東協內部難民流動：類型學分析 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學亞太研究英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in Asia-Pacific Studies College of Social Sciences National Chengchi University. 碩士論文 Master’s Thesis. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 東協內部難民流動：類型學分析 Intra-ASEAN Refugee Movements: A Typological Analysis. n. 柳殷日 Yuri Baral. Ch. engchi. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. i n U. v. 楊昊博士 Dr. Alan Hao Yang (Advisor). 中華民國 106 年 2 月. ix.

(2) ACKNOWLEDGMENT. The successes and completion of this thesis was made possible by the endless support and contribution of a number of people, both directly and indirectly. Firstly, I wish to extend my endless gratitude and sincerest appreciation to Dr. Alan Hao Yang for his unceasing guidance and encouragement throughout the period of my thesis writing. His unending support persisted though I was at times discouraged to continue, particularly when I lost sight of my direction and the necessary means to survive in Taipei, Taiwan. He has also given me the freedom, often denied of aspiring scholars, to pursue my research the way I see fit and at my own convenience, without discounting his valuable insights at times when I need them the most.. 政治大. By this, he has served both as a thesis adviser and as an adoptive father during my stay here.. 立. I am also grateful to the rest of my thesis committee: Dr. Chiou Syuan-yuan, and Dr.. ‧ 國. 學. Chao Chung-chi, for contributing their insights from their experiences working in Southeast Asian, offering perspectives which I may have missed without them. The hard questions raised allowed me to see other possible directions my research could take for future studies, ideally. ‧. for my doctorate research.. sit. y. Nat. I thank the various people who have shared their valuable time to respond to my queries the best they can: Tarn Atikankun of The Border Consortium, for supplying me recent data. io. al. er. on Myanmar refugees currently billeted in the many camps along the Thai-Myanmar border;. n. iv n C understanding Myanmar’s uprooted populations h e n g cbyhdirecting i U me to the right direction; Dr. Pierre Peron of UN OCHA, for responding to my request for data sets relevant to further. Jack Owens and his colleague Anderson Sandes of the Idaho State University, for sharing with me their perspective on the use of GIS and digital cartography, despite Dr. Owens’ failing health. He mentioned that despite the obvious difficulty of getting data for my area of research,. I should continue on this path as it indeed is a new area that deserves further studies; and Hayso Thako, a Karen refugee from the Mae La refugee camp, for finding time to answer my questions on Myanmar’s IDP-Refugee crisis despite the obvious logistical challenges. Indirectly, I wish to extend similar gratitude to Sai Sam Kham and Daw Lahpai Seng Raw, incumbent and former executive directors of Metta Development Foundation, for offering their thoughts about my approach to my research. Sam, in one of our correspondences, offered a part-time research position after my graduate studies in order to aid my familiarity of their work with IDPs; and to my previous employer, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, for.

(3) allowing me to be acquainted with its more than two hundred awardees, broadening my exposure to an array of stories, works, and lives dedicated to the betterment of human and environmental conditions in Asia. Special thanks goes to my good friend, Larry Lico, whose boundless hospitality allowed me to stay in Taiwan, offering a floor and a roof in the face of obvious financial difficulties after losing my only source of funding. I sincerely wish for him to complete his doctorate research and go back to the Philippines to start his stint as one of the country’s most remarkable chemists. Lastly, I would like to thank my family: my mother, Eduvijes Samera-Baral and my late father, Lt. Col. Samuel Baral, for laboring night and day to support my siblings and myself. 政治大 been my constant source of motivation to persevere despite the challenges, as my successes are 立 theirs too; my siblings, Jeuel and Zeus, for being the wonderful persons they grew up to be, through our pursuit of knowledge and wonder since before entering school. My parents had. ‧ 國. 學. and for ceaselessly patting my back at times when I need it the most. You are the best people I know and it is with pride I call you family. Basta.. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(4) ABSTRACT The role of ASEAN member states in Southeast Asia’s refugee structure has for long been a subject of criticism, with their commitments to the cause of humanitarian assistance in question. The treatment of Rohingya boat migrants who reached Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia from Myanmar's Rakhine state, only to be refused and pulled-back to sea, shows a stark difference from Southeast Asia’s management of refugees in the 1970s, which saw recent destination of refugees playing a significantly active role in hosting and processing of Indochinese refugees at the time. While some ASEAN states are party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its first Optional Protocol, a majority merely observes provisions of the 1951 Refugee Convention but have not ratified it. This paper. 政治大 constructivism. It approaches the matter by identifying the peaks of Southeast Asia’s refugee 立. analyzes the nature of Southeast Asia’s refugee flows from the lens of analytical liberalism and experiences from the Indochina refugee crisis (1975-1996/7) to more contemporary refugee. ‧ 國. 學. flows. Figures from UNHCR on these periods, alongside a working historical knowledge of main refugee exporting countries, serve as supplementary basis to determine whether identified. ‧. push and pull factors are the same throughout the peak periods. I argue that the ASEAN refugee flows from 1975 to present show similarity in terms of influencing factors, but also have. Nat. sit. y. differing characteristics. Furthermore, the contemporary refugee crisis is symptomatic to a. io. n. al. er. weak regional refugee regime. Keywords: refugee, ASEAN, movement, displacement. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. ix.

(5) PREFACE ..................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1:PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND ......................................... 1 A. A HISTORY OF ASIAN MIGRATION .......................................................... 2 B. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ................................................................. 7 C. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY ......................................................................... 7 D. HYPOTHESIS .................................................................................................. 8 E. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ................................................................... 8 F. SCOPE AND LIMITATION.............................................................................. 8 G. DEFINITION OF TERMS .............................................................................. 10. 政治大. CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES ............ 11. 立. A. FORCED MIGRATION THEORIES ............................................................. 11. ‧ 國. 學. B. TYPOLOGIES FOR REFUGEES ................................................................... 15 C. SOUTHEAST ASIA'S REFUGEES ................................................................ 17. ‧. D. PUSH AND PULL: REGIONAL EXPERIENCE ........................................... 22. sit. y. Nat. CHAPTER 3: FRAMEWORK ............................................................................... 25. al. er. io. A. THEORETICAL .............................................................................................. 25. iv n C h e n g c..................................................... CHAPTER 4:RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 29 hi U n. B. OPERATIONAL .............................................................................................. 27. A. METHOD OF RESEARCH ............................................................................ 29 B. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE ............................................................ 30 C. DATA VISUALIZATION (ATTEMPT) ......................................................... 31 CHAPTER 5: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ............................................ 32 A. UNHCR DATA ............................................................................................... 32 B. ORIGIN VS. DESTINATION ......................................................................... 34 C. SHORT-TERM VS. LONG-TERM POLICY ................................................. 38 D, ATTITUDE TOWARDS REFUGEES ............................................................ 40.

(6) CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 43 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 48 APPENDIX A ......................................................................................................... 53 APPENDIX B ......................................................................................................... 54 APPENDIX C ......................................................................................................... 55 APPENDIX D .......................................................................................................... 56 APPENDIX E .......................................................................................................... 57. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(7) List of Tables Table 1 Refugee Population Trends ............................................................................... 6 Table 2 Originating vs. Residing ................................................................................. 18. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(8) List of Figures Figure 1 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................. 25 Figure 2 Operational Framework ................................................................................. 27 Figure 3 Southeast Asian Refugees ............................................................................. 33 Figure 4 Stateless/Non-Categorizable Under Refugees............................................... 34 Figure 5 Refugees by Origin ........................................................................................ 35 Figure 6 Refugees by Country of Destination ............................................................. 37. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(9) PREFACE. This graduate thesis on "Intra-ASEAN Refugee Movements: A Typological Analysis" is an original, unpublished, and independent work by the researcher, Y. Baral. The study has been written in fulfillment of the graduation requirements of the International Master's Program in Asia-Pacific Studies (IMAS) at the National Chengchi University (NCCU). I hope you enjoy your reading and learn something in the process. Yuri Baral Taipei, January 17, 2017. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. ix.

