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Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Government of Australia, Relating to the Settlement of Refugees in Cambodia & UNHCR Response to Australia-Cambodia Agreement on Refugee Relocation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ryan Harrington
Ryan Harrington*
Affiliation:
Legal Research at the Yale Law School
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Extract

On September 26, 2014, the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Government of Australia concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Relating to the Settlement of Refugees in Cambodia. The agreement provides for refugees on the Pacific Island of Nauru to be voluntarily relocated to Cambodia. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and several international human rights organizations have lambasted the agreement, maintaining that Australia would be contravening its humanitarian and refugee obligations.

Type
International Legal Materials
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 347 - 356
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2015

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References

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at the UN Refugee Agency website (visited March 23, 2015), http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5436588e4.pdf.

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at the UN Refugee Agency website (visited March 23, 2015), http://www.unhcr.org/5425570c9.html.

1 E.g. Australia’s Cambodia Refugee Deal: ‘Inappropriate, Immoral and Likely Illegal, ‘ Amnesty Int’l, http://www. amnesty.org.au/news/comments/35642/ (Sept. 25, 2014, 3:16 AM); UNHCR Warns Australia-Cambodia Agreement on Refugee Relocation Could Set Worrying Precedent, UNHCR(Sept.26,2014), http://www.unhcr.org/5425570c9. html [hereinafter UNHCR Statement].

2 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Republic of Nauru and the Commonwealth of Australia, Relating to the Transfer to and Assessment of Persons in Nauru, and Related Issues, Austl.-Nauru, art.9, Aug. 3, 2013, [hereinafter MOU Between Nauru and Australia], available at http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/nauru/nauru-mou-20130803.pdf.

3 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137.

4 MOU Between Nauru and Australia, supra note 2, arts. 12–13.

5 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Government of Australia, Relating to the Settlement of Refugees in Cambodia, Austl.-Camb., Sept. 26, 2014, http://dfat.gov.au/international-relations/themes/people-smuggling-trafficking/Documents/cambodiaaustralia-mou-and-operational-guidelines.pdf, [hereinafter MOU Between Cambodia and Australia].

6 Most notably, see the Sub-Decree No. 224 of Cambodia Procedure for Recognition as a Refugee or Providing Asylum Rights to Foreigners in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Royal Gov’t of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Sub -Decree No. 224 of 2009, on Procedure for Recognition as a Refugee or Providing Asylum Rightsto Foreigners in the Kingdom of Cambodia (2009), available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/4d81f0172.html.

7 MOU Between Cambodia and Australia, supra note 5, Operational Guidelines, cl. 21.

8 Id. cl. 22.

9 UN High Comm’r for Refugees, Multilateral Framework of Understandings on Resettlement, U.N. Doc. FORUM/2004/6, Sept. 16, 2004, available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/41597d0a4.html.

10 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR Resettlement Handbook 75 (2011), available at http://www.unhcr.org/46f7c0ee2.pdf.

11 The states, as of the UNHCR’s most recent fact sheet are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States of America. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Frequently Asked Questions about Resettlement, 6 (2013), available at http://www.unhcr.org/524c31666.html.

12 UNHCR Statement, supra note 1.

13 E.g., Australia-Cambodia Refugee Sparks Criticism, Integrated Reg’l Info. Networks (May 21, 2014), http://www. refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page_search&docid_ 537f39924&skip_0&query_cambodia&coi_AUS&searchin_ title&sort_date.

14 Press Release, UNHCR, UNHCR Deplores Deportation of Asylum-Seekers before Claims Heard (Dec. 19, 2009), available at http://www.unhcr.org/4b2f3b9b9.html.

15 2015 UNHCR Subregional Operations Profile – South-East Asia, UNHCR, http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e487c66.html (last visited March 17, 2015). 348 [VOL. INTERNATIONAL LEGAL MATERIALS 54:

16 MOU Between Cambodia and Australia, supra note 5, art. 8 (requiring refugees settled under this MOU to be granted permanent residence status), Operational Guidelines, cl. 11 (providing for the issue of prakas, refugee resident card, and refugee identify card).

17 Australia: Reconsider Nauru Refugee Transfers to Cambodia, Human Rights Watch (Nov. 20, 2014), http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/11/20/australia-reconsider-naururefugee-transfers-cambodia. A refugee interviewed by Human Right Watch claims to ‘get a job, a driver’s license, open a bank account, buy a motorbike, or even receive a wire transfer, you need to show a passport, not this piece of paper. ‘ Id.

18 Id.

19 UNHCR Statement, supra note 1.

20 MOU Between Nauru and Australia, supra note 2, art. 12