Legalitas operasi Turn Back the Boats di bawah kebijakan Operation Sovereign Borders sebagai upaya penanganan pencari suaka oleh Australia

Abstract

Operation Sovereign Borders, was first implemented under the Tony Abbot government, the policy is one of Australia's efforts to deal with a surge in asylum seekers trying to enter Australia by sea. This policy includes Australia's borders protection and the implementation of turn back the boats against asylum-seeking vessels from entering Australian territory. Its implementation is focused on the sea and targets ships starting from Indonesia. In dealing with the problem of asylum seekers arriving by sea or boat people, countries must create policies that sometimes overlap and even contradict each other. Australia should consider protecting their national borders and suppressing migrant smuggling, but on the other hand also has an obligation to rescue migrants, provide protection for asylum seekers and protect human rights. Thus, handling boat people requires a clear understanding of the national legal framework and relevant international legal considerations, as well as the interactions between overlapping legal regimes. The results of this paper argue that the turn back the boats policy under the Operation Sovereign Borders policy can be implemented under current Australian law, but a policy as it currently stands would place Australia in violation of the non-refoulement norm.