Regional Focus: Asia Pacific

Short pieces:

Asylum cases in Australia for first time exceed 100,000 (Pearls & Irritations, March 2023) [text]

Bangladesh: Halt ‘Pilot’ Plan to Return Rohingya (Human Rights Watch, March 2023) [text]

- See also related UNHCR statement.

Disasters, Displacement and Data: Behind the Drive for Data Governance in the Pacific (IDMC Blog, April 2023) [text]

"Japan unveils guidelines on refugee status recognition for 1st time," Kyodo News, 24 March 2023 [text]

- Note: The guidelines can be accessed via the Immigration Services Agency website (in Japanese only).

"NZ mulls harsher law against refugee boat arrivals – despite no refugee boats ever having arrived," The Guardian, 29 March 2023 [text]

Photos Stolen, Compensation Denied: The Plight of Rohingya Photographers (Global Voices, March 2023) [text]

New open access book: 

Migration in Southeast Asia: IMISCOE Regional Reader (Springer, March 2023) [open access]

- "This open access IMISCOE Regional Reader explores the issues faced by migrant groups in Southeast Asia and the challenges of getting their human rights recognized. It analyses the different responses, or lack thereof, of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to these highly complex situations which are shaped by contemporary debates around borders and concepts of states, migrants’ rights as well as access to citizenship and how these concepts and paradigms are intertwined with issues such as agency and resilience of migrants."

Reports & journal articles:

The Changing Dynamics of Afghan Migration after August 2021 (Mixed Migration Centre, March 2023) [text]

Discussions on Governance and Transitional Justice: Evidence from Myanmar Migrants and Refugees in Thailand (Myanmar Advocacy Research Group, March 2023) [access]

"Hate Speech and Discrimination as Mundane Violence against Rohingya Refugees during COVID-19," Global Responsibility to Protect, Advance Articles, 3 April 2023 [open access]

- Focuses on Malaysia.

"Hate Speech and Incitement in Myanmar before and after the February 2021 Coup," Global Responsibility to Protect, Advance Articles, 3 March 2023 [open access]

The Refugee Response Index: Australia Review (Refugee Council of Australia, March 2023) [access]

- Follow link for final report, appendix and six pillar reports.

"'We Can't Go Back Now': How Japan's Refugee Recognition System Denies Rights and Shirks Obligations to Refugees Fleeing the 2021 Myanmar Coup d'Etat," American University International Law Review, vol. 37, no. 3 (2022) [full-text]

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Asia Pacific (23 March 2023)