Under Construction @ Keele Vol. IV (1) | Page 39

Externalisation and the State of Exception: A Biopolitical Analysis of the Human Rights Abuses within the Offshore Processing Plant of Nauru. Aaron Bettany | LLM International Law with Human Rights During the latter portion of the 20 th century continuing into the 21 st century there has been a substantial increase in the movement of populations worldwide. Be it the technological enhancements brought about by globalisation encouraging the movement of economic migrants or the multiple international and non- international armed conflicts forcibly displacing vulnerable refugee, the number of displaced migrants has drastically increased. This dramatic increase migration has been coupled with a substantial shift in attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers; influenced by events such as the 9/11 terror attacks and the continuing ‘War on Terror’ and conflicts in the Middle East. These attitudes have prompted the enactment of numerous strict immigration legislation particularly in large Western states such as the Australia and the United States which attempts to subvert their international human right and refugee commitments. This article will explore the interdisciplinary theoretical and legal frameworks surrounding the international mistreatment of asylum seekers and refugees in external detention centres such as Nauru in the Pacific Islands. In order to do this, we will seek to rely on the work of Giorgio Agamben and his theories on the sovereign exception, the ‘State of Exception’ and bare life. With particular emphasis upon biopolitics, the contemporary relevance of human life will be explored. Drawing upon the unique relationship between international law and politics, this article strives to highlight the global responsibility towards refugees and will ultimately conclude that the burden must be placed upon the obligations of international corporations that largely goes unnoticed and whose responsibilities are virtually non-existent under international law. Keywords | Human rights, abuse, Naura, biopolitics. Introduction As the movement of refugees and asylum seekers has increased dramatically there has been a drastic change in the way in which they are perceived; no longer are refugees the victim in need of aid, but an invasive and threatening figure that must be kept outside of the nation for the protection of the population. This shift has, in turn, given rise to stricter immigration policies, particularly extraterritorial detention centres, and isolates refugees within what Giorgio Agamben refers to as a state of exception. Within this state of exception refugees are reduced to a state of bare life ‘bare life’, and rendered without rights within a legal void where they are ultimately at the mercy of the sovereign states power. The prime example of this extraterritorial detention is found on the offshore processing plant of Nauru; a camp created by Australian legislation as a direct response to the arrival of maritime refugees or ‘boat people’.