Refugee Regime in the Prolonged Transit: The Role of Non-State Actors in Indonesia’s Fragmented Governance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.41386Keywords:
Non-State Actors, Non-Signatory States, Refugee Regime, Fragmented Governance, Indonesia.Abstract
This research scrutinizes the refugee regime in Indonesia, highlighting the role of non-state actors within a fragmented governance framework. Despite not signing the 1951 Refugee Convention, Indonesia functions as a notable transit point for refugees and asylum seekers. Through qualitative analysis, the findings suggest that the collaborative yet fragmented system presents both opportunities and challenges in addressing the intricate needs of refugees in Indonesia. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how non-state actors influence practical policy and procedures in providing and advocating refugee rights in contexts where formal state mechanisms are constrained or absent.
Metrics
References
Adiputera, Y. and Prabandari, A. (2018). ‘Akses Pekerjaan Untuk Pengungsi Di Indonesia: Peluang Dan Tantangan’, Institute of International Studies. 1 July. Available at: https://simpan.ugm.ac.id/s/srjhE7cag7H8eDY#pdfviewer (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Afira, M.R.I.P. (2021). ‘The Role and Impact of Australian Refugee Policy in Asia-Pacific Region: From Australia-Cambodia Agreement to Rohingya Crisis’, Mandala, 4(1), pp. 102-113. doi: https://doi.org/10.33822/mjihi.v4i1.1851 DOI: https://doi.org/10.33822/mjihi.v4i1.1851
Aleinikoff, T. A. (1992). ‘State-Centered Refugee Law: From Resettlement to Containment State-Centered Refugee Law: From Resettlement to Containment’. Michigan Journal of International Law, 14(1), pp. 120-138. doi: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjil/vol14/iss1/3
Baxter, P., and Jack, S. (2008). ‘Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study Design and Implementation for Novice Researchers’, The Qualitative Report, 13(4), pp. 544-556. doi: https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2008.1573 DOI: https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2008.1573
Betts, A., and Milner, J. (2019). ‘Governance of the Global Refugee Regime’. World Refugee Council Research Paper No. 13. Available at: https://www.cigionline.org/static/documents/documents/WRC%20Research%20Paper%20No.13.pdf (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Brahm, E. (2005). International Regimes. Beyond Intractability. Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/international-regimes. (Accessed: 8 November 2023)
Bridgen, N. K. (2016). ‘Improvised Transnationalism: Clandestine Migration at the Border of Anthropology and International Relations’, International Studies Quarterly, 60(2), pp. 343–354, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqw010 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqw010
Brown, T. (2018). Refugee-led education in Indonesia. Forced Migration Review. Available at: https://www.fmreview.org/economies/brown. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Brunkhorst, H. (2005). Solidarity: From Civic Friendship to a Global Legal Community. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Campomori, F., and Ambrosini, M. (2020). ‘Multilevel governance in trouble: the implementation of asylum seekers’reception in Italy as a battleground’, Comparative Migration Studies, 8(22). doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-020-00178-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-020-00178-1
Canefe, N. (2010). ‘The fragmented nature of the international refugee regime and its consequences: a comparative analysis of the applications of the 1951 convention’ in Simeon J.C. (ed.) Critical Issues in International Refugee Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 174 - 210. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511762864.008
Castells, M. (1997). The Power of Identity. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Choi, Won Geun. (2022). Becoming an Advocate; Asia Pasific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) and The Evolution of Local NGOs in Asia. Third World Quarterly, 43(10), pp. 2526-2543. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2022.2104245 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2022.2104245
Clavin, P. (2005). ‘Defining Transnationalism’. Contemporary European History, 14(4), pp. 421-439. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20081278. (Accessed: 8 November 2023). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777305002705
Curby, N (2020). ‘The wait: Indonesia's refugees describe life stuck in an interminable limbo’. The Guardian. 20 November. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/21/the-wait-indonesias-refugees-describe-life-stuck-in-an-interminable-limbo. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Darrow, J.H. (2018). ‘Working it out in practice: Tensions embedded in the US refugee resettlement program resolved through implementation’, in Garnier, A., Jubilut, L.L, and Sandvik, K.B., (ed.) Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics and Humanitarian Governance. Brooklyn: Berghahn Books, pp. 95-117. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvw04brz.8
