Abstract

Troubled Transit: Asylum Seekers Stuck in Indonesia, by Antje Missbach

Highlights

  • The overall hostility, according to Missbach, motivates many young migrants to embark on the boat for Australia despite their knowledge of “risks involved in crossing the sea” and being “punished by mandatory detention in Australia” (p. 113) even if they successfully cross the Mediterranean Sea

  • Shifting scale from the state-level and local encounters experienced by transit migrants, Chapter 5 “The Limits of Protection,” documents the changing institutional culture, management strategies, and resettlement practices surrounding “voluntary repatriation” adopted by international organization bodies, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Indonesia

  • Challenging the prevailing narratives and stereotypes surrounding people-smugglers and traffickers, Missbach presents three case studies of men convicted for smuggling to argue that transit migrants’ experiences of socioeconomic marginalization, legal insecurity, and restricted mobility primarily contribute to their transition into a thriving ‘industry’ of people smuggling in Indonesia

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Summary

Introduction

Shifting scale from the state-level and local encounters experienced by transit migrants, Chapter 5 “The Limits of Protection,” documents the changing institutional culture, management strategies, and resettlement practices surrounding “voluntary repatriation” adopted by international organization bodies, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Indonesia. In the firsthalf Missbach chronicles the contemporary events leading up to the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia and effectively shows them as part of a wider contestations surrounding issues of border securitization, Indonesian state sovereignty, and “diplomatic pressure” exerted by Australia in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Conclusion
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