Humanitarianism in the Securitisation of 'Resettlement': The Cambodian Resettlement Agreement

This research examines the role of securitisation and humanitarianism in the narrative construction of Australia’s ‘resettlement’ initiative, the Cambodian Resettlement Agreement 2014–2018. Spurred by a variety of civil, political and environmental issues, the rate of displacement and the level of humanitarian need for protection globally currently surpass the number of allocated humanitarian places provided by hosting countries, particularly in the Global North. Governments have responded to mass migration by tightly controlling territorial access via visa restrictions, entrance criteria and punitive border control policies. These policies utilise military and policing networks to enforce interdiction at sea, boat turnbacks and offshore detention. These responses, designed to control migration and border access, are at odds with the humanitarian responsibilities of states, particularly those that are parties to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, which require states to provide protection within their territorial boundaries to individuals in need. A cohort that has disproportionately been on the receiving end of state securitised responses is ‘irregular maritime migrants’.

The securitisation of irregular maritime migration places state responses in direct conflict with the ethos underpinning the international legal refugee protection regime. This research explores the key tensions between securitisation and humanitarianism and how these two frameworks are pursued regionally under the mantle of so-called ‘durable solutions’. Australia has turned to regional neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region to assist in finding solutions for the resettlement of irregular maritime migrants who arrive on Australian shores, preferencing offshore and third-country arrangements over hosting solutions. The Cambodian Resettlement Agreement was presented by the Australian Government as a resettlement solution for those irregular maritime migrants assessed as refugees and based in offshore detention in Nauru from 2014 to 2018. To date, this resettlement agreement has received limited academic attention. My research responds to this gap by contributing a criminological analysis of 156 documents, via critical discourse analysis of foundational documents, ministerial press releases and newspaper articles. Drawing on these sources, this research explores Australia’s use of containment and deterrence to create a geographical distance between irregular maritime migrants and itself to promote the onwards movement of these migrants from Australia’s responsibility remit. Through analysis of the foundational documents of the Cambodian Resettlement Agreement and the role of political actors and the media, this research presents an empirical analysis of the Agreement, identifying the contemporary use of regionalism and humanitarianism by Australia to progress domestic security agendas steeped in colonialism and an externalisation doctrine.

I argue that Australia’s self-representation as a humanitarian actor in this Agreement plays into a larger strategy of securitisation. I illuminate the interplay of humanitarianism and securitisation within Australia’s narrative construction of the Agreement. By examining the Cambodian Resettlement Agreement, I present an empirical and theoretical contribution to scholarship on the nexus of securitisation and humanitarianism. This work interrogates the drivers of the Australian Government’s humanitarian claims and more broadly highlights possible future trajectories for resettlement initiatives for irregular maritime migrants, as a cautionary tale.