Dewansyah, B. and Handayani, I. (2018). ‘Reconciling Refugee Protection and Sovereignty in ASEAN Member States Law and Policy Related to Refugee in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand’, Central European Journal of International and Security Studies, 12(4), pp. 473–485. doi: https://doi.org/10.51870/CEJISS.XKVV3716 DOI: https://doi.org/10.51870/CEJISS.XKVV3716
Eriksen, E. O. (2005). ‘An Emerging European Public Sphere’. European Journal of Social Theory, 8 (3), pp. 341-363. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431005054798. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431005054798
Faist, T. (2000). ‘Transnationalization in international migration: implications for the study of citizenship and culture’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 23 (2), pp. 189-222. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/014198700329024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/014198700329024
Faist, T, and Bilecen, B. (2017). Transnationalism-Updated. COMCAD (Centre on Migration, Citizenship and Development) Working Papers 158. Available at: https://www. ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/55393. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Falkner, R. (2003). ‘Private environmental governance and international relations: exploring the links’. Global environmental politics, 3(2), pp. 72-87. doi: 10.1162/152638003322068 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/152638003322068227
Federico, V., and Hess, S. (2021). Protection Regimes-a Critical Analysis. Working Papers Global Migration: Consequences and Responses. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1540061/FULLTEXT01.pdf. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Foner, Nancy. (1997). ‘What’s new about transnationalism? New York immigrants today and at the turn of the century’, Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 6(3), pp. 355–375. doi: 10.3138/diaspora.6.3.355 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.1997.0013
Garnier, Adele., Jubilut, L.L., and Sandvik, K.B. Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics, and
Humanitarian Governance. Brooklyn: Berghahn Books.
Garnier, A. (2018). ‘Resettled refugees and work in Canada and Quebec: humanitarianism and the challenge of mainstream socioeconomic participation’. in Garnier, A., Jubilut, L.L, and Sandvik, K.B., (ed.) Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics and Humanitarian Governance. Brooklyn: Berghahn Books, pp. 118 - 138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvw04brz.9
Green, J. F., and Auld, G. (2017). ‘Unbundling the Regime Complex:
The Effects of Private Authority’, Transnational Environmental Law, 6 (2), pp. 259–284. doi:10.1017/S2047102516000121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102516000121
Guarnizo, L. E. (1997). ‘The Emergence of a Transnational Social Formation and The Mirage of Return Migration Among Dominican Transmigrants’, Global Studies in Culture and Power, 4 (2), pp. 281-322. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962591 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962591
Haggard, S., and Simmons, B. A. (1987). Theories of International Regimes. International Organization, 41 (3), pp. 491-517. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2706754. (Accessed: 8 November 2023). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818300027569
Hagelund, A. (2020). ‘After the refugee crisis: public discourse and policy change in Denmark, Norway and Sweden’, Comparative Migration Studies, 8(12). doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-019-0169-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-019-0169-8
Herrero, D. (2020). ‘Refugee Policies and Narratives in the Globalised Era: The case
of Australia’, International Journal of English Studies, 21(2), pp. 101-121. doi: 10.6018/ijes.437
Hoffman, J., Liddell, B. J., Keegan, D., Kashyap, S., Diah Tricesaria, A. A. I., Pestalozzi, Z., Argadianti, R., Nandyatama, R. W., Khakbaz, M., Nilasari, N., and Nickerson, A. (2023). ‘The impact of COVID-19 stressors on refugee mental health and well-being in the context of sustained displacement’, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 93(2), pp. 144–155. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000664 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000664
Itzigsohn, J., Cabral, C. D., Medina, E. H., and Vazquez, O. (1999). ‘Mapping Dominican transnationalism: Narrow and broad transnational practices’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22(2), pp. 316–339. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/014198799329503 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/014198799329503
Janmyr, M. (2021). ‘The 1951 Refugee Convention and Non-Signatory States: Charting a Research Agenda’, International Journal of Refugee Law, 33 (2), pp. 188-213. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eeab043 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eeab043
Keohane, R. O., and Nye, J. S. (1977). Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition. Boston: Little, Brown Company.
