Alice Neikirk
Biographic Data
| ID | 935472 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alice Neikirk |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alice |
| FAMILY NAME | Neikirk |
| SIGNATURE | NEIKIRK A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Australian National University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6961-1913 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Bureaucratic Blindspot: The Deportation of Stateless Bhutanese
Executive Summary In 2017, one of the largest global refugee resettlement programs concluded with approximately 85,000 stateless Bhutanese resettled legally in the United States. By 2025, newspapers began reporting that some of these resettled refugees were being deported. This article analyses the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) data from September 2023 to mid-October 2025 to map the patterns of arrests and deportation of stateless Bhuta…
Towards a Spatial Analysis of Refugees Working Outside Camps
In Nepal, Bhutanese refugees sought economic opportunities outside the UNHCR-operated refugee camps. While both males and females experienced exploitation, distance from the camps was a key variable when determining vulnerability to exploitation. Where victimization occurred was more indicative of vulnerability to trafficking than gender. This article proposes that Zones of Vulnerability help understand risk in relation to human trafficking for r…
Women’s housing precarity in the context of domestic and family violence: An analysis of Australian policy
The potential first step towards protecting refugee families: Adopting a domestic human rights framework
During forced migration and resettlement, family separation is typically not a choice. Reunification in Australia is complicated by narrow definitions of family that reflect a restrictive, Western cultural tradition. In providing support for refugees, it is important to take a culturally sensitive and rights-based approach to constructions of the term ‘family’. If Australia was to adopt a domestic Human Rights Act, there is potential for this to …
Legal first responders: Duty lawyers as an essential service
The most vulnerable groups in Australia frequently experience acute, emergency legal need. Those needs are largely met by duty lawyers, providing immediate legal assistance in times of crisis. Yet the role of duty lawyers has been overlooked in discussions about legal aid and access to justice. We argue that duty lawyers and the services they provide—to groups including victims fleeing domestic and family violence, Aboriginals and Torres Strait I…
Transitions without Justice: Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal
∞ Typically, human rights abusers are widely condemned by the international community in the context of transitional justice. But what happens when the transition to democracy generates refugees that are not permitted to return to what appears to now be a stable, peaceful democracy? This is the case of Bhutan, who forcefully expelled its largest minority community during a period of nation building, then successfully transitioned to democracy wit…
Restorative justice in healthcare settings: Better outcomes for patients and medical professionals
Current responses to medical negligence insufficiently consider the broader needs of affected stakeholders. We argue that responses to medical negligence should adopt a restorative justice frame. This article recounts the experience of our daughter’s avoidable suffering and subsequent death in the healthcare system. Our experience as victims of medical negligence, and the broader literature on restorative justice, responsive regulation and health…
Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Protection of Refugees and Refugee Camps
The Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention was established to recognize and protect non-material aspects of culture. Through an analysis of the experience of Bhutanese refugees, we argue that the Convention could be used to aid, protect, and acknowledge refugees in the absence of other mechanisms. Bhutanese refugees began living in camps in 1991, and a population remains in camps without formal international or national support. During this resi…
Potlatch justice
Managing Transitional Justice
Reducing the Expectation Gap
States of Impunity: Bhutanese Refugee Camps in Nepal
Refugee camps are generally conceived as an indication of ongoing conflict. As refugee generating conflicts become increasingly complex and protracted, however, camps become sites of post-conflict reconstruction. This has been the experience for the Bhutanese refugees who have lived in camps for close to thirty years, and are subject to numerous efforts to reconstruct their lives, community and economy. The international organizations that fund a…
A Moral Marriage: Humanitarian Values and the Bhutanese Refugees
Despite lofty aspirations, humanitarian ideals often buttress forms of governance where domination and assistance are explicitly linked. These humanitarian forms of governance frequently deploy moral sentiments to manage refugees. This relationship, between humanitarian governance and morality, is particularly clear in relation to polygamous refugees, refugees that marry across national boundaries and child marriages. During fieldwork with Bhutan…
A Moral Marriage: Humanitarian Values and the Bhutanese Refugees
Despite lofty aspirations, humanitarian ideals often buttress forms of governance where domination and assistance are explicitly linked. These humanitarian forms of governance frequently deploy moral sentiments to manage refugees. This relationship, between humanitarian governance and morality, is particularly clear in relation to polygamous refugees, refugees that marry across national boundaries and child marriages. During fieldwork with Bhutan…
States of Impunity: Bhutanese Refugee Camps in Nepal
