Refugee Rights and Policy Wrongs

Jane McAdam, Fiona Chong

ISBN 10: 1742236529 / ISBN 13: 9781742236520

Published by NewSouth Publishing, AU, 2019

About this Item

Everyone has the right to seek asylum under international law, but public discourse in Australia about refugees is dominated by scare-mongering and political point-scoring. The government seeks to 'stop the boats' whatever the cost, be it human, economic, moral or legal.In this new book, Jane McAdam and Fiona Chong find that Australia's policies towards refugees have hardened since their previous bestselling book was published five years ago. Now, Refugee Rights and Policy Wrongs provides a wholly updated account of Australian refugee law and policy.Clearly and carefully, they explain who a refugee is, what rights refugees have under international law, and whether Australia's policies on offshore processing, detention, boat turnbacks and so on violate Australia's obligations under international law. The book also outlines what a human rights-based protection framework might look like and how Australia could show greater global leadership on refugee issues, so as to expand the protection space available to refugees in the Asia-Pacific region. McAdam and Chong trace the ways in which draconian domestic laws enacted over recent years blatantly contravene international law -obligations that Australia has voluntarily signed up to. People seeking asylum, especially those held indefinitely on Manus Island and Nauru, have been broken as a result. The crucial information and depth of understanding this book offers has never been more urgent.Key focal points:Refugee Rights and Policy Wrongs is the most current book on the topic, and includes the so-called medevac legislation that became law on 1 March 2019.Includes full discussion of more recent developments such as Operation Sovereign Borders, with its focus on boat turnbacks, which are shrouded in secrecy.Covers the issue of whether refugees can bring their cases to Australian courts under the provisions of international law.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781742236520

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Refugee Rights and Policy Wrongs
• Publisher: NewSouth Publishing, AU
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1742236529
• ISBN 13: 9781742236520
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 2nd Edition
• Condition: New
• Weight: 285 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Everyone has the right to seek asylum under international law. However, successive governments in Australia have declared the need to ‘stop the boats’ whatever the cost, be it human, economic, moral or legal. In this new book, Jane McAdam and Fiona Chong find that Australia’s policies towards refugees have hardened since their bestsellingRefugees: Why seeking asylum is legal and Australia’s policies are notwas published in 2014. Now,Refugee Rights and Policy Wrongs provides a wholly updated account of Australian refugee law and policy. Bringing facts to bear on a highly politicised debate, McAdam and Chong explain why Australia falls short of its own international commitments when it comes to policies on offshore processing, detention and boat turnbacks, among others. This up-to-date account of Australia’s refugee laws and policies could not come at a more crucial time and is compelling reading for anyone seeking to understand the human impacts of Australia’s practices.

About the Author

Fiona Chong is a lawyer and was recently a Human Rights Fellow in the Master of Laws program at Columbia University. Jane McAdam is Scientia Professor of Law and Director of the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales. Professor McAdam publishes widely in international refugee law and forced migration and is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Refugee Law, the leading journal in the field. She was honoured as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2013 and in 2017 she was awarded the prestigious international Calouste Gulbenkian Prize for Human Rights, becoming the first Australian recipient of the award. She will be a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in 2019 and at NYU in 2020.