Kearney, M. (1995). The Local and the Global: The Anthropology of Globalization and Transnationalism. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, pp. 547-565. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2155949. (Accessed: 8 November 2023). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.24.1.547
Kelberer, V. (2017). ‘Negotiating Crisis: International Aid and Refugee Policy in Jordan’, Middle East Policy, 24(4). pp. 148-165. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/mepo.12313 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mepo.12313
Kriesi, H., Altiparmakis, A., Bojar, A., and Oana, I.E. (2021). ‘Debordering and re-bordering in the refugee crisis: a case of ‘defensive integration’’, Journal Of European Public Policy, 28(3), pp. 331–349. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2021.1882540 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2021.1882540
Lamb, K. (2019,). ‘'It's impossible to do anything”: Indonesia's refugees in limbo as money runs out’. The Guardian. 14 September. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/13/its-impossible-to-do-anything-indonesias-refugees-in-limbo-as-money-runs-out. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Lele, G. (2018). ‘Compliance under fragmented governance: the case of ASEAN economic community implementation in four Indonesian city governments,’ Policy Studies, 39(6), 607-621. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2018.1530414
Levy, M. A., Young, O. R., and Zurn, M. (1996). ‘The Study of International Regime’, European Journal of International Relations, 1 (3), pp. 267-330. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066195001003001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066195001003001
Mencutek, Z. S. (2019). Refugee Governance, State and Politics in the Middle East. New York: Routledge
Milner, J., and Klasses, A. (2020). Reference Paper for the 70th Anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention: Civil Society and the Politics of the Global Refugee Regime. Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/people-forced-to-flee-book/wp-content/uploads/sites/137/2021/10/James-Milner-and-Amanda-Klassen_-Civil-Society-and-the-Politics-of-the-Global-Refugee-Regime.pdf. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Minns, J., Bradley, K., and Chagas-Bastos, F.H. (2018). ‘Australia’s Refugee Policy: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0020881717746797
Not a Model for the World’, International Studies, 55(1), pp. 1-21. doi: 10.1177/002088171774679
Missbach, A., Adiputera, Y., & Prabandari, A. (2018). ‘Is Makassar a 'sanctuary city'? Migration governance in Indonesia after the 'local turn'’. Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 11(2), pp. 199-216. Available at: https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/is-makassar-a-sanctuary-city-migration-governance-in-indonesia-af. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Mohammadi, S., and Askary, S. (2022). ‘Refugees live in destitution in Indonesia: Years of limbo and suffering lead refugees to protests for many weeks now for resettlement’, ReliefWeb, 10 January. Available at: https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/refugees-live-in-destitution-in-indonesia/. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Moretti, S. (2018). ‘Keeping Up Appearances State Sovereignty and the Protection of
Refugees in Southeast Asia’, European Journal of East Asian Studies, 17 (2018), pp. 3–30. doi: 10.1163/15700615-01701001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15700615-01701001
Morrison, S. (2014). ‘Changes to resettlement: another blow to people smugglers’, The Hon. Scott Morrison MP Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, 18 November. Available at: https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20141221233756/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/143035/20141222-1032/www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm219307.htm. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Nickerson, A., Hoffman, J., Keegan, D., Kashyap, S., Tricesaria, D., Pestalozzi, Z., Argadianti, R. R, Nandyatama, R., Khakbaz, M., Nilasari, N., and Liddell, B.J. (2022). ‘Context, coping, and mental health in refugees living in protracted displacement’, Journal of Trauma Stress. 35(6), pp. 1769-1782. doi: 10.1002/jts.22885. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22885
Norman, D. J. (2019). ‘Transnational civil society and informal public spheres in the nuclear
non-proliferation regime’, European Journal of International Relations, 25 (2), pp. 486–510. doi: 10.1177/1354066118774836 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066118774836
Olivia, Y., Nizmi, Y.E., Jamaan, A., Iskandar, I. and Deanty, H.S. (2020).
