【Report】Monthly Young Scholar’s Meeting July 2026

Dr Nino Viartasiwi - “Constructive Refoulement in Practice: Is Non-Refoulement a Cornerstone or Legal Fiction?”

On 21 July 2026, Dr Nino Viartasiwi, an Assistant Professor at President University, Indonesia and 2026 JFSEAP Fellow, delivered a lecture on the development of practices in international asylum-seeker and refugee governance. Dr Viartasiwi focused on the contradictions between the principle of non-refoulment in international law and the state practice of constructive refoulement.

Under customary international law, a state is obliged to not forcibly return refugees to places where they may face distress or potential harm. However, state practice has developed to circumvent non-refoulement through practices are known as “constructive refoulement”. Though states themselves are expected to not deport refugees and asylum-seekers, there are no such restrictions when refugees themselves voluntarily decide to leave the country. The line, however, is remarkably blurry: how can a decision be considered voluntary when state practices often subtly coerce refugees to leave? While not in direct contravention with international law, constructive refoulement practices often contribute to mismanagement of refugees and asylum-seekers, thus contributing to the erosion of the norm of non-refoulement.

Dr Viartasiwi compares practices in Europe and Southeast Asia and found similar practices. These include planned destitution, pushback from security officials, and regulations and structures that condition refugees to be dependent on external aid. She then calls for the construction of a framework of governance that would reduce the practice of constructive refoulement that involves multilateral and multi-level partnerships with states and non-state actors.