Refugee camps are generally conceived as an indication of ongoing conflict. As refugee generating conflicts become increasingly complex and protracted, however, camps become sites of post-conflict reconstruction. This has been the experience for the Bhutanese refugees who have lived in camps for close to thirty years, and are subject to numerous efforts to reconstruct their lives, community and economy. The international organizations that fund a…
Women’s housing precarity in the context of domestic and family violence: An analysis of Australian policy
Transitions without Justice: Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal
∞ Typically, human rights abusers are widely condemned by the international community in the context of transitional justice. But what happens when the transition to democracy generates refugees that are not permitted to return to what appears to now be a stable, peaceful democracy? This is the case of Bhutan, who forcefully expelled its largest minority community during a period of nation building, then successfully transitioned to democracy wit…
States of Impunity: Bhutanese Refugee Camps in Nepal
Refugee camps are generally conceived as an indication of ongoing conflict. As refugee generating conflicts become increasingly complex and protracted, however, camps become sites of post-conflict reconstruction. This has been the experience for the Bhutanese refugees who have lived in camps for close to thirty years, and are subject to numerous efforts to reconstruct their lives, community and economy. The international organizations that fund a…
A Moral Marriage: Humanitarian Values and the Bhutanese Refugees
Despite lofty aspirations, humanitarian ideals often buttress forms of governance where domination and assistance are explicitly linked. These humanitarian forms of governance frequently deploy moral sentiments to manage refugees. This relationship, between humanitarian governance and morality, is particularly clear in relation to polygamous refugees, refugees that marry across national boundaries and child marriages. During fieldwork with Bhutan…
Managing Transitional Justice
Reducing the Expectation Gap
Potlatch justice
Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Protection of Refugees and Refugee Camps
The Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention was established to recognize and protect non-material aspects of culture. Through an analysis of the experience of Bhutanese refugees, we argue that the Convention could be used to aid, protect, and acknowledge refugees in the absence of other mechanisms. Bhutanese refugees began living in camps in 1991, and a population remains in camps without formal international or national support. During this resi…
Legal first responders: Duty lawyers as an essential service
The most vulnerable groups in Australia frequently experience acute, emergency legal need. Those needs are largely met by duty lawyers, providing immediate legal assistance in times of crisis. Yet the role of duty lawyers has been overlooked in discussions about legal aid and access to justice. We argue that duty lawyers and the services they provide—to groups including victims fleeing domestic and family violence, Aboriginals and Torres Strait I…
Transitions without Justice: Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal
∞ Typically, human rights abusers are widely condemned by the international community in the context of transitional justice. But what happens when the transition to democracy generates refugees that are not permitted to return to what appears to now be a stable, peaceful democracy? This is the case of Bhutan, who forcefully expelled its largest minority community during a period of nation building, then successfully transitioned to democracy wit…
Restorative justice in healthcare settings: Better outcomes for patients and medical professionals
Current responses to medical negligence insufficiently consider the broader needs of affected stakeholders. We argue that responses to medical negligence should adopt a restorative justice frame. This article recounts the experience of our daughter’s avoidable suffering and subsequent death in the healthcare system. Our experience as victims of medical negligence, and the broader literature on restorative justice, responsive regulation and health…
The potential first step towards protecting refugee families: Adopting a domestic human rights framework
During forced migration and resettlement, family separation is typically not a choice. Reunification in Australia is complicated by narrow definitions of family that reflect a restrictive, Western cultural tradition. In providing support for refugees, it is important to take a culturally sensitive and rights-based approach to constructions of the term ‘family’. If Australia was to adopt a domestic Human Rights Act, there is potential for this to …
Bureaucratic Blindspot: The Deportation of Stateless Bhutanese
Executive Summary In 2017, one of the largest global refugee resettlement programs concluded with approximately 85,000 stateless Bhutanese resettled legally in the United States. By 2025, newspapers began reporting that some of these resettled refugees were being deported. This article analyses the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) data from September 2023 to mid-October 2025 to map the patterns of arrests and deportation of stateless Bhuta…
Towards a Spatial Analysis of Refugees Working Outside Camps
In Nepal, Bhutanese refugees sought economic opportunities outside the UNHCR-operated refugee camps. While both males and females experienced exploitation, distance from the camps was a key variable when determining vulnerability to exploitation. Where victimization occurred was more indicative of vulnerability to trafficking than gender. This article proposes that Zones of Vulnerability help understand risk in relation to human trafficking for r…
Women’s housing precarity in the context of domestic and family violence: An analysis of Australian policy
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Law (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Refugee (7 works) · Criminology (6 works) · Economic Justice (5 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (5 works) · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography (3 works) · Business (3 works)