CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Berta, Laura |
|---|---|
| Title | Refugee Mobility in the Age of Containment: The Role of UNHCR in the Bali Process |
| Summary | Regional cooperation is a tool of the current “migration management” policy paradigm in which international organisations (“IOs”) play a prominent role in facilitating cooperative measures to regulate mobility. The Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, supported by the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (“UNHCR”), was initiated by the government of Australia in 2002 as part of its plan to control the arrival of asylum seekers in Australia by boat, via transit through South-East Asia. Key strategies promoted by the Bali Process are the criminalisation of people smuggling and strong national and cross-border law enforcement measures. The thesis questions why, and in what manner, UNHCR engages in the Bali Process when its participation appears to compromise refugee protection, the fundamental tenet of its mandate. It argues that UNHCR’s involvement in the Bali Process may be partly explained through realist and rational actor theories, which hold that IO behaviour is driven by the interests of dominant states. However, constructivist approaches allow for a more complex identification of the sources of autonomous IO power, which can give rise to “pathological” behaviour. Ultimately, UNHCR’s pursuit of funding, relevance and influence, effected through its exercise of rule-making power, reveal serious tensions with its mandated policy interests in the protection of refugees and raises the question of its future role as a humanitarian actor. |
| Supervisor | Granger, Marie-Pierre F. |
| Department | Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/berta_laura.pdf |
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