International Journal of Refugee Law Advance Access originally published online on June 25, 2008
International Journal of Refugee Law 2008 20(2):273-313; doi:10.1093/ijrl/een021
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Bringing Protection Home: Healing the Schism Between International Obligations and National Safeguards Created by Extraterritorial Processing
* Griffith Law School, Australia. Parts of this article are based on the author's submissions to the Australian Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee in 2002 and 2006: A. Francis, Submission No. 26, Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee, Inquiry into the Migration Legislation Amendment (Further Border Protection Measures) Bill 2002, 26 July 2002; A. Francis, Submission No. 60, Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee, Inquiry into the provisions of the Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill 2006, 22 May 2006. Thanks to James Hathaway and Jane McAdam and the Journal's referees for their very helpful comments
Extraterritorial processing schemes are designed to prevent and deter access to statutory and judicial safeguards in the country responsible for the interception and transfer of asylum seekers to a third country. In line with this objective, they incorporate interdiction, transfer and processing practices and standards that are deliberately isolated from the national legal and institutional protections within either the intercepting state or the third country where processing occurs. Australia's recent disbandment of its extraterritorial processing centres in third countries highlights the fact that extraterritorial processing schemes have proven unworkable as a matter of international law, as they negate the national safeguards fundamental to the satisfaction of a state's protection obligations.