Nguyen, Thu (2023) Multi-level Consensus in Refugee Protection: Southeast Asian States and the Rohingya Refugee Crisis. In: Presented at Mobilities among ASEAN and Japan: Its Future and How We Shape It]. From: Mobilities among ASEAN and Japan: Its Future and How We Shape It: an International Symposium to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, 25-26 July 2023, Jakarta, Indonesia.

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Abstract

Between 2012 and 2018, Southeast Asia witnessed the Rohingya refugee crisis. Following the inter-communal violence between the Buddhist Rakhine and the Muslim Rohingyas in May and October 2012, approximately 13,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar in the first exodus in 2012. During the second exodus between 2013 and 2014, the governments of Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia implemented the “push-back” policy to the boats carrying an estimated 94,000 people — half of whom were Rohingya people from Rakhine State, resulting in a maritime humanitarian crisis in the Andaman Sea. The military operation launched by the Myanmar Security Forces against the Rohingya in August 2017 led to a third exodus of 655,500 refugees to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The experiences of the Rohingya refugees in Rakhine State and their exodus from Myanmar into other Southeast Asian states is commonly known as the Rohingya refugee crisis. There had been a growing call for regional framework on refugee protection in ASEAN even before the Rohingya refugee crisis. This could be seen in the introduction of the first non-binding Regional Cooperation Framework (RCF hereafter) to address refugees, asylum seekers and irregular movement in 2011 by the Bali Process (on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crimes set up in 2002). Followed by the introduction of the Jakarta Declaration on Addressing Irregular Movement in 2013 (Jakarta Declaration hereafter). Since the RCF acknowledges the right to protection and recognizes the right to non-refoulement for refugees and asylum seekers, much expectation was put on it to develop future arrangement on refugee protection (Davies, 2015, para. 10). Similarly, regional expectations towards the 2013 Jakarta Declaration was that it would contribute to develop “a protection-sensitive approach to cooperation” (Taylor, 2012, para. 14). Despite such growing calls for the development of a regional refugee protection framework, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), failed to adopt any formal framework to protect the Rohingya refugees during the three phases of the Rohingya refugee crisis. This research seeks to examine the ongoing impediments to the adoption of a regional refugee protection mechanism in the Southeast Asian region.

Item ID:	89107
Item Type:	Conference Item (Presentation)
Related URLs:	Organisation
Date Deposited:	21 Oct 2025 00:36
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4408 Political science > 440808 International relations @ 100%
SEO Codes:	23 LAW, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES > 2303 International relations > 230303 International organisations @ 100%
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