Refugee Externalisation Policies: Responsibility, Legitimacy and Accountability

This book examines the impact and effects of refugee externalisation policies in two regions: Australia’s border control practices in Southeast Asia and the Pacific and the activities of the European Union and its member states in North Africa.

The book assesses the underlying motivations, processes, policy frameworks and human rights violations of refugee externalisation practices. Case studies illuminate the funding, institutional partnerships, geopolitical impacts, financial costs and the human price of refugee externalisation. It provides the first truly comparative analysis of asylum externalisation and explores maritime interdiction, extraterritorial process, containment and third-country interception, and communication campaigns in Southeast Asia and the Middle East/North Africa.

This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of refugee and asylum studies, law, politics and the arts, legal practitioners, non-governmental organisations and policymakers grappling with the issues of detention, refugee externalisation practices and the growing need to find safety for the world’s most vulnerable.

Azadeh Dastyari is an Associate Professor in the School of Law at Western Sydney University and a Director of the Network for Law and Human Rights, Australia.

Amy Nethery is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and Policy Studies at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

Asher Hirsch is a Senior Policy Officer with the Refugee Council of Australia.