(10) CHAPTER I The Problem and Its Background. “Refugees have been deprived of their homes, but they must not be deprived of their futures.” --UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. The refugee crises in the 20th and 21st centuries are arguably by-products of a failing international system. Under the UNHCR's peoples of concern, 4.1 million are in. 政治大 in the Middle East and North Africa, and estimated 753,000 in the Americas. The 立 fallout of a poorly managed crisis in Syria that started with relatively peaceful protests sub-Saharan Africa, 3.8 million in Asia and the Pacific, 3.5 million in Europe, 3 million 1. ‧ 國. 學. in 2011 has translated to an estimate of 4.8 million (2016)2 refugees, which has caused a dramatic spillover to neighboring countries Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt,. ‧. a fraction of which being [unevenly] distributed among the 28 European Union (EU) countries, with Germany and Sweden bearing the most. 3 However, what has been. sit. y. Nat. referred to as the biggest humanitarian emergency of the 21st Century, the Syrian refugee crisis is only one of three main contributors to Europe’s current refugees as. io. al. er. Afghanistan and Iraq are also origin countries. In 2015 alone, 1.26 million people. n. iv n C and 121,500 were Iraqis. Thousands U in Southeast Asia, a different h e n gof cmiles h i away. applied for asylum in the EU, of which 362,775 were from Syria, 178,200 were Afghans, 4. humanitarian crisis was given international attention in 2015, belated considering the. plight of the concerned groups having been a matter of conflict in their homeland Myanmar since its independence in 1948. Given Southeast Asia’s political and sociocultural diversity, it pays to inquest whether it shares the same fate as Europe as regards inbound refugees, and if the existence of a regional organization like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is able to rival its bigger European counterpart. By 1. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, "Refugee Figures," UNHCR, accessed April 27 2016. http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c1d.html. 2 Figures from the Syria Regional Refugee Response Inter-agency Information Sharing Portal accessed from http://data.UNHCR.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php. 3 UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), International Organization of Migration (IOM). 4 EuroStat. 1.

(11) scrutinizing developments in major refugee-exporting states in the region, it may be possible to determine how an interplay of national policies, international norms, and domestic factors affect refugee movements within the region. In this study, the researcher presents an alternative means of interpreting how refugee flows are likely influenced by elements present in candidate asylum countries. A. A History of Asian Migration When discussing literature about human flows, it may be difficult not to consider Asia given its huge territorial space. Covering a total of 44.58 million km2, the continent is home to 4.5 billion people distributed among 48 countries. With its vastness,. 治政 ideological, political, and cultural differences. In the 大expanse of human history, Asia 立 that ranges from the conquests of various civilizations has been a hub of activities the continent is not only divided by physical and territorial demarcations but also by. ‧ 國. 學. (colonization of South and Southeast Asian territories being a common feature for several centuries) to the escalation and diffusion of wars, which has resulted to hundreds of thousands of people displaced annually. At the end of 2014, a total of 59.5. ‧. million people had been displaced globally, of which 19.5 million are refugees.5 Asia’s. y. Nat. share of the burden was at 8.7 million people of concern, with refugees at 3.6 million.. sit. Within one year, the global refugee total exceeded its threshold of 20.2 million or 0.21%. al. er. io. of the world population. 6 The figures had been rising in recent years, fueled by. iv n C some 839,000 refugees found themselves leaving h e n g c h i U their home in search of safer environments. n. ongoing wars in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.7 Within the first six months alone, 8. Southeast Asia is not at all unfamiliar with the refugee phenomenon as quite a fair share of human movements can be seen throughout the entirety of the 20th Century. There having only recent occurrences involving boat migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh as a fraction of the totality. In fact, there appears to be a repeat of. 5. UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), "Unhcr Global Trends 2014: World at War," last modified 8 April 2016, accessed. http://unhcr.org/556725e69.html. 6 UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 7 The upward trend of refugee flows has been mainly due to the wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mai, Somalia, South Sudan, and Ukraine. Ibid., 4. 8 Ibid.. 2.

(12) experiences among Southeast Asian refugees in terms of method of movements. Jean Michaud mentions that there had been two notable refugee movements in the 20th Century, one of which involved the use of boats to flee the origin state, to which the Rohingya migrants are reminiscent of. The process by which refugees in the 1970s to the 1990s were resettled was made possible through the supervision of the UNHCR: by first setting up camps that received and housed migrants (often segregated according to the country of origin) and then filtered through processing centers. (Michaud, 2006) Of the Southeast Asian states, Thailand is probably the one with the most direct involvement with refugees, it having been both a transit country and destination since the 1970s. It is then curious why, as can be recalled, Thailand was reluctant in providing. 治政 states are all party to the United Nations and work closely 大 with the UNHCR, not all are parties to the 1951 UN立 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This complicates temporary shelter to the boat migrants in 2015.9 While the ASEAN and its member. ‧ 國. 學. the process of delegating resettlement responsibilities at the height of refugee crises. As of 2015, only the Philippines (acceded July 22, 1981) and Cambodia (acceded October 15, 1992) have signed and ratified the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol. In the. ‧. technical sense of things, the remaining eight states, not being party to the two. y. Nat. documents, are not obligated to receive, let alone acknowledge requests for asylum.. sit. Such reluctance to taking in refugees is not unheard of among the ASEAN member. al. er. io. states as the case was the same in the aftermath of the Vietnam War which witnessed. n. the departure of thousands of Hmong refugees from Communist Indo-China,. Ch. i n U. v. particularly the then newly established Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV).10. engchi. The different periods that saw significant refugee movements within the ASEAN region were met with different approaches. While the ideal scenario is for the member states to draw a comprehensive solution, the response has been vague in recent years. The ASEAN's role in the diffusion of occurring refugee crises in Southeast Asia had been coherent with the stand of its members on particular matters. In fact, its response, or lack thereof, to a crisis rests on how the organization is structured and its governing principles. As previously mentioned, only two of the Association's members 9. Joe Cochrane, "Indonesia and Malaysia Agree to Care for Stranded Migrants" The New York Times, 2015, accessed May 20, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/world/asia/indonesia-malaysiarohingya-bangladeshi-migrants-agreement.html. 10 Alexander Betts and Gil Loescher, Refugees in International Relations (Oxford University Press, 2011), 70-73.. 3.

