Four Nauru refugees who agreed to go to Cambodia wait to fly out

Three of the four refugees who agreed to take up the Australian government’s resettlement offer are being housed in the detention centre, but departure date remains uncertain

 The Australian immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has urged refugees to take up the government’s resettlement offer and be on the first flight to Cambodia. To date, only four refugees have taken up the offer. Photograph: Remi Chauvin for the Guardian

Three refugees who have agreed to travel to Cambodia are being housed in the Nauru detention centre before they are scheduled to fly out.

Just four refugees have agreed to take up the Australian government’s resettlement offer in Cambodia, despite a large number of Australian immigration department staff on the island who have been promoting the settlement package.

Those who have agreed to be resettled include a male and female couple and an Iranian man. A Rohingyan man has also agreed to be settled in Cambodia, but is not yet being held inside the detention centre.

A document titled “talking points”, distributed to Transfield Security staff and seen by Guardian Australia, says the refugees will be located in the “delta block” of the RPC1 compound, and will be “clearly identifiable by a bright green ID card with photo”.

The document said that “this select group of refugees have freedom of movement in and out of the RPC” but “visitors will not be permitted” to see them.

The flight to Cambodia still appears to be scheduled imminently, although it is not clear when it will leave. The document describes how a case manager on the island will be the point of contact for the refugees “for a period of up to two weeks while they transition to Cambodia for their safety”.

“All staff are reminded of cultural sensitivities, ensuring this Cambodia project runs smoothly is of high priority for both Nauru and the Australian governments,” it says.

The federal government is putting considerable resources towards encouraging refugees on Nauru to take up the Cambodia deal. The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, last week appeared in a video message played to asylum seekers and refugees.

Dutton urged refugees to take up the offer and be on the first flight, and suggested those who were not might not receive the same settlement package, which includes certain health and accommodation costs.

General Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for Cambodia’s interior ministry, told Guardian Australia on Monday that “only four” refugees had submitted applications to come to Cambodia on a voluntary basis.

“Our team is on the way to Phnom Penh, they will arrive this evening from Nauru,” he said.

“At the end of their mission, there were only four refugees that admitted their application forms to the working group: one Rohingya and three from Iran.”

He said the next stage of the process was for this paperwork to be processed by the ministry and that “after the approval of the government, the plane will come”.

Asked how long this process could take, or when the plane might be expected to arrive, Sopheak said he did not know. 

The deal between Australia and Cambodia has faced heavy criticism from human rights groups. The government’s travel advice to Australians warns of the risks of assaults and armed robberies in Cambodia, and of the “very poor quality” of its medical and health services.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has been contacted for comment.