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Several suicide attempts at a refugee camp in Nauru followed a resettlement agreement between Cambodia and Australia.Daniel Pye Last updated: 26 Sep 2014 14:04
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| Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Refugees on the Pacific island country of Nauru have expressed “high distress” following the signing of a controversial $40mill resettlement deal between Australia and Cambodia on Friday afternoon after reports that seven teenagers – six boys and a 16-year-old girl – attempted suicide on the island upon hearing the news.According to Professor Suvendrini Perera of Curtin University’s Asia-Pacific Institute, there were seven suicide attempts after the refugees received a video message from Australia’s Minister of Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison saying that if they did not accept “voluntary” resettlement in Cambodia, they would stay on Nauru for another five years and never be resettled in Australia. The message sparked protests on the island Thursday night.
Confusion and disarray
A senior ruling Cambodian People’s Party official, Chheang Vun, on Thursday said Australia was “bored” of accepting refugees. If the pilot is considered a success, Morrison said there would be “no cap” on the number of refugees arriving in Cambodia – a country ranked as second only to North Korea in East Asia in terms of public sector corruption last year and behind only Iran and Afghanistan in terms of susceptibility to money laundering. Refugees are now doubly devastated to learn that not only are they ineligible to be considered for TPVs, but that they are to be shipped out yet again … to a new place characterised by harsh conditions and without any clarity about their future.” Morrisson’s preping the refugees on a Voluntary Decision “We are living in a camp in the jungle. This is where they ‘resettled’ us. This is no place to live. If we are refugees why are we not living in [the] community? We have no neighbours here. Our ‘neighbours’, our ‘relatives’ are mosquitoes and flies and dogs,” they said in a statement at the time.
Marc Isaacs, who has spent a considerable amount of time with the refugees, describes the camp’s conditions as “purposefully underprepared” in his book, The Undesirables. He claims that the shoddy conditions played a part in Australia’s “No Advantage” policy, which, along with the Abbott administration’s “Sovereign Borders” policy, seeks to deter asylum seekers, who arrive on overcrowded boats in Australia’s territorial waters, by processing them in Pacific island detention centres run by private security firms with a history of abuse. “Cambodia – one of the poorest countries in our region with one of the worst human rights records – is a completely unsuitable place to resettle refugees. It’s a country that can barely meet the needs of its own population, let alone the basic needs of refugees,” he added. “You know, we are [the Australian governments’] animals. In the words of Scott Morrison, he wants to sell us – sometimes to one country, sometimes to another country. But no one is ready to [welcome] us,” the Pakistani refugee on Nauru said. “In our country [the] Taliban can come kill us; they will cut my throat and I will die quickly. But Australia [is] killing us day by day. We don’t know about Cambodia, but we need to [escape] this torture.”
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Category: Australian Rendition Scott Morrison Asylum
Cambodia refugee deal: Protests outside Australian embassy in Phnom Penh as Scott Morrison signs agreement
Updated
As few as four or five people could be sent from Nauru to Cambodia under a deal signed by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison in Phnom Penh today.The agreement will offer settlement of refugees on a voluntary basis, with the number of refugees accepted to be determined by Cambodia.
“In order to ensure an effective and positive implementation of the resettlement program, Cambodia and Australia have agreed to undertake an initial trial arrangement with a small group of refugees which will be followed by further resettlement in accordance with Cambodia’s capacity,” the statement said.
Australia will pay Cambodia $40 million in additional aid and also “bear the direct costs of the arrangement, including initial support to refugees, and relevant capacity building for Cambodia”.
Cambodians say country unable to look after its own
Riot police kept watch outside the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh as Cambodians protested against the agreement.Around 100 protesters gathered outside the embassy to protest against the deal, saying the poverty-stricken country was unable to look after its own people and should not be taking in Australia’s refugees.Refugee advocates said they feared locals would be upset if refugees were given money and were perceived to be better off than others in the community.
