Indonesia have engaged in cooperation on asylum policy since the late 1990s, bilaterally on immigration detention and people-smuggling agreements, and multilaterally through the Bali Process. Seen from a global perspective, this form of cooperation is one of many such bilateral and multilateral agreements that stymie the ability of asylum-seekers to gain effective and durable protection. This article argues that policy transfer theory can explain how these agreements are achieved, their political implications, and their outcome for the refugee regime and the asylum-seekers reliant on the regime for protection. In the case study of Australia and Indonesia, the authors argue that the cooperation is best understood as a form of ‘incentivised policy transfer’, whereby Australia has provided substantial financial and diplomatic incentives to Indonesia to adopt policies consistent with Australia's own. The implications for asylum-seekers in the Asia-Pacific region are substantial, and include an increase in the use of immigration detention in Indonesia and the introduction of border security measures that restrict the ability of asylum-seekers to reach territory where they may claim protection under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

Remaking asylum in post-war France, 1944−52

This article examines the steps by which asylum and the rights of refugees were remade in France after the Liberation. The legacy of the pre-1940 period, in which exclusive practices such as legislative prohibitions on refugees, expulsion and internment were the norm, resulted in the need, after the war, to restate and reaffirm republican prin- ciples. The article will examine the ideological assumptions that lay behind the postwar asylum debate, and address why it was necessary to place asylum so firmly within republican political culture

Deterrence policies and asylum seekers: the case of Australia

The basic tenets of the international refugee protection regime, set out in the UN's 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol, grant individuals the right to seek asylum, but do not provide for laws obliging signatory states to grant asylum. This inherent paradox allows signatory states ongoing manoeuvre to prevent would-be asylum seekers from accessing protection in their territories. To this end, countries of the global north have designed and implemented a range of measures aimed at deterring onshore asylum seekers - privileging border control over refugee protection. This paper examines the effectiveness of deterrence measures taken by Australia. It argues that deterrence measures and attendant political rhetoric are not only contrary to international humanitarian obligations, but obscure empirically grounded understandings of forced migration as a complex social phenomenon, and as such are problematic in terms of meeting their publicly stated objectives of stopping on-shore asylum seeking in the long term.

I was running away from death - the pre-flight experiences of unaccompanied asylum seeking children in the UK

OBJECTIVE: To collect information about the pre-flight experiences of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) in the UK to increase the understanding of support needed on arrival in the UK. METHODS: Retrospective social services case file and legal statement review and semi-structured in-depth interviews with 100 UASC. RESULTS: Nearly half of all UASC have experienced separation from or loss of parents and/or family members (47%), and a further 41% had personally experienced or witnessed violence. Sexual violence (such as rape) was reported by 24% of African girls. Many children reported complex journeys to the UK. CONCLUSIONS: UASC arrive in the UK with a variety of potentially traumatic experiences. Whilst research is starting to identify some of the experiences of UASC, further culturally appropriate research is needed to identify their health and social needs after arrival. Further research will help to identify the specific experiences of UASC, indicating where services should be improved to deal with their complex and diverse needs.

Religious ambivalence: suppression of pro-social attitudes toward asylum seekers by right-wing authoritarianism

A survey of 168 White Australian community members examined whether ambivalence toward certain social groups by some religious individuals constituted a suppression effect in which authoritarian motivated prejudice suppressed more pro-social attitudes toward asylum seekers. Using mediation analysis, it was found that Christian religious identity was not significantly associated with prejudice at a bivariate level. However, when Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) was taken into account, Christians (compared with non-Christians) were less likely to hold negative attitudes toward asylum seekers in Australia. Inclusion of acculturation ideologies (assimilation, multiculturalism, and color-blindness) in the models indicated that the suppression effect was specific to RWA rather than due to other intergroup attitudes. However, findings suggest that multiculturalism may be one proximal indicator of Christian pro-sociality.

Leaving care: unaccompanied asylum seeking young Afghans facing return

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the United Kingdom approach adulthood knowing that they will be encouraged or even forced to return to their countries of birth. Drawing on a project that promoted voluntary return to Afghanistan, we use interviews with twelve young people, professionals working in the Home Office and in education, local authorities, and voluntary-sector agencies to describe a complex area of immigration policy. We show how the state’s obligations as “corporate parent” clash with increasingly punitive migration controls and with growing political scrutiny of public spending. We propose education as a way to prepare young people for futures as global citizens in either country of settlement or of origin.

Citizenship, identity and belonging in contemporary Australia

In response to recent events, Australian scholars examine the prospects of conflict and cooperation between the Muslim world and the West and the future of Muslim communities in Australia. The essays fall into three thematic sections: the broad international context, with reference to the repercussions of the war in Iraq and the initiatives launched by Muslims, namely the Organization of Islamic Conference, and the current discourse among radical Islamic groups about prospects of "conflict" between the Muslim world and the West; the implications of growing Islamic agitation and the heightened sense of insecurity for Muslim states in South and Southeast Asia; the challenges faced by Muslim communities in Australia and implications for interethnic relations and asylum-seekers.