Title: The human rights implications of Australian and Indonesian anti-smuggling laws

Authors: Susan Kneebone; Antje Missbach

Addresses: Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne, Australia ' School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract: In this paper we explain the 'crimmigration' motives - the intersection of criminal law and migration law - of both the Australian and Indonesian Governments and examine the impact and human rights implications of their laws. We show that, in the case of Australia, crimmigration of smuggled asylum seekers was a deliberate policy from the late 1990s onwards, consistent with Australia's stance on transnational crime. In the case of Indonesia, the 'illegality' of asylum seeking and the use of the smuggling trope came about more by default and from a desire to cooperate with Australia. We further show that in both countries the target of anti-smuggling laws is mainly low-level crew and minor players, who are often simple fishermen, many of whom are minors. We explain the hardship that enforcement of anti-smuggling laws causes to fishermen, their families and community.

Keywords: asylum seekers; people-smuggling; anti-smuggling laws; human rights; cooperation; policing; Australia; Indonesia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMBS.2018.096789

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 2018 Vol.4 No.4, pp.379 - 396

Received: 20 Feb 2018
Accepted: 10 Jul 2018

Published online: 10 Dec 2018 *

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