Cambodian-Australian Resettlement Deal

The Australian Prime Minister and Cambodian Interim Minister recently signed a $35 million agreement regarding refugee resettlement. Under this new agreement, Australia will add $35 million to the already $79 million of aid for the 2014-15 financial year in exchange for Cambodia accepting asylum seekers who land on Australian shores. Hmmm people for money? Sounds uncomfortably like a "legal" version of human trafficking.

Currently, there are only 63 refugees living in Cambodia, and the nation has struggled to protect them. A recent report from Human Rights Watch pointed out some of the difficulties faced by the refugees living in Cambodia, which include discrimination, abuse from corrupt officials, poor access to health services and education, and low employment prospects. The director of the organization's Australian branch, Elaine Pearson, said that the UN refugee agency handed over responsibility for processing refugee applications to the Cambodian government in 2009, and since that time "not a single refugee has ever received a Cambodian residence card, let alone citizenship." Cambodian law entitles refugees to these documents, but the government has yet to issue any permits. Rather than citizenship or even residency rights, refugees are given a proclamation known as a "praka." This card is essentially useless, because in order to be employed, apply for a driver's license, open a bank account, receive a wire transfer, enroll their children in school, or lease a house residents need to show a passport or a residency permit. Refugees are often extorted by police and their children turned away from schools. 

(http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-54996/Nauru?)

(http://www.metrolic.com/travel-guides-nauru-156844/)

If Cambodia has failed to resettle a single person during its five years of processing refugees, how will it be able to process the thousand that Australia wants to send?

For now, no refugees will be sent to Cambodia. Those living in the Australian asylum seeker detention center located on the Micronesian island of Nauru must consent to being resettled in Cambodia. So far, none have volunteered.