(13) are signatories to the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol, making it difficult or nearly improbable to expect regional cooperation for the drafting of options. Never was this more evident than during the period of the Indochina Refugee Crisis (1975 to 1996), as refugees and asylum-seekers from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam flowed out to escape post-1975 upheavals resulting from socioeconomic and political decay from the war. These waves of departure from Indochina, particularly Vietnam, were met with criticisms from ASEAN states, to which Vietnam responded with a “moratorium” to curb the number of fleeing refugees. 11 Frank Frost (1980) mentioned that the outpouring of refugees into other parts of Southeast Asia posed three challenges to ASEAN states: 1) Challenged the capacity to respond effectively and in a humanitarian manner, 2) Challenged their ability to organize themselves to immediately cushion the. 政治大 of exerting pressure both on member states and the international community to resettle 立. impact of the crisis and to minimize dissent, and 3) Challenged the ASEAN's capability refugees. As a three-way agreement was made among the refugees' countries of origin,. ‧ 國. 學. countries of first asylum and countries of resettlement. Indonesia and the Philippines were identified as regional processing centers which expedited the resettlement from. ‧. 9,000 per month to 25,000 per month. (Cutts, 2000). y. varied greatly. Refugee. boat arrivals were. sit. population. Nat. Despite the successes of the agreement, the responses of member states and their unpredictable. and. al. er. io. disproportionate, where some receiving states saw more arrivals than others (see Table. n. 1). The Philippines, a signatory to the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol, did not. Ch. i n U. v. see the arrival of refugees as a domestic risk, owing to the fact that arrivals were not as. engchi. frequent due to its distance. Thailand, after receiving huge numbers of refugees (often by boat), authorized officials to resupply arriving boats to eventually be pushed back to sea. Singapore was stringent on its migration policy and as such refused to accept refugee boats, limiting assistance to repair and resupply (similar to Thailand). Singapore justified its action by its smaller size relative to other ASEAN states. Malaysia received an increasing number of refugee boats in succeeding years due to its proximity and accessibility via sea route. Aside from the risk of transmitting diseases, the ballooning number of refugees has contributed to rising commodity prices due to UNHCR's purchases for supplies. As a measure, the government isolated arriving. 11. The moratorium was implemented by Vietnam following a conference on refugees that same year in July at Geneva, Switzerland.. 4.

(14) refugees to areas far from Malaysian locals. Further measures of improving control of arriving boats were implemented through the "shoo off" policy, which towed refugee boats back to sea. Indonesia's case was similar to Malaysia, except that refugees were viewed with suspicion of being in guise since many of the Indochinese were exservicemen. (Frost, 1980). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 5.

(15) 立. 政治大. 1. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 6.

(16) B. Statement of the Problem International human migrations have been a recurring concern for governments all over the world, to the extent of posing as a threat to national security for some. A common case where the entry of refugees (or asylum-seekers) has become a risk is in the event of widespread xenophobia, resulting to conflicts with locals and new migrants. 12 Racist attacks are commonplace, endangering not only newly arrived populations, but also others who may have already acquired citizenship or are firstgeneration citizens born from migrant parents. Conflicts between local populations and migrants are prevented due in part to the existence of national and international mechanisms addressing the issue of migration and human rights in general, as well as. 治政 areas. Of the 147 states that are party to the 1951 Convention, 大 146 adhere to its optional 1967 Protocol. All of 立 the twenty-eight European Union member states have signed and efforts between the government and institutions in the private sector focusing on these. ‧ 國. 學. ratified the two documents, but only two ASEAN states have done so. The reality of these figures depict the difficulty of pressuring Southeast Asian leaders into accepting responsibility over a number of humanitarian crises within the region. In line with the. ‧. aforesaid, this paper poses the question, “In what way do national policies, international. y. Nat. mechanisms, and local affairs influence the flow of forced migrants within the. io. sit. Southeast Asian region?”. n. al. er. C. Objective of the Study. Ch. i n U. v. In conducting this study, the researcher acknowledges the link established. engchi. between refugee flows and political and socio-cultural factors thus aiming to verify this by determining how trends of refugee movements towards the Southeast Asian region are influenced by existing national policies concerning refugees, membership to transnational institutions and conventions, as well as socio-cultural and economic structures of a given country; key events that have taken place in a particular time period may also serve as a basis of measure for said trends. By assessing the trends behind refugee movements, it would be possible to further understand the overall nature of peoples of concern in the region, or at the very. 12. Alan Dowty and Gil Loescher, "Refugee Flows as Grounds for International Action," International Security 21, no. 1 (1996): 48-49, http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2539108.. 7.

(17) least have a comprehension of the distinctness of Southeast Asia’s experiences compared to its counterparts. D. Hypothesis The refugee crises that Southeast Asia has experienced in the 20th and 21st Centuries are fairly recent developments relative to Europe and the Middle East. Refugee movements in the region from 1970 to present had been a matter of interest as these flows have become increasingly indicative of recurring trends, albeit being born of differing circumstances. This paper demonstrates that, due to international and national policies, enduring international norms, and domestic elements, Southeast Asia's refugee phenomena persist and observes a peculiar movement.. 治政 E. Significance of the Study 大立 The findings of this study redounds to the understanding of the Southeast Asian ‧ 國. 學. experience of forced migration, considering that this region’s history on the subject is fairly young in comparison to the rest of the world. Proper categorization of refugee. ‧. flows on a trend pattern determined by political, socio-cultural, and historical indicators would aid future research on other migration experiences both in the region and. sit. y. Nat. elsewhere. For the researcher, the study will enable him to further the cause of Southeast Asian studies on the realm of refugee and migration issues that have been merely a. io. n. al. er. footnote to previous research, mainly to expound on global occurrences. Given the. i n C research while having this study h aseanfoundation. gchi U. v. uniqueness Southeast Asia’s circumstances, a new model13 may be arrived at in future. F. Scope and Limitation As mentioned earlier, it was in the 1970s that Southeast Asia had it first major ordeal with forced migrations that have resulted in asylum-seeking within the region. Such displacements challenged the stability of the region, and with only five states being members to the then very young ASEAN, it was not possible for the Association to actively weigh in on the problem. Nearly fifty years after, the case is no longer the same as previously identified origins of regional refugees are now part of the 10-. 13. It is the researcher’s intention to continue and expand this study using detailed migration histories of refugees to better analyze characteristics and circumstances behind their movements.. 8.

(18) member strong ASEAN, each being signatory to the AHRD. For the intent of this paper, data to be analyzed are limited to the years: a. Covered by the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol; b. When the ASEAN has already been in existence; and c. With available, recognized records from either the UNHCR or existing public state records.14 Further limiting the coverage of this paper, only countries that had either been a major source of or major destination of refugees and/or asylum-seekers between 1975 and 2015 will be given considerable mention. Countries considered are the Philippines,. 政治大 or settlement), and the Indochina countries (1975 to 1996) 立 Laos, and Vietnam, and, more recently, Myanmar.. Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia for the receiving states (destination and first asylum 15. comprised of Cambodia,. ‧ 國. 學. Given the time constraint and unavailability of some data sets at the time of writing, analysis of country data will be kept to preliminary level with intent of being. ‧. continued in a future study.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 14. Obvious limitation throughout the study existed due to Myanmar statistics being inaccessible both through private and public means. Correspondence with organizations working on the ground repeatedly failed to yield more accurate data. 15 The inclusive years varied greatly among different references with the range extending from 1975 to the early 2000s. (see Steenhuisen). 9.

