Human Rights Watch says Australia and Cambodia have been very secretive about negotiations on a possible deal to resettle asylum seekers, labelling any potential arrangement as very concerning.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison met with Cambodia's interior minister in Phnom Penh on Thursday, and yesterday Prime Minister Tony Abbott declined to rule out any refugee settlement deal.

Mr Morrison is the second government minister to visit Cambodia since February. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also visited the country to discuss regional cooperation on asylum seekers but refused to give details of the talks.

After that meeting, Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong disclosed to reporters he was "very seriously" considering an offer to resettle refugees who had sought asylum in Australia.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 55 seconds 3 m 55 s Human Rights Watch concerned about reported Cambodia refugee deal ( Samantha Donovan ) Download 1.8 MB

The deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, Phil Robertson, has told AM any deal is extremely worrying given Cambodia's poor record of protecting refugees.

"We would be very concerned ... it's quite clear that Cambodia does not have any sort of appreciable services for refugees," he said.

"They have a shoddy record of protecting refugees despite having ratified the refugee convention and there's very little political commitment from the Cambodian government to ensure the ongoing support or safety of refugees.

"One wonders how Australia thinks the Cambodian government would be in a better position to provide support and protection than Australia would be."

Mr Robertson says the organisation has been able to find out "surprisingly little" with both governments remaining "very, very hushed" about any plan.

He says Cambodia currently houses a small number of refugees from Myanmar, also known as Burma, who are "essentially left to their own devices to try to survive in a country where they don't speak the language and they have limited authorisation for work".