(Neo) Colonialism and Refugee Protection: the Case of Rohingya Refugee Crisis in Aceh in 2015

What was happening in the Rohingya refugee crisis that affected Aceh in 2015?
What are the ideas of law of the actors involved in response to the Rohingya refugee crisis in Aceh, and what do the actors experience as law?
How did these ideas about the law inform/affect their responses?
How do international refugee law and domestic law (including local customary law) influence these ideas?

1. BACKGROUNDS 1. Eurocentric Characteristic of Refugee Regime; Inception of International Refugee Regime as a result of refugee crisis in Europe in 1900-1930an The Refugee Convention of 1951 was not intended to be universal the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees was globalised 2. Restrictive measures  protection challenges: To deter/stop refugees entering the respective territories

2. Research Questions

3. Frameworks (Menski’s Kite Model:2011)   Natural law     State law Socio-cultural norms International law

4. Litterature review: (Neo) Colonialism And International Law T he continuing legacy of colonial histories typified by an unwillingness to look at any current problem as ahistorical, or not to separate the law from the historical context within which it developed ( Anthonie Angie) the international refugee regime is characterised not only by its humanitarian or intergovernmental response to displacement, but is also deeply informed by histories of colonialism, racial exclusion, and Western constructions of non-Europeans as “others” (Glenn Peterson) , Gatrell reveals the denial of UNHCR of the rights of Muslim refugees in Europe during the Cold War period.

5. Fieldworks (14 July-17 September 2018)

6. Fieldworks (Focus Groups)

7. UNHCR’s role in refugee protection UNHCR as a supervisor of the Refugee Convention UNHCR has been given a role in implementing the Refugee Convention, which provides refugees with protection Presidential Decree No 38 of 1979 regarding the Coordination of the Resolution of Issues Related to Vietnamese Refugees in Vietnam, was adopted. This regulation legitimates the UNHCR’s role in finding resettlement for refugees in third countries, and in planning repatriation to their own countries, whereas Indonesia government’s role was to provide a space for Indochinese refugees. This experience highlighted the beginning of UNHCR’s establishment of an international refugee regime located in Indonesia since 1982. Regulation of the Director General of Immigration No. IMI.1489.UM.08.05 Year 2010 Regarding Handling of Irregular Migrants . Before the adoption of Presidential Decree No 125 of 2016, this regulation was the main source of authority in handling asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia.

8. FINDINGS . Connecting Peterson and Gatrell’s ideas to the Rohingya refugee crisis, I bring up UNHCR’s and IOM’s attitudes in “othering” their fellow institutions : But as far as I know, there were organisations (UNHCR and IOM) who would demand the CSOs get away from the shelter, since they considered that the latter had no right to be there; while they thought that they had more rights to be there .I-7 But Aceh was unique. There were no CSOs that could play such roles abroad. This reality made UNHCR and IOM upset. They thought that they were the only ones capable of tackling the refugees. That is what put us into a sharp argument. Until then we talked to a CSO which was close to us, and they said it couldn’t be that way . I-7

9. FINDINGS and in U nderestimating the role of adat law and Sharia in their efforts to manage the Rohingya. I present two examples that relate to these attitudes; first, questioning the rules on the separation of male and female Rohingyas , and secondly, the prohibition of the practice of child marriage between Rohingyas: As we have discussed, we were also faced with the involvement of the foreign organisations like UNHCR and IOM. They didn’t respect us at all. Our law was put aside and they seemed to be ignorant. They (UNHCR and IOM) kept asking, “Why were the refugees separated between men and women in the shelter?”FG1-2 The number of Rohingyas kept adding. They delivered more babies here. They got married here. We don’t know how many couples had been married. This made big news in the international world because we put into marriages those girls whom they would think as underage. They were just 16 and 14 years old. UNHCR said no to this kind of marriage. The UNHCR banned the marriage after they phoned the (UNHCR) headquarter I-7 The institutions who took care of all these problems were these CSOs. It was you, all of you who are attending this focus group discussion, who are taking charge of handling those problems of the refugees. While the UN (UNHCR) and IOM were not as diligent as you are; frequently they came here (to the shelters) at 11 or 12, or even at noon I-1

10. Conclusion Linking colonialism with the international refugee regime, both Peterson and Gatrell highlight the characteristics of colonialism embodied within the UNHCR, which privileged European refugees over other refugees. The colonialism attitude is confirmed by this research in the way UNHCR and IOM disregarded others who got involved in managing the Rohingya during the crisis, and also undermined the role of adat and Islamic laws in tackling problems on the ground .  

11. recommendation one of the problems is the complexity of implementing legal pluralism on the ground, exacerbated by the absence of effective supervision of international agencies (i.e., the UNHCR and IOM). Therefore, future research might be conducted into the supervision of international agencies (e.g., the UNHCR and IOM) in countries non-signatory to the Refugee Convention. This research was also aimed at analysing the role of these organisations in protecting (or not) the refugees, and looked at the possibility of supervision of these organisations

12. Terima kasih !