Cambodia has formally agreed to accept four refugees detained by the Australian government as part of a A$40m (£20m) deal signed between the two countries last year.
The Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, approved the move on Wednesday, which was confirmed to the Cambodia Daily newspaper by a high-ranking government official. It is the final step in a process that began more than a year ago when Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, first floated the idea that Cambodia could take in refugees turned away from Australia.
Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers are being detained by Australia on the island of Nauru in the South Pacific. They have been told repeatedly by Australian immigration officials that they will never be allowed to settle in Australia and should choose Cambodia – one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in south-east Asia – as their country of resettlement.
Cambodia said it would only accept genuine refugees, and that all transfers would have to be made on a strictly voluntary basis.
The Guardian reported last month that four people – a Rohingya man and three Iranians – had been cleared by a Cambodian delegation who visited Nauru. That visit followed the circulation among refugees and asylum seekers of an official Australian document, which promised cash incentives and settlement packages for the first group of people who would agree to go.
General Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for Cambodia’s Interior Ministry, could not be reached by the Guardian on Thursday, but told Cambodia Daily that he had “received approval from my government that four people – four refugees – should come to resettle permanently in Cambodia”.
It was reported that the four were secretly moved to Darwin ahead of the transfer, the date of which has still to be confirmed.
The deal has drawn criticism from human rights and refugee advocacy groups, which have described it as “unnecessarily cruel”.