(19) G. Definition of Terms . Asylum-seekers are “persons who have applied for asylum or refugee status, but who have not yet received a final decision on their application.” 16. . Inbound (migration) pertains to the movement of refugees towards a destination/receiving country.. . Internally displaced people (IDP) are, as defined by the UNHCR, “people or groups of individuals who have been forced to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of, or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural- or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an international border.”17. . 政治大. Migrants are people who are able to and choose to relocate in order to improve. 立. their situation in life. They may choose to return home (unlike refugees), free from the threat of persecution and are able to acquire protection from their. ‧ 國. 學. government.18 . Outbound (migration) pertains to the movement of refugees away from a. ‧. former home country or former country of asylum. . Refugee as defined in the 1951 Refugee Convention as someone “owing to a. y. Nat. sit. well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality,. er. io. membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling. n. al. i n U. v. to avail himself of the protection of that country.”19 . Ch. engchi. Typological analysis was defined by LeCompte & Preissle (1993) as "dividing everything observed into groups or categories on the basis of some canon for disaggregating the whole phenomenon under study.". 16. UNHCR, "Unhcr Statistical Online Population Database: Sources, Methods and Data Considerations," accessed April 9, 2016. http://www.unhcr.org/45c06c662.html#refugees. 17 Ibid. 18 UNHCR, "Unhcr Viewpoint: 'Refugee' or 'Migrant' - Which Is Right?," accessed April 9, 2016. http://www.unhcr.org/55df0e556.html. 19 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Text of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and Text of the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951).. 10.

(20) CHAPTER II Review of Related Literature and Studies. Refugee studies and International Relations (IR) are often confusedly used together, as though the study of one excludes the other, but this is no further from the truth. In the words of Jennifer Hyndman, they are 'two solitudes.' It is fortunate, however, that there had been massive efforts in bridging this gap, owing to the fact that IR has become more inclusive, transcending its empirical traditions. IR tackles cooperation among states, the complexity of human rights, the role of international organizations, and international security among others, all of which are relevant if not. 政治大 interest, where, when zoomed in, exhibits semblances of forced migration cases. For 立 directly connected to forced migration. IR also allows for the study of specific areas of. example, a vast number of written literature has been published on refugee and. ‧ 國. 學. migration issues, but only few that highlight Southeast Asia. As an attempt to contribute to this pursuit of bridging the IR-forced migration divide, the researcher will have chapter.. ‧. compiled works related to forced migration studies, particularly on refugees in this. y. Nat. io. sit. A. Forced migration theories. al. er. In the search for the ideal theory to explain contemporary refugee issues, it was. n. iv n C abridged version of Ravenstein’s h e“laws h i U as such: n gof cmigration”. only apt to return to the roots of migration theory studies. Russel King20 offered an 21. 1. Migrants move mainly over short distances; those going longer distances head for the great centres (sic) of industry and commerce. 2. Most migration is from agricultural to industrial areas. 3. Large towns grow more by migration than by natural increase.. 20. Russell King, "Theories and Typologies of Migration: An Overview and a Primer," Willy Brandt series of working papers in international migration and ethnic relations 3 (2012): 12. 21 E. G. Ravenstein, "The Laws of Migration," Journal of the Statistical Society of London 48, no. 2 (1885), http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2979181.. 11.

(21) 4. Migration increases along with the development of industry, commerce and transport. 5. Each migration stream produces a counterstream (sic). 6. Females are more migratory than males, at least over shorter distances; males are a majority in international migration. 7. The major causes of migration are economic. While there are obvious advantages in alluding to these fundamentals of migration theory, it should be noted that the conceptions were suited for the times, and, in the words of Samers 22 are already 'economically deterministic,' and 'dreadfully. 政治大 (domestic) migrations, they should be left only as such—references for more modern 立 approaches. Furthermore, while economics has been a central element in Ravenstein’s. antiquated.' And with the limited scope of Ravenstein’s laws merely to internal. ‧ 國. 學. laws, other studies argue that the case is not true when explaining human migration often due to the “complex convergence” of factors beyond economic measures.23. ‧. King further points out the evolution of the migration studies discourse, as. y. Nat. exemplified by leading scholars Stephen Castles, Thomas Faist, and Alejandro Portes.24. sit. The three have furthered migration by including it in the more encompassing areas of. al. er. io. social realities, highlighting that migration is an essential element of "national and. n. global social change." Whereas Portes25 argues that migration’s effects on receiving. Ch. i n U. v. countries are significant but non-impactful, to some extent reinforcing existing norms. engchi. (social structures), Castles26 suggests that migration is central in social transformation capable of influencing even global systems. It is for this reason that Castles and King (2010) share the same view that migration studies is an area that fits and calls on diverse disciplines in the social sciences as it "embraces all dimensions of human experience, and therefore demands an interdisciplinary approach.". 22. Michael Samers, Migration. Abingdon (Routledge, 2010), 55-56. Donald Reed Taft, International Migrations: The Immigrant in the Modern World (Ronald Press Company, 1955). 24 King, 24. 25 Alejandro Portes, "Migration and Social Change: Some Conceptual Reflections," Journal of ethnic and migration studies 36, no. 10 (2010): 1537-63. 26 Stephen Castles, "Understanding Global Migration: A Social Transformation Perspective," Journal of ethnic and migration studies 36, no. 10 (2010): 1565-86. 23. 12.

(22) True enough, developments in the study of migration issues have given birth to a myriad of theories that offer different views and approaches to certain scenarios and phenomena. The problem with traditional migration theories is the detachment of politics and the state from the overall discourse27 despite them being crucial. It is for this reason that the researcher offers the alternative of using two theories—analytical liberalism and constructivism—where the state plays an active role. Analytical Liberalism Depending on who draws the definition, Analytical Liberalism may take different forms and versions. Popularly known as a tool preferred by economists as it presents clear economic models of distribution of interests on a dimension of foreign. 政治大 But in the lens of International Relations, Analytical Liberalism offers a more inclusive 立 analysis of world politics by reintroducing domestic politics and preferences, something. economic policy. (Brawley, 2009) As such, it favors the presumptions of economists.. ‧ 國. 學. that have for long been missing in most IR theories (e.g., neo-liberalism, liberal institutionalism). This version of liberalism was developed on the foundations of. ‧. idealism and classical liberalism espoused by Ralph Norman Angell (1910) and Immanuel Kant (1795) respectively. Drawing from these two philosophical legacies, it. Nat. sit. y. is seen that international cooperation is indeed possible and domestic and international policies are complementary. Andrew Moravcsik aimed to marry domestic politics and. io. al. er. foreign policy and at the same time detach from the classical liberalism fault of being. n. iv n C importance of domestic preferences h e nto gthecframing h i Uof national interests, and that unittoo ideological. 28 The implications of Moravcsik’s work is that it underscores the. level analysis is not completely unrelated to the system-level. It should be noted, however, that system-level events matter only since they affect the domestic attitude.29 The advantage of analytical liberalism in this case is its “two-level” analysis that factors in domestic politics and preferences.. 27. Adrian Favell, Caroline B Brettell, and James F Hollifield, "Migration Theory: Talking across Disciplines," Migration theory: Talking across disciplines (2008): 183-237. 28 This criticism has been seen as a weakness of Classical Liberalism as it has been a prescriptive philosophy rather than as a tool for analysis of world politics. 29 Alexander Betts, Forced Migration and Global Politics (John Wiley & Sons, 2009), 27-28.. 13.