Cambodia: Fact File
- Cambodia has a population of around 15 million
- More than 96 per cent of them speak Khmer
- It is a democracy under a constitutional monarchy. King Norodom Sihamoni currently reigns, while Hun Sen is prime minister
- Suffered civil war under the Khmer Rouge, who sent 1.7 million Cambodians to their deaths in the ‘Killing Fields’
- 20 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line
- The country remains one of the poorest in Asia
- 37 per cent of children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition
- More than half of the population is less than 25 years old
- More than half of the government’s money comes from international aid
There are also fears that the Australian funding will end up in the pockets of corrupt officials.
Mr Morrison earlier said there would be no cap placed on the number of refugees Cambodia would accept, but said it would only take those who voluntarily chose to go there.Human rights and aid groups working on the ground in Cambodia called the deal “shameful”, and said the country had a terrible record of protecting refugees.”It is shameful but it is also illegal,” said Virak Ou, president of Cambodia’s Centre for Human Rights.
“The Australian Government has an obligation to protect refugees and sending them Cambodia’s way is not how a responsible country protects refugees.”Cambodia is in no position to take refugees. We are a poor country, the health system is sub-par at most. I don’t know how the refugees will send their kids to school.”The Cambodian school system is rife with corruption … the access to education here is quite bad. So I don’t know what the Australian Government is thinking nor what they expect from
The criticism comes despite Cambodia and Australia keeping details of the agreement secret.
An alliance of international aid, children’s and human rights and refugee organisations said grave fears were held for the welfare of the refugee families, especially children.
The alliance includes UNICEF Australia, Save the Children, Plan International Australia, World Vision, Amnesty International, the Refugee Council of Australia, International Detention Coalition and Children’s Rights International
Former Chief Justice of the Family Court, Alastair Nicholson, the spokesman for the alliance, said Cambodian non-government organisations have advised the plan would overwhelm an already struggling welfare sector and exploit one of the poorest nations in south-east Asia.
“It’s reprehensible,” he told Fairfax Media. “We have picked out the poorest and worst governed states in Asia to fend off these unfortunate people,” he said. “It’s not regional resettlement, it’s just suiting Australian convenience with a degree of arrogance that I find is appalling.
“The exploitation of children is really troublesome,” Mr Nicholson said.
Human Rights Watch said the agreement does not meet Australia’s commitment to send refugees to a “safe third country” and will undermine refugee protection in the region.”Australia’s deal with Cambodia will send people to a country that has a terrible record for protecting refugees and is mired in serious human rights abuses,” said Elaine Pearson, Australia director at Human Rights Watch.
The deal is believed to involve Australia sending up to 1000 refugees to Cambodia, mostly from Nauru. This would represent a 1075 per cent increase of refugees in the country.
There was speculation that Canberra would, in return, provide more than $40 million in additional aid to the country, which is rated among the world’s most corrupt nations.Mr Morrison confirmed that figure on Friday, and told ABC radio that those costs could increase
“We have clear costs on the ADA payments and that’s $40 million over four years,” the Minister said.
Where is Scott Morrison Where are they all?
UPDATE
Scott Morrison’s LIES
“This decision means that those [asylum seekers] who were previously living in India will now be unable to take advantage of the humanitarian offer being made by the Indian government, secured by my visit to New Delhi last week, that would have potentially enabled their return to India,” Mr Morrison said in a statement.
“There will also now be around 50 more children on Nauru, many of which, if not all, could have been going back to India.
“It is disappointing that this opportunity has been squandered. If these decisions were taken on the advice of lawyers, then not only have the passengers on this voyage been duped by people smugglers, it would seem they have also been let down by those who are supposed to be looking after their best interests as well and claim to be on their side.”
This seems to be a straight out lies on the part of Morrisson as:
- the Indians only accepted to take back Indian nationals only.
- that lawyers were not given access to advise these people of their rights.
- the department just “disappeared” them under the cover of darkness
“Now they’ve secretly smuggled them out to Nauru to keep them away from lawyers and advocates and this Government is making policy up on the run.”
George Newhouse
Mr Newhouse says the asylum seekers not were given the chance to talk to their lawyers about their options before they were moved to Nauru.
“We have not had opportunity to inform our clients of their rights and options,” he said.
“These people were trafficked under the cover of darkness. This is the second time they’ve been disappeared.
olddogthoughts 