Australia violating rights of refugee children by sending them to Cambodia, says Unicef
United Nations Children’s Fund joins agencies raising concerns about
refugee transfer agreement sending children and their families from
Nauru to Cambodia
19 April 2015 | The Guardian
The United Nations
Children’s Fund (Unicef) says Australia is violating the rights of
children being sent from Nauru to Cambodia under the refugee transfer
agreement.
Unicef has joined a chorus of international agencies in raising concerns over the $40m refugee resettlement pact with Cambodia, with the first of the refugees expected to be flown out from Nauru this week.
The agency warned that no government policy or action should
knowingly put children’s lives or their well being at increased risk.
“The world has an expectation that as signatories to the convention
on the rights of the child, whatever action they take, they will have
given due consideration to its impact on children and they will put the
best interests of the child as a primary concern in making any
decision,” de Bono said.
Analysts say Australia may be in breach of the convention given the
threat of the children’s rights being violated due to the transfer from Nauru to Cambodia.
A recent Australian report by a former integrity commissioner, Philip
Moss, on conditions at the Australian funded centre in Nauru was highly critical and detailed allegations of rape and assault, self harm among children, and trading of sexual favours for drugs.
On Saturday a number of detainees with at least one three-month-old child were flown from Darwin to Nauru despite protests.
In the coming week, possibly as early as Monday, a charter plane is expected to fly out from Nauru with about 10 refugees for resettlement in Cambodia.
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