Australia is touting Cambodia as the best place for asylum seekers

(Image credit: Omar Havana/Getty Images)

published 24 April 2015

Australia is attempting to show asylum seekers that their best bet is to actually go to Cambodia.

In a deal struck last year, Australia offered Cambodia $31 million to take in refugees, The Associated Press reports. There are 700 migrants detained on the Pacific Island nation of Nauru, and this week, they were shown a video message from Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who said Cambodia is a "fast-paced and vibrant country with a stable economy and varied employment opportunities ... a diverse nation with a blend of many nationalities, cultures, and religions. An opportunity for a new life is now before you. While it's not Australia, Cambodia offers you safety, security, and opportunity." They also received a fact sheet saying they would receive free health insurance and cash, and would enjoy "all the freedoms of a democratic society, including freedom of religion and freedom of speech."

Critics say that Cambodia is struggling to take care of its own population, and is notorious for cracking down on dissent. "Australia is basically paying blood money to a much poorer, less developed state with a shoddy record of refugee protection to take people that Canberra doesn't want," Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, told AP. So far, just one person on Nauru, an ethnic Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, has agreed to go to Cambodia.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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