The United Nations refugee agency has warned resettlement countries are obliged to deliver education and labour rights and “not just safety” to asylum seekers, as the Abbott government prepares to do a deal with Cambodia.

The UNHCR’s director of international protection Volker Turk has also diplomatically rebuffed Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's push for signatories to the Refugee Convention to define their own obligations.

The remarks came after Mr Morrison said on Thursday that a country's economic capacity was irrelevant to his expansion of a "club" of nations that could take refugees: "It's not about whether [resettlement countries] are poor; it's about whether they can be safe."

Mr Morrison insisted he would not be swayed by concerns from agencies such as the UNHCR, declaring: “We are a sovereign body and we will protect our borders.”