CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Keller, Christina Louise |
|---|---|
| Title | Non-Refoulement in Southeast Asia: The Impact of NGOs on Customary International Law |
| Summary | Thousands of refugees are scattered along the Thai-Myanmar border living in makeshift refugee camps under the supervision of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Most states in Southeast Asia are not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and have no regional agreements or domestic legislation concerning the rule of non-refoulement. Non-refoulement asserts that states should not return refugees to their prior residence or country of origin if they have a well-founded fear of persecution. Scholars contend that non-refoulement has been elevated to the status of customary international law. This means that states should comply with non-refoulement regardless of their international agreements or domestic legislation. Historically, customary international law has been state-centric. Non-governmental organizations have not been considered in the development of customary international law, but this is no longer the case. Using Koh’s concept of the transnational legal process, this research will model how NGOs inform, advocate, and investigate to push states into a deeper internalization of non-refoulement. Two waves of refugees in Thailand will be analyzed to show the progression of NGOs, non-refoulement, and customary international law over time- the Vietnamese refugees in the 1970’s -1980’s and the Karen refugees in the 1980’s through the present day. Results will show the influence of NGOs in customary international law, but with a narrower conceptualization of non-refoulement. |
| Supervisor | Nagy, Boldizsar |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/keller_christina.pdf |
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