(23) Alexander Betts 30 argues that the analytical liberal approach has three core assertions: 1. Domestic politics significantly influences state’s responses to refugees and other forced migrants. 2. Interest groups in domestic politics shape states’ international responses. 3. The character of a state will shape its response to forced migration.. Constructivism Looking at forced migration from the constructivist viewpoint suggests that. 政治大 behavior. Constructivism runs in counter with rationalist principles, instead favoring 立 flexibility of state identity, often as a result of interaction with other states. Betts (2009) nothing is fixed, previously conceived norms and ideas can in fact change and alter state 31. ‧ 國. 學. further suggests that “states can be persuaded, [though] ideas or argumentation to view issues or problems differently and so change their behavior over time on the basis of. ‧. holding different perceptions.” This is supported by Alexander Wendt’s Social Theory of International Politics (1999), proposing that the structures and identities of actors in. sit. y. Nat. the international system is bound to change due to their interaction amongst themselves. An interesting development in this approach is that while the level of analysis is on the. io. al. er. system-level and is expectedly disregarding of domestic policies, a number of. n. iv n C analyzing occurrences and actors h e beyond n g ctheh istateU(e.g., NGOs and IOs). A good constructivist scholars have tried incorporating constructivist ontologies when. example is when international norms are incorporated into domestic policy frameworks, in turn altering international politics. (Risse et al., 1999) Betts (2009) advances two assertions from the constructivist approach: 1. The refugee regime and IDP regime have socialized states in a way that shape their values and interests over time. 2. Non-state actors such as International Organizations can play an important role as actors in world politics.. 30. Betts, 29. Neta Crawford, Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Decolonization, and Humanitarian Intervention, vol. 81 (Cambridge University Press, 2002). 31. 14.

(24) Borrowing from analytical liberalism and constructivism, it would be possible to have a better understanding of refugee movements in the Southeast Asian context because: a) Southeast Asian refugee flows have been heavily tied with non-state actors (constructivism) and national/domestic policies (analytical liberalism), b) responses from ASEAN member states towards different refugee crises from the 1970s to the present have greatly varied (constructivism) particularly since the membership to the ASEAN, the drafting of the AHRD in 2012, and internal pressures from interest groups (constructivism and analytical liberalism). Due to the nature of the two mentioned theories, units of analysis are both refugees (individuals/groups) and states.. 政治大. B. Typologies for Refugees. 立. The uniqueness of Southeast Asian refugee flows is geopolitical in nature. Stories. ‧ 國. 學. of persecution are considerably territorially confined within the national limits, except for periods when waves of political ideologies influenced multiple countries, as was the case in the aftermath of the Vietnam War on 1975. 32 Sweeping victories of the. ‧. Communist regime in Indochina displaced urban populations to the countryside, many. y. Nat. of which became refugees that fled to Thailand. Throughout the course of this period. sit. until the 1990s, several waves of refugees from the region would flee to Southeast Asia,. al. er. io. finding asylum in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong, until the United. n. States and other Northern states accommodate them as a third country. Given the. Ch. i n U. v. similarity of origins of refugees at any given period of movement, identifying them. engchi. according to categories help make distinctions and analysis clearer. Egon Kunz (1981) developed a scheme of categorizing refugees based on their circumstances and attachment to their former home country. He elaborates that regardless of whether or not a refugee voluntarily left or is an exile, his relationship to his former home country’s population can be categorized as: a. Majority-identified refugees – are those with shared opposition to events with the majority of compatriots, identifying with the rest of the population but not the government.. 32. Millions of refugees came flocking to Southeast Asian countries from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the 1970s.. 15.

(25) b. Events-alienated refugees – are those who have become ambivalent due to past events which may or may not include discrimination. These refugees have previously desired to be recognized as part of the nation but were rejected by the nation, or smaller sections of its society. Examples of these are people belonging to specific faiths, cultural groups/minorities. Unique to this category of refugees is that the idea of returning to their former home country is rarely considered due to past events that contributed to their situation. c. Self-alienated refugees – are exiles who have completely dissociated themselves with both the citizens and the government of their former home country, save for the attachment to "panoramic aspects" of their homeland.. 立. 政治大. This categorization has helped shed light on the movement of refugees according. ‧ 國. 學. to their attitudes toward being displaced and other contributing factors in a host country such as cultural compatibility, policies that had an effect on population, and social receptiveness. Kunz33 argued that opportunities afforded by societies to refugees are. ‧. highly dependent on their characteristics (i.e., being multi-ethnic, pluralistic, etc.).. y. Nat. Furthermore, he notes that states in their developmental stages are less likely to. io. sit. manifest discriminatory behaviour, with their social order being more fluid.. n. al. er. Another slant to the study of refugee movements is represented in the work of. i n C different trajectories of migrants h as: engchi U. v. Russell King on “Theories and Typologies of Migration” 34 where he points out the. a. between two countries (A↔B), where migrants may choose to permanently settle in a new country, or eventually return to the homeland; b. onward migration (A → B → C), where migrants move to a succeeding country after previously relocating (e.g., Somalian migrants in the Netherlands who moved to the U.K.); and. 33. Egon F Kunz, "Exile and Resettlement: Refugee Theory," International Migration Review (1981): 42-51. 34 King, 7-9.. 16.

(26) c. transit migration (A→X→B), where migrants have to go through intervening countries before finally settling (e.g., sub-Saharan migrants entering Europe). His interpretation of migration trajectories is particularly useful in the assessment of the case of Southeast Asian refugees as it properly categorizes them based on their respective resettlement/relocation behaviour. In fact, this model can aptly accommodate all major refugee crises in the region.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 17.

(27) C. Southeast Asia’s Refugees Southeast Asia's growing influence and success roots from the region's rich cultural backgrounds. However, the problem with this diversity is visible in the difficulty of forming concrete decisions as the requirement is to arrive at a consensus on all issues. This requirement’s implication is significant as any well-meaning proposal that has the potential of benefiting the ASEAN as a whole can be easily shot down by a single negative vote.35 It also proves to be difficult or nearly impossible to pressure member states into recasting a vote to reach a consensus given “The ASEAN Way” of doing things. ASEAN member states operate under the Association's six fundamental principles declared in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) 36:. 政治大 integrity, and 立national identity of all nation;. . Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial. . The right of every state to lead its national existence free from external. ‧ 國. 學. interference, subversion or coercion;. Nat. . Renunciation of the threat or use of force; and. Effective co-operation among themselves (member states).. y. . Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner;. ‧. . Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another;. sit. . al. er. io. Given this set of fundamental principles, it has been challenging for the. v. n. Association to pressure its members on certain key issues, one of which is on the. Ch. i n U. increasing problem on irregular migrants and/or refugees, the bulk of which had been. engchi. from Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos from 1970s to the 1990s,37 and Myanmar in more recent years.. 35. Simon SC Tay, Jesus P Estanislao, and Hadi Soesastro, Reinventing Asean, vol. 228 (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2001), 281. 36 The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) 37 Steenhuisen, B. (2005). Last Vietnamese boat refugee leaves Malaysia. Retrieved June 26, 2010 from http://www.UNHCR.org/43141e9d4.html.. 18.

(28) Table 2. Refugee Statistics: Originating vs. Residing* Originating Residing Refugees Asylum-Seekers Refugees Asylum-Seekers Brunei 1 1 0 0 Cambodia 12,948 272 80 33 Indonesia 14,429 2,529 5,277 7,911 Laos 7,420 123 0 0 Malaysia 467 1,958 97,573 54,400 Myanmar 458,381 55,639 0 0 669 1,540 254 163 Philippines Singapore 59 34 0 0 Thailand 227 682 110,372 8,166 Vietnam 313,333 4,745 0 0 TOTAL 807,934 67,523 213,556 70,673. 政治大. Source: UNHCR/Governments. 立. *As of June 2015. Recent developments on refugee issues in Southeast Asia have mainly been. ‧ 國. 學. limited to lesser developed countries as both origin and asylum. The following had been published in the Human Rights Watch World Report of 2016:. ‧. Cambodia38. y. Nat. Since late 2014, a wave of Montagnard ethnic minority asylum seekers from. sit. Vietnam has arrived in Cambodia. Most of them practice forms of Christianity that. al. er. io. Vietnamese authorities characterize as "evil way" religion. In early 2015, Cambodia. n. recognized 13 as refugees but refused to allow more than 300 other Montagnards to. Ch. i n U. v. register as asylum seekers. At least 54 were summarily returned to Vietnam in violation. engchi. of the Refugee Convention, while those remaining in Cambodia faced the threat of similar deportation, and some decided their best option was to return "voluntarily" to Vietnam. In June 2015, the government implemented a deal with Australia to resettle some of the refugees held on the island of Nauru, but conditions for refugees in Cambodia were so inadequate that only four refugees agreed to relocate. In September, one of the four decided to leave Cambodia.. 38. Human Rights Watch: World Report 2016 - Cambodia. 19.

