International Refugee Law in Crisis: Islands, Incarceration and Neo-Refoulment During COVID-19

Abstract

Troubling trends in international refugee law have been magnified by circumstances in 2020. This paper considers how pandemic conditions have accelerated the expansion of neo-refoulement methods, notably by looking at the situation on the Greek ‘hotspot’ islands with reference to Australian-Pacific arrangements. Moreover, the paper critiques narrow constructions of so-called ‘refugee crises’ and equally myopic framing of responses in law and policy which fail to capture the complexity of forced migration and refugee movements. Ultimately, this paper argues that unless and until we see ‘refugee crises’ as part of an ongoing, perpetual crisis of violent borders, and bound up with wider questions of colonialism and capitalism, proposed responses are bound to fail.