Is Operation Sovereign Borders Legal?

Professor Donald R Rothwell, Penelope Mathew, Clive Williams and David Letts will speak on "Operation Sovereign Borders: Charting the legal issues" at the Australian National University in Canberra,5:30pm, 13 February 2014 (RSVP to address in flyer).
Operation Sovereign Borders tasks the Australian Defence Force and civilian agencies to deter and prevent asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia.

Operation Sovereign Borders: Charting the legal issues

Seminar

Thursday, 13 February 2014 - 5:30pm - 7:00pm

Venue: The Australian National University Speaker:

Donald R Rothwell Professor of International Law and Head of School, ANU College of Law

Penelope Mathew Freilich Foundation Professor, ANU

Clive Williams Adjunct Professor, Centre for Military & Security Law, ANU

David Letts Associate Professor and Co-Director, Centre for Military & Security Law, ANU

The Centre for Military & Security Law will host an open forum to examine some of the key legal issues that have arisen so far under Operation Sovereign Borders.
This Forum will provide an opportunity to understand and discuss key legal issues including sovereignty (Australian and Indonesian), law of the sea, refugee/human rights law, and the law that governs the use of force in border protection operations. These issues have arisen as a result of the Federal Government’s decision, after winning the election last year, to establish Operation Sovereign Borders which is a “military-led, border security operation supported and assisted by a wide range of federal government agencies”. Shortly after Operation Sovereign Borders commenced on 18 September 2013, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection stated: “… those seeking to come on boats will not be getting what they have come for. They will be met by a broad chain of measures end to end that are designed to deter, to disrupt, to prevent their entry from Australia and certainly to ensure that they are not settled in Australia”.

Legal experts associated with the Centre for Military & Security Law, Professor Donald R. Rothwell, Professor Penelope Mathew, Adjunct Professor Clive Williams and Associate Professor David Letts, will lead the discussion for this open forum in an attempt to navigate through the legal complexities that have arisen under Operation Sovereign Borders.