Protection of Refugees and Displaced Persons in the Asia Pacific Region

The chapters in this book explore the impact of recent shifts in global and regional power and the subsequent development and enforcement of international refugee protection standards in the Asia Pacific region. Drawing on their expertise across a number of jurisdictions, the contributors assess the challenges confronting the implementation of international law in the region, as well as new opportunities for extending protection norms into national and regional dialogues. The case studies span key jurisdictions across the region and include a comparative analysis with China, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Australia. This topical and important book raises critical questions for the Asia Pacific region and sheds light on the challenges confronting the protection of refugees and displaced persons in this area. Interdisciplinary in its approach, it will be of interest to academics, researchers, students and policy-makers concerned with the rights and protection of refugees.

Angus Francis is the Principal Solicitor at the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service in Brisbane and an Adjunct Professor to the Faculty of Law at the Queensland University of Technology. He has taught immigration and refugee law to undergraduate and postgraduate students at various Australian universities for over a decade. His research in the area has been published in a number of refereed journals including the International Journal of Refugee Law, the Immigration and Nationality Law Review, the Melbourne University Law Review, the Australian Journal of Human Rights, the Alternative Law Journal, and the Australian International Law Journal. He has consulted on Australia’s asylum policy to major political parties, international organizations and Senate inquiries, and has worked as a volunteer migration agent and solicitor at the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service (previously SBICLS) on and off since 1990. He was a visiting fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford University, in 1996-1997 and 2003. His doctoral thesis examining refugee status determination in Australia and other jurisdictions was completed at ANU. Rowena Maguire is a Lecturer in Queensland University of Technology’s Law Faculty and a research affiliate at the Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation research. Rowena’s principal research interests and publications concern international climate and forest regulation and indigenous and community groups rights and responsibilities in connection with environmental management. She teaches law in context, international law and environmental law within the law school at QUT. In addition Rowena has worked on a number of donor-funded consultancy projects designing and delivering environmental training programs for groups from Kenya, China, Vietnam and the Pacific.