Scott Morrison to sign MOU on refugee resettlement, Cambodian government says

Updated

The Cambodian government says Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's visit to the nation on Friday will be used to sign a deal on the resettlement of refugees.

In a brief press statement, Cambodia's foreign affairs ministry said the country would sign a memorandum of understanding with Mr Morrison in Phnom Penh.

The deal has been months in the making and few details have been made public, including how much Australia will pay Cambodia, one of the poorest nations in South East Asia.

The ABC understands Cambodia will only resettle genuine refugees from Nauru and the Government's preference has been they live in the community.

It is understood the deal could involve up to 1,000 refugees.

A spokesperson for Mr Morrison confirmed he would be travelling to Cambodia on Friday.

"Further details will be provided following the signing of an agreement," the spokesperson said.

The proposed deal has been roundly condemned by opposition politicians in both countries.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the refugees would be at high risk of abuse and exploitation in Cambodia.

"We know that the levels of rape and sexual assault and sexual exploitation of girls and women in Cambodia are skyrocketing," she said.

Senator Hanson-Young said the Senate clerk had advised her that the transfer of asylum seekers or refugees to another country would require parliamentary approval.

"The only approval Parliament has currently given is to send people to Nauru and to PNG," she said.

"If we're going to send people to Cambodia, if Australia is going to dump refugees there, the reading of the law by the advice that I've been given is that Parliament would have to sanction it."

Rights groups criticise negotiations

The negotiations have also attracted criticism from human rights groups and the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which said it had not been involved in the deal.

UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan said it was a "time of unprecedented displacement around the world".

"I mean thousands of people are fleeing every day from situations in Syria and Iraq and this is a time when countries should be working together to try solve the refugee problem, not asking somebody else to deal with it," she said.

"We're concerned that such bilateral agreements would actually involve the divesting of certain obligations under the refugee convention."

Elaine Pearson, Australian director of Human Rights Watch, said the deal with Cambodia would send people to a country that had a "terrible record for protecting refugees and is mired in serious human rights abuses".

"Australia should have examined these refugee claims itself instead of diverting asylum seekers to Nauru, but at least it should take those found to be refugees instead of shipping them off to Cambodia," she said.

"Despite Canberra's claims, the reality is Cambodia is both unsafe and ill-equipped to handle large numbers of refugees who will be given one-way tickets to Phnom Penh."

Mr Morrison has previously said Australia had the resources available to make the plan work.

"Cambodia is a signatory to the refugee convention, as is Australia, as is Nauru. And when you get three countries working together to increase the pool of resettlement places, that's good," he said in May.

Topics: immigration, refugees, foreign-affairs, world-politics, government-and-politics, cambodia, australia, asia

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