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             Australia to Pay Cambodia $35 Million in Refugee Deal

   by VOA News

   Australia says it will pay Cambodia $35 million as part of an impending
   deal that would see refugees resettled in the impoverished Southeast
   Asian nation.

   Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, who is set to sign the deal Friday
   in Phnom Penh, said there would be no caps on the number of refugees
   sent to Cambodia.

   Morrison told local media only those in the detention facility on the
   tiny Pacific island of Nauru would be eligible initially to be
   resettled in Cambodia. He said the first refugees could be transferred
   by the end of the year.

   On Thursday, Morrison insisted the program would be "strictly
   voluntary," vowing all going to Cambodia would be doing so willingly.

   He said the refugees would be provided with support to make them
   "self-reliant as quickly as possible."

   Cambodian Minister of the Interior Sar Kheng said Thursday that
   Cambodia will take "four or five" refugees "only as a test" in the near
   future, but gave no further details.

   Rights groups have slammed the deal as inhumane, saying Cambodia, one
   of the world's poorest countries, is not willing or able to treat the
   refugees properly.

   Human Rights Watch said Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries,
   has not shown a willingness or ability to provide refugees adequate
   protection.

   The New York-based group also said the Southeast Asian nation has a
   record of returning refugees to countries where they face persecution,
   such as China and Vietnam.

   Hundreds of asylum seekers have died in recent years while en route to
   Australia on rickety, overcrowded boats, creating a humanitarian
   emergency.

   Under a policy aimed at deterring the boats, Australia's conservative
   government has been sending those trying to reach the country to remote
   camps on either Manus Island or Nauru.

   The government says the policy has been successful at deterring people
   smugglers, pointing out that only one boatload of refugees has reached
   the Australian mainland since December.

   The United Nations and immigration rights activists have called the
   camps "harsh," and say long-term detention at such facilities is
   inhumane.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/australia-to-pay-cambodia-35-million-
   refugee-deal/2463073.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/australia-to-pay-cambodia-35-million-refugee-deal/2463073.html