Cambodia's opposition leader says Australian asylum seeker deal will fund corruption
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 19/05/2014
Cambodia is ill-equipped to take Australia's asylum seekers and any deal to do will only fund corruption according to the country's opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
Transcript
SARAH FERGUSON, PRESENTER: The Federal Government is moving closer to signing a deal to send unwanted asylum seekers for resettlement in Cambodia.
It's a controversial plan: Cambodia is one of our poorest neighbours with two million people living in poverty, endemic government corruption and a poor record on human rights.
The country's opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, has told 7.30 Australia's plan is a disgrace.
South-East Asia correspondent Samantha Hawley travelled to Cambodia for this report.
SAMANTHA HAWLEY, REPORTER: In the centre of Phnom Penh, the destitution is all around. Makeshift homes sit almost on top of each other and the communities struggle for survival.
One third of the population live on less than a dollar a day. Forty per cent of children are chronically malnourished.
This modest home is Kim Kridy's pride and joy. After spending much of his young life in a refugee camp on the Thai border, it provides relative security for his young family.
KIM KRIDY (translation): We both work very hard to make money to buy land and wood to build a house.
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: But it's a home and community under threat in a city where money talks.
On his doorstep a pile of sand grows. It's landfill for developers who will build here. They're already clearing the land in a sign it's only a matter of time before these makeshift homes could be removed.
It's a sensitive topic in a nation where forced land removals are all too common and across areas like this, the pending refugee deal with Australia has the communities concerned.
KIM KRIDY (translation): We don't have enough land. Why send refugees here? Where do we have the land for them?
Because Australia is a developed country, I believe they would have a better life living there.
SAM RAINSY, CAMBODIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: Australia needs to take a firmer step...
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy believes the international community will judge Australia harshly.
SAM RAINSY: It's a little built surprising. I don't think that it would be realistic, appropriate and decent to send any refugees from Australia, or any camp under the control of the Australian Government, to Cambodia. Because this country, Cambodia, is not prepared. It is not equipped to receive any refugee.
SAM RAINSY: Yes, I think it would be a disgrace. A rich, powerful and respected country such as Australia must face its responsibility dealing with this humanitarian problem.
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The refugee deal, which we now know is edging closer, is shrouded in secrecy.
Cambodia is ready to sign up for a price, but we don't know how much it will cost Australia or how many refugees it involves, where they will live or how they will survive.
Cambodia is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, but it also has a sub-decree providing government power to remove refugee status and Sam Rainsy insists there is will be no checks and balances on the Australian taxpayer funds.
SAM RAINSY: Cambodia is one of the world's most corrupt countries. This government has made Cambodia one of the world's poorest countries.
So any money, especially from any foreign source, would be diverted and channelled into the pocket of our corrupt leaders with very little, if any, benefit to the ordinary people.
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: At a pagoda in the centre of the capital, monk Loun Sovath provides food and shelter for Cambodians displaced from their land and word of a refugee deal with a powerful neighbour has spread fast.
LOUN SOVATH, MONK: If the Australia I think and Cambodia, not only the money pay for refugee, but the money that government donate to government to help my people to build a road, build a school for the... Big money. But my people never get those money from any country. Always lost money and corruption.
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Exactly how much Australia will pay and how the money will be spent is unclear. But the government's pushing ahead.
How much money would you need, feasibly, from the Australian Government?
OUCH BORITH, CAMBODIAN SECRETARY OF STATE: As I said to you, that it depends on our outcome of the discussions.
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Some people have said $40 million. There've been reports of that figure. Would that really be enough in your view?
OUCH BORITH: I don't know. I don't know. I've no idea at all. (laughs)
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Aid organisations question what security refugees will have.
In 2009, in a breach of international law, the Cambodian government forcibly repatriated 20 Uighur refugees to China. Not long after, Beijing agreed to trade deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
SAM RAINSY: There is no rule of law in Cambodia. The national laws are not respected and international law even less respected. Cambodia has an extremely poor record of human rights.
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: For refugees past and present, Cambodia is not ready or able to accommodate increasing numbers of vulnerable people. In a fight for survival, there's no room for more competition.
SARAH FERGUSON: Samantha Hawley reporting from Cambodia.
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