(29) Indonesia39 In May (2016), the government acceded to international pressure and began rescuing boatloads of ethnic Rohingya from Burma and Bangladesh stranded at sea for weeks on poorly provisioned, unseaworthy vessels. Although Indonesia agreed to bring rescued asylum seekers and migrants ashore, it said that they would only be sheltered temporarily and would need to be resettled to third countries after a year. As of August, there were 13,110 refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia, all living in legal limbo because Indonesia is not a party to the Refugee Convention and lacks an asylum law. This included 1,095 children detained in immigration centers, of which 461 were unaccompanied minors. Malaysia40. 政治大. 立. ‧ 國. 學. The discovery of mass graves on the Thai-Malaysia border containing the remains of suspected victims of trafficking highlights the continuing problem of trafficking in Malaysia. Approximately 99 bodies, many reportedly ethnic Rohingya. ‧. from Burma, were found in May, and another 24 graves were discovered in August.. y. Nat. Little information has been made public about progress in identifying and investigating. sit. suspects involved in these trafficking camps or government officials who may have. n. al. er. io. aided and abetted operations. Myanmar (Burma)41. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The maritime exodus of Rohingya Muslims dramatically increased in 2015, with Rohingya families departing from Burma and Bangladesh on smuggling vessels, at times joined by large numbers of Bangladeshi migrant workers. An estimated 94,000 people fled between January 2014 and May 2015, of which some had fallen prey to smugglers. Those who took to boats to reach Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia were initially refused entry but were eventually given temporary shelter by the latter two after intensive international media coverage and pressure.. 39. Human Rights Watch: World Report 2016 - Indonesia Human Rights Watch: World Report 2016 - Malaysia 41 Human Rights Watch: World Report 2016 - Burma 40. 20.

(30) An estimated 110,000 refugees who fled Burma during decades of civil war remain in nine. camps. in. northwest. Thailand.. UNHCR,. international. and. national. nongovernmental organizations, and the Thai government continue to discuss a plan for voluntary repatriation of members of this group. Refugees continue to express concerns about insufficient participation in planning for their return and the uncertain security situation in Burma, including the prevalence of land mines in some of the areas to which they may return. Thailand42 Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.. 政治大. Asylum seekers are treated by Thai authorities as illegal migrants, and subject to arrest and deportation.. 立. In May 2015, Thai authorities discovered at least 30 bodies at an abandoned. ‧ 國. 學. human trafficking camp in Songkhla province close to the Thai-Malaysian border. Police reports indicated the dead were ethnic Rohingya from Burma and Bangladesh. ‧. who starved to death or died from abuses or disease while held by traffickers who were awaiting ransom payments before smuggling them into Malaysia. On May 22, Thailand. y. Nat. hosted an international meeting to address the thousands of Rohingya asylum seekers. sit. and migrants stranded at sea in small boats, but, unlike Malaysia and Indonesia, refused. al. er. io. to work with UNHCR to conduct refugee status determination screenings or set up. iv n C U Thai authorities regularly took Despite the peril facedhbyethose h iboats, n gonc the n. temporary shelters for those rescued.. action to prevent boats carrying Rohingya from landing in Thailand. On many occasions, boats were intercepted and pushed back to sea after receiving rudimentary humanitarian assistance and supplies from Thai authorities. Vietnam43 Vietnam maintained close security ties with Cambodia, despite some border friction between the two countries. Vietnam successfully pressured Cambodia to refuse. 42 43. Human Rights Watch: World Report 2016 - Thailand Human Rights Watch: World Report 2016 - Vietnam. 21.

(31) to register hundreds of Vietnamese Montagnards as asylum seekers and to return dozens of Montagnards back to Vietnam where many have been subjected to persecution. The condition and status of contemporary refugees in Southeast Asia is reflective of a recurring truth so common among the ten ASEAN member states. While reports show a more tolerant and accommodating response from refugee-hosting countries in the region, there remains to be the lack of a legal framework to process inbound or newly arrived refugees44 as evident in Thailand. In 2012, however, attempts to institutionalize human rights offered a better opportunity for asylum seekers to afford rights despite their condition through the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD). The provisions of the document pertain to perceived basic rights to life, civil and. 政治大 The status of a refugee’s application rests on the laws of destination states. This 立 is evidenced by the prioritization of "national interests of governments" as argued by political rights, employment, education and personal development among others.. ‧ 國. 學. Petcharamesree.45 True enough, responses to the refugee issue vary across Southeast Asia: tolerance with a degree of protection (Indonesia), labelled as "illegal" (Malaysia),. ‧. registered and granted camp residence (Thailand), 46 processed and granted asylum (Philippines, ao 2012) 47 , and refused (Singapore) 48 among others. While Southeast. Nat. sit. y. Asian states may have different approaches individually 49, refugees are collectively. io. al. er. referred to as “irregular migrants” in the ASEAN.. n. Under the AHRD, refugees [in theory] are afforded the following rights:. Ch. i n U. v. freedom of movement, right to seek asylum, right to a nationality, right to work, right. engchi. to education. The AHRD provisions on the right to development (Article 35) and the right to peace (Article 38) are by far the most novel in comparison to other regional. 44. MISS SARINYA MOOLMA, “Us Resettlement for Displaced Persons from Myanmar: Protection in a Protracted Refugee Situation in Mae La Shelter” (Chulalongkorn University, 2011), 4. 45 Sriprapha Petcharamesree, "The Asean Human Rights Architecture: Its Development and Challenges," (2013). 46 Susan Kneebone, "Comparative Regional Protection Frameworks for Refugees: Norms and Norm Entrepreneurs," The International Journal of Human Rights 20, no. 2 (2016). 47 Zebadiah Canero, "Timeline: Philippine Laws and Policies on Refugees," Rappler, 20 June 2015, accessed 29 August 2016, http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/96929-timeline-philippine-lawpolicies-refugees. 48 Brian L Foster, “Ethnicity and Economy: The Case of the Mons in Thailand” (University of Michigan., 1972). 49 This is also reflected in news coverages by different media outfits across the ASEAN: (See The MalayMail Online vis-a-vis Inquirer.net; keywords: refugee, illegal migrants). 22.