‘Considering Local Integration for Refugees in Indonesia’, Jurnal Hubungan
Internasional, 9(2), pp. 154-164. doi: https://doi.org/10.18196
Ostrand, N. (2015). ‘The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by DOI: https://doi.org/10.14240/jmhs.v3i3.51
Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States’, Journal on Migration and Human Security, 3(3), pp. 225-279. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/233150241500300301 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/233150241500300301
Peck, S. (2020). ‘Transnational social capital: The socio-spatialities of civil society’, Global Networks, 20(1), pp. 126–149. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12234 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12234
Portes, A. (2001). ‘Introduction: The debates and significance of immigrant transnationalism’, Global Networks, 1(3),pp. 181–194. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0374.00012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0374.00012
Puchala, D. J., and Hopkins, R. F. (1982). ‘International Regimes: Lessons from Inductive Analysis’, International Organization, 36(2), pp. 245-275. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2706522 (Accessed: 8 November 2023). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818300018944
Risse-Kappen, T. (1995). Bringing Transnational Relation Back In: Non-State Actors, Domestic Structures and International Institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511598760
Sassen, S. (1999). ‘Beyond Sovereignty; De-Facto Transnationalism in Immigration Policy’, European Journal of Migration and Law, 1, pp. 177-198. doi: 10.1163/15718169920958513. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718169920958513
Schiller, N. G., Basch, L., and Blanc-Szanton, C. (1992). ‘Towards a definition of transnationalism’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 645(1), pp. 9–14. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1992.tb33482.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1992.tb33482.x
Smith, M. P. (2001). Transnational Urbanism: Locating Globalization/ Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Smith, W. (2011). ‘Civil disobedience and the public sphere’, Journal of Political Philosophy, 19(2), pp. 145–166. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2010.00365.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2010.00365.x
Spoonley, P., Bedford, R., and Macpherson, C. (2003). ‘Divided loyalties and fractured sovereignty: Transnationalism and the nation-state in Aotearoa/New Zealand’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 29(1),pp. 27-46. doi:10.1080/1369183032000076704 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183032000076704
Stake, R. (2006). Multiple Case Study Analysis. New York: The Guilford Press.
Stevenson, H., and Dryzek, J. (2014). Democratizing Global Climate Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139208628
Sirait, K.R. Rosyidin, M. Putranti, I.R. and Charlotte, S. (2019). ‘Usaha Mendapatkan
Pengakuan Internasional: Kebijakan Indonesia Mengeluarkan Peraturan
Presiden 125/2016 dalam Menangani Isu Pengungsi’, Indonesian Perspective,
4(2), pp. 150-174. doi: https://doi.org/10.14710/ip.v4i2.26700
Tambini, D. (2001). ‘Post-national citizenship’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 24 (2), pp. 195–217. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870020023418 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870020023418
Tedeschi, M., Vorobeva, E., and Jauhiainen, J. S. (2020). ‘Transnationalism: Current Debates and New Perspectives’, GeoJournal, 87, pp. 603-619. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10271-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10271-8
Trubek, D. M., Mosher, J., and Rothstein, J. S. (2000). ‘Transnationalism in the Regulation
of Labor Relations: International Regimes and Transnational Advocacy Networks’, Law & Social Inquiry, 25 (4), pp. 1187-1211. doi: https://www.jstor.org/stable/829128
Theresia, L. (2020). Kebijakan luar negeri Indonesia dalam menangani pengungsi.
Master thesis, Universitas Pelita Harapan. Available at: http://repository.uph.edu/9516/. (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Viartasiwi, N., langi, J.S., Tahir, A., Dwiyani, R., and Prestasia, A. (2021). Understanding Urban Refugee Governance in Indonesia; Main Concern and Stakeholders. Available at: https://www.rdi.or.id/storage/files/khub/uref/1637734453-rdi-uref-pop-up-discussion-series-final-report-with-isbn-compressed.pdf (Accessed: 8 November 2023).
Vertovec, S. (2000). Transnationalism. New York: Routledge.
Wasem, R. E. (2020). ‘More than a Wall: The Rise and Fall of US Asylum and Refugee Policy’, Journal on Migration and Human Security, 8(3), pp. 246-265. https://doi.org/10.1177/2331502420948847 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2331502420948847
Weiss, T. G., Seyle, C., and Coolidge, K. (2013). ‘The Rise of Non-State Actors in Global Governance: Opportunities and Limitations’, One Earth Future Foundation Discussion Paper. Available at: https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/327306-role-of-organisations-as-non-state-actor-e8b4c062.pdf (Accessed: 8 November 2023). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18289/OEF.2013.003
Willis, K., Yeoh, B.S.A., Fakhri, S.M. and Abdul Khader. (2004). ‘Introduction: Transnationalism as a Challenge to the Nation’, in Brenda S.A. Yeoh and Katie Willis. (ed.) State/Nation/Transnation. London: Routledge, pp. 1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203497340
UNHCR (n.d.) Fact Sheet. Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/id/en/fact-sheets. (Accessed: 9 November 2023).
Yin, R. K. (2003) Case study research: Design and methods. 3rd ed.. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Finahliyah Hasan, Randy W. Nandyatama, Bayu D. Kurniadi, Ni Made Diah Apsari Dewi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Refuge authors retain the copyright over their work, and license it to the general public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows for non-commercial use, reproduction and adaption of the material in any medium or format, with proper attribution. For general information on Creative Commons licences, visit the Creative Commons site. For the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, review the human readable summary.
