6 Jun 2018
Cambodia says only one refugee from Nauru remains
4:41 pm on 6 June 2018
Cambodia's Interior Ministry says only one refugee from Nauru remains in the country after resettling there under a deal with Australia.

The Khmer Times reported ministry spokesperson Khieu Sopheak saying since the deal was struck in 2014 only several refugees decided to come.

General Sopheak said the deal to resettle refugees detained by Australia on Nauru comes to an end in August.
He said Cambodia's government would review the deal and consider extending it at the request of Australia.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/international ... ru-remains

I still want to know if there was any correlation between the cuts to AusAID funding to Cambodia and the asylum project - different buckets, similar outcomes, government looks like it's being proactive on both the refugee issue and cutting overseas aid (but comes off looking a bit of a knob).

Cambodia's HE 'preparing' to receive more refugees under deal with Australia
30 July 2018
Cambodian Prime Minister HE says his country is "preparing" to receive more refugees from Australia in a controversial deal that has already been labelled a failure and cost the Federal Government almost $50 million.

Speaking exclusively to Four Corners, HE said he told Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that Cambodia is ready to "accept more" refugees from Australia's offshore detention centres.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton did not respond to Four Corners' questions regarding HE's comments, or whether the deal — which is due to expire in the coming months — will be extended or renewed.

In 2014, Australia signed the four-year deal with Cambodia, committing an extra $40 million in aid in exchange for resettling refugees from the offshore detention centre in Nauru.

Another $15 million for "resettlement" services was also pledged, of which $7.88 million has been spent.

That deal is seen as an expensive failure with just three of seven resettled refugees from Nauru remaining in Cambodia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-30/c ... l/10052234

Did not Australia accept about a dozen Cambodians into Australia as asylum seekers in that same period of time?

Artful Dodger wrote: ↑Thu Aug 02, 2018 2:28 am Did not Australia accept about a dozen Cambodians into Australia as asylum seekers in that same period of time?

But not one from Nauru, right?

If you enter Australia legally you can apply for refugee status.

If you attempt to enter illegally by boat you will not be permitted to apply and will be transferred to an offshore centre.

Not rocket science but it works to stop people smuggling to Australia.

Arget wrote: ↑Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:53 am If you enter Australia legally you can apply for refugee status.

If you attempt to enter illegally by boat you will not be permitted to apply and will be transferred to an offshore centre.

Not rocket science but it works to stop people smuggling to Australia.

The brother-in-law ran a patrol boat out of Darwin until a few years back. The entire crew, and the warship, spent 24/7 chasing people smuggling boats up and down the coast. No days off, double shifts, limited shore leave. Absolutely destroying the family relationships of the crew, not to mention messing with their mental states. It must really grind to see the smugglers being returned to their home countries, and the temptation to take off the refugees and sink the boats and crew must be high after you've been worn down by a few years of that.

Australia’s Cambodia Refugee Deal is Dead
Report from Voice of America
Published on 01 Nov 2018 — View Original

By David Boyle and Hul Reaksmey

MELBOURNE —Australia’s controversial refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia has expired and is “no longer an option” for the immediate future, the country’s Senate has been told.

Senator Richard Di Natale, the leader of the Australian Greens, pressed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on the future of the agreement in a Senate Estimates Hearing last week, transcripts of which were released Thursday.

“Senator, the MOU expired on the 26th of September so it’s no longer an option for refugees on Nauru to resettle into Cambodia,” DFAT’s people smuggling and human trafficking Ambassador Geoffrey Shaw told the committee.

In 2014, then Immigration Minister Scott Morrison infamously clinked champagne glasses with Cambodian officials to celebrate the resettlement deal.

It cost Australia tens of millions of dollars in aid but only ever saw a handful of refugees arrive in Cambodia and even less stay.

The Australian government was berated by rights groups for paying, what critics call, a corrupt and authoritarian government to take refugees it had forced into an offshore processing center on the tiny island nation of Nauru.

Pressed on any potential future extension on the deal, Shaw said he had provided the government policy advice on the issue but refused to disclose what that had been..

Ket Sophann, spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told VOA Thursday that the refugee deal remains valid, but it’s not attractive to the refugees.

“There is no plan to end this deal, meaning the project is still going on. But nobody wants to come,” he said, noting that the governments of the two countries have not yet decided to end the deal.
https://reliefweb.int/report/australia/ ... -deal-dead

One year after the agreement expired between Cambodia and Australia on refugee settlement ...

December 5, 2019
PM floats extended refugee deal
Prime Minister HE is still willing to accept refugees waiting in line to enter Australia, despite the expiration of an agreement last year.

“During a meeting with outgoing Australian Ambassador [Angela Cororon], Prime Minister HE said Cambodia is willing to continue the agreement,” Eat Sophea, secretary of state with the Foreign Ministry, yesterday said of a meeting that took place on Monday. “The cooperation between governments may have ended, but we have cooperation between immigration departments.”

Ms Cororan then met with Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday and said the deal on refugee settlement expired last year.

“The agreement finished since September last year,” she said. “It won’t continue because the agreement said it ended in 2018.”
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50667194/p ... ugee-deal/