(32) human rights instruments, for which the ASEAN has been hailed. Nonetheless, this novelty runs short as it is perceived to “limit accountability” for specific violations.50 D. Push and Pull: Regional experience In the general sense, push factors influence the departure of people from their lands of residence, often causing flight due to unstable political situations, degrading socioeconomic conditions, lack of opportunities, and persistent military conflict in their origin communities. Inversely, pull factors are mostly seen as positive characteristics observed in destination country, “such as higher standard of living, employment opportunities, safety and freedom of expression.” 51 Loescher further suggests that existing migrant networks within a prospective asylum country is also important in. 政治大. influencing mobilization among refugee groups.. 立. Indochina States. ‧ 國. 學. A 1986 survey of Indochinese Refugees in Thailand52 conducted in the then existing refugee camps of Ban Vinai, Ban Napho, Khao I Dang and Phanat Nikhom, refugees. ‧. attested that the main reason behind their departure was the worsening situation in their countries of origin. While the decision to flee was a personal choice for Kampucheans. sit. y. Nat. (Cambodians) and Laotians—in fear of possible punishment and insertion into seminar camps or be extrajudicially killed for dissent and/or non-cooperation, Vietnamese. io. al. er. refugees were “persuaded” to relocate by friends and relatives who have earlier fled. n. iv n C groups expressed that the political h esituation h i theUsame for all three home countries n g cwas Vietnam and have later settled in refugee camps. Similarly, however, all three refugee. and freedom was hardly existent. Furthermore, the refugees in question were either reluctant to or skeptical about returning to their previous communities/country to resume their former lives as political situations continued to prove unfit to permit the return to normalcy.53. 50. Katherine G Southwick, "Bumpy Road to the Asean Human Rights Declaration," (2013). Gil Loescher, "Beyond Charity," International cooperation and the global refugee crisis (1993). 52 The respondents for the study were residing in clustered camps according to their ethnic groups: Hmong (Ban Vinai), Laotian (Ban Napho), Kampuchean (Khao I Dang), and Vietnamese (Phanat Nikhom). Survey questions were divided into three parts 1) General background, 2) Migration circumstances, and 3) Resettlement to third countries where information about existing networks in a prospective country were supplied. 53 A. Pongsapit, and N. Chongwatta, "The Refugee Situation in Thailand," in Indochinese Refugees: Asylum and Resettlement (Thailand: Chulalongkorn University, Institute of Asian Studies, 1988), 3847. 51. 23.

(33) Myanmar Differing from the example of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, Myanmar’s refugees were predominantly internally displaced people uprooted by the constant tug-of-war between insurgency and counterinsurgency movements.54 This insecurity derived from clashes in conflict areas have greatly put local communities at risk as civilians are caught in the crossfire, where they are identified by counterinsurgents as “potential collaborators or sympathizers” of militants. At the root of the refugee movement, causes of border crossings can be attributed to what displaced the people within the country, which Lang55 argues can be any of or a combination of the following: 1. Raids in villages believed to support insurgents’ cause, which sees the pilfering. 政治大 torture and execution; 立 Imposition of unjust levies, extortion, and demand for ransom;. of local resources such as food supply, assets, and subjection of villagers to. 學. ‧ 國. 2.. 3. Conscription of villagers for forced labor as porters for the military, inescapable unless payment is exacted in lieu of the service;56 and the. ‧. 4. Forceful eviction and relocation of villages seen fit.. y. Nat. The case of non-Burmese (Burman) refugees that have moved into the camps across. sit. the Thai-Myanmar border show that proximity (and familiarity of terrain) is a major. al. er. io. factor behind the decision to relocate. The fact that shared histories exist between some. n. of Myanmar’s indigenous groups (e.g. Shan and Siamese) by virtue of traditional. Ch. i n U. v. “galactic polities” of satellite tributary states forming a state-patron nexus prior to the. engchi. arrival of European colonizers, such cross-border migrations had been, in the past, treated with flexibility.57 Furthermore, some of Myanmar’s indigenous groups share a similar cultural background with their neighbors across the Thai-Myanmar border. As exemplified by the Mon people, it was possible to coexist in Thai villages bordering. 54. Hazel J Lang, Fear and Sanctuary: Burmese Refugees in Thailand (SEAP Publications, 2002), 6879. 55 Lang, 68. 56 Households in the Ye Pyu township were made to pay 200 kyats per month as porting charge, aside from the mandatory provision of six to fifteen laborers to port for Burmese troops. (Committee for the Promotion of People’s Struggle in Monland, 1995) 57 Victor B Lieberman, "Ethnic Politics in Eighteenth-Century Burma," Modern Asian Studies 12, no. 03 (1978): 458. Also, Robert E Elson, "International Commerce, the State and Society: Economic and Social Change," The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia 2, no. Part I (1992): 131-32.. 24.

(34) their state due to the similarity in livelihood practices, them being wet rice farmers.58 The existence of an established indigenous community comprised by Mon, Karen, and Tavoyan, as well as some Thais, which was the case for refugees settling in Wangka, Thailand, has been notably helpful in attracting newcomers. Places in Thailand like Wangka are considered to be “safe places to settle,” allowing even for the establishment of familiar industries or livelihood similar to what refugees left behind in Myanmar.59. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 58. Brian L Foster, Ethnicity and Economy: The Case of the Mons in Thailand (University of Michigan., 1972). 59 Lang, 136.. 25.

(35) CHAPTER III Framework A. Theoretical. 立. 政治大. Figure 1. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. International refugee movements transpire within a framework subject to international norms. However, it should be noted that flight happens only when push factors displace people and villages, making them vulnerable to a host of issues such as lack of food, shelter, education, and other human necessities. While it is an option to stay within the home country, opportunities for a better life in another place—economically, socially, and in terms of security—serve as an initiative and drive people to cross borders.. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. n. iv n C of analytical liberalism is that h it permits e n ganalysis c h i toUbe done on two-levels, as opposed The advantage of approaching the topic of refugee flows from the perspective. to other International Relations theories like neo-liberalism and liberal institutionalism. whose assumptions apply only on the system-level. Constructivism, on the other hand, is known for being closer to neo-realism and liberal institutionalism in terms of levels of analysis being on the system-level, but has been adopted into this study due to the recent developments in its use for ontology studies 60 by introducing non-state and transnational actors into the approach (e.g. NGOs, UNHCR). Constructivism is then seen to be more inclusive and dynamic, seeing that internationally occurring phenomena influences domestic politics and vice-versa.. 60 Thomas Risse and Antje Wiener, "'Something Rotten'and the Social Construction of Social Constructivism: A Comment on Comments," Journal of European Public Policy 6, no. 5 (1999).. 26.

(36) Betts suggests that both approaches have strong points and can actually be reconciled despite some obvious differences. 61 In his book, 62 he mentions that analytical liberalism “has not been applied to analyze the international politics of forced migration…” but “…It has great potential…” In the context of Southeast Asian refugee flows, the interaction among states is evident,63 often acting on matters based on internationally recognized documents such as the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but also while referring to regionally drafted guidelines (e.g., ASEAN Human Rights Doctrine64). Concomitantly, Kunz’s 1981 typology works well with the two theories, where resettlement of refugee groups is assisted by international organizations like the UNHCR at all levels/steps of the process. A country’s domestic elements (e.g., interest. 政治大 may determine the likelihood. groups, political/economic events, etc.) affect the overall well-being of refugees,. 立. wherein social conditions. of refugees settling. permanently or finding the need to move to a third country and so forth.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 61. The researcher posits that Bett’s assessment on analytical liberalism’s flexibility as an approach can work well with constructivism due in part that, while the latter is traditionally a system-level theory, it has been adopted into recent studies that deviate from this. Furthermore, following Moravcsik’s (1997) analytical theory, what bridges the gap between the two is in analytical liberalism’s compatibility with theories like liberal institutionalism and it being near parallel to constructivism. 62 Forced Migration and Global Politics, 2009. 28. 63 Cochrane, 2015. 64 The ASEAN Human Rights Doctrine has been met with criticisms, for its choice wording, following regional contexts of freedom and stating the need to consider member states' "different political, economic, legal, social, cultural, historical and religious backgrounds." see AHRD.. 27.

