Extract from ABC News
Updated
International human rights organisations have rounded
on the Federal Government's deal to resettle refugees on Nauru in
Cambodia.
Protesters clashed with riot police outside the
Australian embassy in Phnom Penh as Immigration Minister Scott Morrison
yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding which would allow refugees in detention on Nauru to settle Cambodia.The agreement stipulates refugees will only be sent on a voluntary basis, with the number of refugees accepted to be determined by Cambodia, whose interior minister said the government only wanted to take four or five refugees to begin with.
The Australian Government has made a $40 million aid down payment and will also pay for associated costs for housing and educating refugees who go there. Mr Morrison said he does not know the total cost of the arrangement.
In a statement, Mr Morrison welcomed the signing of the deal, saying "those found to be in genuine need of protection will now have the opportunity and support to re-establish their lives free from persecution".
Cambodia: Fact File
- Cambodia has a population of around 15 million
- More than 96 per cent of them speak Khmer
- It is a democracy under a constitutional monarchy. King Norodom Sihamoni currently reigns, while Hun Sen is prime minister
- Suffered civil war under the Khmer Rouge, who sent 1.7 million Cambodians to their deaths in the 'Killing Fields'
- 20 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line
- The country remains one of the poorest in Asia
- 37 per cent of children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition
- More than half of the population is less than 25 years old
- More than half of the government's money comes from international aid
"As a party to the Refugees Convention, Cambodia, while making countless efforts to develop the country after the civil war, is demonstrating its ability and willingness to contribute positively to this humanitarian issue," he said.
But Amnesty International called it "a new low in Australia's deplorable and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers".
"In January the Australian Government condemned Cambodia's human rights record at a UN human rights hearing, but will now relocate vulnerable refugees, possibly including children, to the country," spokesman Rupert Abbott said.
In a statement released after the deal was the signed, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was "deeply concerned" by the precedent the deal sets.
"This is a worrying departure from international norms," commissioner Antonio Guterres said.
"We are seeing record forced displacement globally, with 87 per cent of refugees now being hosted in developing countries. It's crucial that countries do not shift their refugee responsibilities elsewhere.
"International responsibility sharing is the basis on which the whole global refugee system works. I hope that the Australian Government will reconsider its approach."
The UNHCR reiterated its stance that asylum seekers should "benefit from the protection" of the state in which they arrive.
"Refugees are persons who are fleeing persecution or the life-threatening effects of armed conflict," Mr Guterres said.
"They are entitled to better treatment than being shipped from one country to the next."
Mr Morrison responded to criticism from the UN agency in May saying the Government was keeping the UNHCR updated on the progress of negotiations and that discussions to that point had been "positive".
President of Cambodia's Centre for Human Rights, Virak Ou, said the newly-inked deal was "shameful" and "illegal".
"The Australian Government has an obligation to protect refugees and sending them Cambodia's way is not how a responsible country protects refugees," he said.
"The Cambodian school system is rife with corruption ... the access to education here is quite bad. So I don't know what the Australian Government is thinking nor what they expect from this deal."
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy warned "very little" of money exchanged under the deal will filter down to the refugees.
"It will be pocketed by corrupt government officials," he said.
"I think it is not right on the part of Cambodia to accept this deal, because refugees are not like any ordinary goods that can be exported from one country and imported by another country. They are human beings."
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