Asylum seekers, and maritime arrivals in particular, were a contentious topic in the period leading up to the 2013 Australian federal elections. The preceding years had seen a rise in the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat and this…
Since August 2012, more than 4,000 people attempting to reach Australia by sea have been subject to offshore processing in ‘regional processing countries’ (RPCs) Nauru and Papua New Guinea. From July 2013, Australia’s policy under Operation Sovereign Borders has barred…
In recent decades, Canadian authorities have been actively involved in intercepting asylum seekers and impeding their entry. The expansion of Canada’s externalisation practices – such as border cooperation agreements, surveillance through data sharing and new technologies, and migration diplomacy tactics…
On 4th February 2021, the Danish Social Democratic government sent out a legislative proposal (known as L226) for civil society consultations. L226 proposed shutting down all processing of asylum claims and granting of residence to refugees on Danish territory, barring…
Powerful States have pushed their border controls deep into the territories of other States, disproportionately affecting asylum seekers and often deliberately targeting them. Yet most remote controls pre-date the international refugee regime and the exceptions in restrictive immigration laws for…
Since the 2015–16 peak in numbers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, the European Union has sought to close off the Central Mediterranean route by enabling the interception and forced return of vessels carrying migrants. To facilitate this, the EU and…
Detention has long played a central role in the efforts of major destination countries to externalise their immigration controls and asylum procedures.[1] Under the guise of combatting the trafficking of people and assisting countries on the periphery of the Global…
Sudan ranks 14th in the world for prevalence of modern slavery per capita.[1] Different types of abuse and exploitation occur along mixed migration routes from East and West Africa to and through North Africa – routes travelled by people from Sudan, as…
Almost 20 years ago, UNHCR coined the term ‘protracted refugee situations’ to draw attention to the plight of refugees in extended exile and to promote durable solutions. However, the search for solutions for persons in longer-term displacement has been at…
The most widely used definition of protracted displacement is UNHCR’s term for people who are ‘stuck’ in a particular place for at least five years. This stresses the static elements of protracted displacement but when such displacement is examined more…