(37) B. Operational In accordance to the theories of analytical liberalism and constructivism, the researcher presents a diagram which shows the relations of domestic and international factors to the trend behind refugee flows:. Figure 2 Upon arrival in a first country, some refugees, depending on domestic conditions (Kunz, 1981), may opt to integrate with local populations thus attaining permanent resident status. In the event that conditions prove to be unfavorable, departure happens once more.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The framework diagram is representative of a portion of a continuous system in that there is no finite number of states in the structure. The process, however, can be seen in four phases or steps: 1) The process starts when peoples (e.g. non-Burmese indigenous groups) are uprooted and displaced (thus IDPs) by social, political, or economic issues (identified as “push” factors) until the situation becomes intolerable, constituting to the departure from the home country. 2) Inversely, asylum countries showing positive conditions such as “higher standard of living, employment opportunities, safety and freedom of expression”65 have generally attracted refugees 65. Loescher.. 28.

(38) (pull). The process that these refugees go through is facilitated by international organizations such as the UNHCR and other UN subsidiary organizations working on the system (and national) level, usually for temporary asylum in a state observing internationally observed human rights frameworks as is the case for the Philippines and Cambodia (1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol signatories), while the rest observe the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (2012) and other international and regional documents. 3) Depending on the domestic and national policies in a country of asylum being favorable or permissive of refugees’ finding a sense of normalcy, there may or may not be the need to 4) relocate to another country of asylum, wherein this step will once again see the intervention/assistance of international organizations to facilitate the move.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 29.

(39) Chapter IV Research Methodology In conducting the study, the researcher has adopted some techniques in extracting data, critically analyzing the comprehensive sets of information and carefully applying gathered knowledge to answer questions that may lead to the research’s conclusion. The approach employed throughout the course of the study follows the mixed methodology technique as it allows for better understanding of the subject than either quantitative or qualitative research alone. A. Method of Research. 政治大. The researcher has decided to adopt the Descriptive method of research in. 立. conducting the study. A descriptive study describes and interprets what is. It is mainly. ‧ 國. 學. concerned with conditions or relationships that exist, opinions that are held, processes that are going on, effects that are evident, or trends that are developing. 66 It is sometimes known as non-experimental or correlation research, dealing with the. ‧. relationships between variables, the testing of hypotheses, and the development of. y. Nat. generalizations, principles or theories that have universal utility. This method is. sit. concerned with functional relationships.67 This kind of method had covered most of. er. io. the aspects and perspectives concerned with data gathering, collection and analysis. Using the descriptive method, the researcher had examined observed events and. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. conditions of the variables which assessed the contribution of both home and. engchi. destination country’s domestic conditions to influence refugees to either settle or flee. Both of the two types of descriptive methods of research were used in conducting this study: 1) Quantitative descriptive research uses quantitative methods to describe what is, describing, recording, analyzing, and interpreting conditions that exist; 68. 66. Yogesh Kumar Singh, “Educational Research: Descriptive Method,” in Ms. Ruchika Nath, ed., Research Melthodology (New Delhi: Kul Bhushan Nangia APH Publishing Corporation, 2005). p. 229 67 Ibid., p.230 68 Yogesh Kumar Singh, “Educational Research: Meaning of Research,” in Ms. Ruchika Nath, ed., Research Melthodology (New Delhi: Kul Bhushan Nangia APH Publishing Corporation, 2005). p. 52. 30.

(40) 2) Qualitative descriptive research uses non quantitative methods to describe what is. Qualitative descriptive research uses systematic producers to discover non-quantifiable relationship between existing variables.69 The researcher aimed to discover the effects of the interplay among policies, national and international structures, and domestic events on refugee movements by using both the qualitative and quantitative types of descriptive method mentioned above. It should be noted that the research had only been using the qualitative method in analyzing statistical data’s trends and patterns in chronological series.. 政治大. B. Data Collection Procedure. 立. The general breadth of this paper was based upon scholarly writings such as. ‧ 國. 學. academic journals, articles and publications for literature review, a semi-structured interview. Such documents were analyzed and interpreted in an unbiased manner and in accordance to two theoretical approaches: analytical liberalism and constructivism.. ‧. Some concepts were based on online correspondences exchanged between the. y. Nat. researcher and key stakeholders working in the field with IDPs and refugees, as well. sit. as a Karen refugee. The researcher had been in contact with Mr. Sai Sam Kham,. al. er. io. executive director of Metta Development Foundation, the largest NGO in Myanmar.. n. The foundation he heads is known for their work in the grass-roots, promoting. Ch. i n U. v. participation of communities in project planning, implementation and evaluation. The. engchi. main areas of focus are on building community capacity, sustainable development, and establishment of community-led social and economic associations. Metta also actively works with IDPs throughout Myanmar. The researcher also consulted with specialists involved in data visualization and geographic information system (GIS), namely Mr. Deroy Peraza of The Refugee Project70 and Dr. Jack B. Owens, professor emeritus and lead researcher on digital cartography at Idaho State University. As extensive familiarity on refugee issues in the Southeast Asia area is necessary, the researcher also corresponded with Somrudee “Tarn” Atikankun, Communication & Information Officer of The Border Consortium. 69 70. Ibid. See http://www.therefugeeproject.org/.. 31.

(41) (TBC), and Mr. Pierre Péron, Public Information and Advocacy Officer of UNOCHA, both of whom supplied portions of the data used for analysis. Despite efforts to contact representatives to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand for interview, the researcher never received a response to his message of inquiry as was the same for several other contact persons provided by professional contacts in his network. Statistics on inbound refugee flows per year within (from and to) ASEAN member-states were obtained from the UNHCR Population Statistics Database. C. Data Visualization (Attempt) During the early stages of this study, the researcher envisioned to employ digital. 治政 à-vis destination/asylum, while considering elements 大 that will have influenced individual decisions 立 of where to go. Such circumstances would have furthered the mapping to visualize the movements of refugees with respect to country of origin vis-. ‧ 國. 學. discourse of the study by going beyond the numbers as individual experiences vary greatly across time periods; economic, social, political and environmental conditions. Demographical differences such as age, gender, as well as educational attainment will. ‧. further skew the distribution of the data. As such, it is necessary to have a focused set. sit. the region, preferably covering the forty decades under study.. y. Nat. of migration histories of individuals from specific sectors of the refugee spectrum in. al. er. io. In the event that such data will be available, it will be helpful to make use of. n. GIS or geographic information system to pinpoint where refugees are at specific. Ch. i n U. v. historical points and under what circumstances. Ideally, identifying the economic. engchi. standing (whether employed or not, in which sector, etc.), residence status (whether granted temporary residence, citizenship, illegal, etc.), ties with kin (whether staying with family, alone, or in partnership with local or co-refugee) vis-à-vis existing domestic conditions in the country of residence such as migration and labor policies, economic conditions, and overall attitude towards refugees will help illustrate possible perspectives behind why and how refugee arrivals at the particular period were either made possible or hindered. For this study, the researcher was limited to using data sets that reflected refugee populations in destination countries from 1975 to 2015. While basic, this serves as a preliminary visualization of refugee data that may further be expanded for future research, pending the availability of migration histories in detail. 32.