The movement of refugees is one of the most pressing governance challenges of our time. In seeking to control – or prevent - the access of arrivals to their territory, Australia, the European Union (EU) and its member states employ a range of externalisation policies. These policies operate beyond the state to disrupt migration pathways by preventing individuals from reaching or entering a state's territory. Externalisation policies reshape the boundaries of sovereignty and blur the lines of responsibility among states. By avoiding their legal and political responsibility, many states violate their legal obligations. Externalisation deflects responsibility, transforming the governance of refugee protection and border control. Regional cooperation for refugee protection is weakened, and human rights protections are undermined. At a global level, migration pathways are disrupted, and refugees are often trapped in transit, placing them at risk. Nationally, some governments gain electoral advantage by being “tough” on border protection. The accelerating phenomenon of externalisation characterising these “tough” border protection policies requires a comprehensive analysis by researchers, civil society actors, refugees, and policy makers.The Comparative Network on Refugee Externalisation Policies (CONREP) researches the impact and effects of the externalisation of refugee policies in two regions: Australia’s activities in Southeast Asia and the Pacific; and the European Union and its member states’ activities in North Africa and the Mediterranean. These policies exploit power asymmetries to transfer state and regional obligations and responsibility for asylums seekers and refugees to neighbouring states. At their most destructive, externalisation policies can prevent refugees from reaching safety, and breach their human rights.CONREP has worked to sharpen our understanding of the dynamics behind these towards externalisation by focusing its activities on five core themes:1.Governance: the implications of externalisation policies adopted by state and non-state actors at different levels of governance, including the repercussions for regional governance of the militarisation and securitisation of migration control, and the loss of solidarity and cooperation amongst states and regions.2.Legitimacy: the impact of externalisation policies upon the legitimacy of states and regional bodies deploying these policies.3.Responsibility: an examination of the exercise, delegation and “outsourcing” of legal and political responsibility, in state and non-state actor settings, and its effects upon refugees seeking protection.4.Democracy: an examination of how externalisation shifts the ‘problem’ away from domestic scrutiny within states, towards political narratives of control and resistance to external and internal review and public debate.5.Human rights: the impact of externalisation policies which disrupt migration pathways, upon access to human rights protections for refugees and asylum seekers.CONREP is an interdisciplinary network of researchers from Australia and Europe. It consists of seven partner universities, led by the University of Melbourne. The other six partner universities are Deakin University, Monash University, Western Sydney University, the University of Bologna, the University of Geneva and the University of Gothenburg. Website: https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/school-of-social-and-political-sciences/our-research/comparative-network-on-refugee-externalisation-policies