PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Sep 6, 2015
By SOPHENG CHEANG Associated Press
Associated Press
School of Vice:
These refugees have already had their hopes and dreams washed ashore
and buried on the island of Nauru by the inhumanity and cynicism of the
Australian government. Cambodia represents not so much an alternative
destination and option for them to resurrect those hopes and dreams but
more of a stepping-stone on a forlorn homeward bound journey - even for
these few 'volunteers'.
***
One
of four refugees resettled in Cambodia just three months ago in a
multimillion-dollar deal that saw them sent from an Australian-run
detention camp on the Pacific island nation of Nauru has decided he
wants to go home, an official said Sunday.
The
man, an ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar, said he wanted to give up his
refugee status and return to his homeland, according to Cambodian
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak. The man, who was not named,
has contacted Myanmar's embassy in Cambodia to get permission to return
home, but Khieu Sopheak was unaware of the response.
Two
Iranian men, an Iranian woman and the Rohingya man came to Cambodia
under a 40 million Australian dollar ($32 million), four-year agreement
aimed at resettling hundreds of asylum seekers who have been living for
years in Nauru.
They
were the only ones among 677 there who signed up for the package —
despite substantial encouragement — and arrived in the Cambodian capital
of Phnom Penh in early June. Only asylum seekers granted refugee status
by the U.N.'s refugee agency were eligible for the move.
"The
agreement of the two countries remains valid, but at the moment we want
to see the first pilot refugees that have already arrived here
integrate into our society before we accept newcomers," Khieu Sopheak
said by phone.
The
deal, part of Australia's efforts to deter boats of asylum seekers, has
been criticized since Australia made the agreement with Cambodia last
September. Critics have expressed concerns that Cambodia is too
impoverished to handle the new residents and that its poor human rights
record would put them at risk.
Khieu
Sopheak said that the Rohingya man, who was born in 1990, did not
explain why he wanted to return to Myanmar, but that his father had
visited him recently in Cambodia and may have sought to reunite his son
with their family.
The
man's action comes as many Rohingya, who are Muslims, are expected to
take to boats in fresh efforts to leave Myanmar to escape persecution
and better their economic prospects. Many try to head to Malaysia, with
which they have a religious affinity, but others try to make the long
and dangerous journey to Australia.
Khieu
Sopheak said the Cambodian government respected the man's decision.
Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's office did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
According
to Ian Rintoul, Sydney-based director of the Australian advocacy group
Refugee Action Coalition, none of the four resettled people wants to
stay in Cambodia. He said they expected to get a lump sum of at least
$10,000, but that was not what happened.
"They
all went with the idea that they would get the money that they were
being told they would get and be able to go somewhere else," Rintoul
said. "The government has dribbled the money to them. They've been kept
in a very isolated arrangement and there's been no prospects for them."
Rintoul,
who maintains close contacts with the refugee community, has been a
major source of information on the Nauru asylum seekers, to whom the
Nauru, Cambodian and Australian governments have allowed limited access.
"The
Iranian couple never had enough money even to subsist, let alone do
anything with it. They complained quite bitterly that they were
struggling to survive in Cambodia," Rintoul said.
"The
whole resettlement arrangement is going belly-up," he said. "The
harassment on Nauru to get people to go to Cambodia stopped a few weeks
ago. There's no sign of anyone else on Nauru going to Cambodia."
———
Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report.
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