CAMBODIA REFUGEE DEAL: UNHCR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMN REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT ARRANGEMENT International human rights organisations have rounded on the Federal Governments 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 in 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. We asked for your thoughts on the Cambodia refugee deal and this is what you said. Cambodia: Fact File But Amnesty International called it a new low in Australias deplorable and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers. In January the Australian Government condemned Cambodias 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. Its 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. 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 Cambodias 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 Cambodias 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 dont know what the Australian Government is thinking nor what they expect from this deal. Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy warned very little of the 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. Source: abc.net.au/news/2014-09-27/unhcr-deeply-concerned-by-australia-cambodia-refugee-relocation/5773242
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 15:27:55 +0000
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