| 22 February 2014 |
Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, requests Cambodia to consider accepting refugees in a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
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| 30 April 2014 |
The Cambodian Government confirms in-principle agreement to the Australian proposal to resettle refugees from Nauru.
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| 19 May 2014 |
Cambodian Opposition Leader, Sam Rainsy, condemns the proposal (as the Cambodian Government confirms that a Government study of the proposal has been completed)
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| 6 June 2014 |
A joint statement by 21 Cambodian NGOs condemns the proposal
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| 24 September 2014 |
Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that the agreement will be signed on 26 September. The announcement is confirmed by a spokesperson for the Australian Immigration Minister.
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| 25 September 2014 |
Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison reveals some details about the proposed resettlement agreement with Cambodia.
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| 26 September 2014 |
Australia and Cambodia sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) relating to the settlement of refugees in Nauru, and agree to Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the MOU.
Monks, students and other Cambodians protested the agreement in front of the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh.
Australian Immigration Minister sent a video message to asylum seekers in detention in Nauru warning that if they did not accept relocation to Cambodia they would remain in Nauru for another five years and never be resettled in Australia.
After learning about the Cambodia agreement, seven teenage asylum seekers in detention in Nauru attempted suicide and refugees settled in Nauru protest the agreement.
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- Minister for Immigration and Border Control, ‘Refugee Settlement Arrangement, Joint Press Statement’, 26 September 2014
- ‘Cambodians protest Australia using country as refugee ‘dumping ground’’, The Guardian, 26 September 2014
- ‘Cambodia and Australia sign refugee deal’, Al Jazeera, 26 September 2014
- ‘Nauru detention centre: Labor, Greens demand investigation into claims of sexual abuse against women and children’, ABC, 1 October 2014
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| 29 September – 3 October 2014 |
The agreement is condemned by a coalition of international NGOs in a statement to UNHCR’s 65th Executive Committee plenary session.
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| 2 October 2014 |
Asylum seekers on Nauru (including children) sew their lips shut in protest over their detention and the Cambodia agreement.
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| 20 January 2015 |
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicates that it may be willing to assist in the transfer of refugees from Nauru.
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| 24 February 2015 |
IOM confirms that it will facilitate resettlement of refugees from Nauru to Cambodia, and announces that it has secured a number of key conditions for refugees who choose to transfer from Nauru to Cambodia. These conditions reportedly include the possibility for families of refugees to move from their home countries to Cambodia, and the right to live and work anywhere in Cambodia.
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| 26 March 2015 |
Australia and Cambodia sign a new Memorandum of Understanding to ‘further strengthen co-operation on irregular migration, people smuggling and trafficking’. A copy of the agreement is not made publicly available.
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| 15 April 2015 |
Guardian Australia reports that Australian immigration staff have distributed letters to refugees on Nauru about resettlement in Cambodia, advising that ‘the first flight from Nauru to Cambodia for refugees will be as soon as 20 April 2015’ and that ‘moving to Cambodia provides an opportunity for you and your family to start a new life in a safe country, free from persecution and violence, and build your future.’
The Australian director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, says Cambodia is: 'far from a tropical democratic paradise. The reality is that Cambodia is a struggling economy with ineffective and corrupt law enforcement where its own citizens face corruption, repression and violence on a daily basis.'
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| 20 April 2015 |
A first plane is due to carry refugees from Nauru to Cambodia, but is delayed due to ‘logistical issues in relation to officials from Cambodia being involved in the process’ on Nauru at the time. |
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| 22 April 2015 |
It is reported that Australian immigration officials have approached asylum seekers within the Nauru detention centre about resettlement in Cambodia, even though the agreement specifies that only recognised refugees can be resettled.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton sends a video message to asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru, warning them that they ‘will not under any circumstances be settling in Australia’, that Cambodia is their ‘only long term settlement option’, and that the settlement support offered to the first group of refugees to go to Cambodia may not be made available to refugees who wait and go later.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says: ‘Forcing refugees to choose between a life of torment on Nauru or a life of poverty in Cambodia is atrocious. Peter Dutton is simply putting these families in a desperate lose-lose situation’.
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| 23 April 2015 |
One refugee on Nauru, a Rohingyan man from Myanmar, takes up the offer of resettlement in Cambodia, according to spokesperson for the Cambodian Interior Ministry, Khieu Sopheak.
Immigration Minister Dutton says refugee advocates in Australia are pulling a ‘cruel hoax’ on refugees by telling them not to go to Cambodia.
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| 27 April 2015 |
The total number of refugees who have volunteered to be resettled in Cambodia is reported to have risen to four: an Iranian couple, an Iranian man and a Rohingyan man.
The first three refugees are being housed within the Nauru detention centre in the RPC1 compound, separate from where the asylum seekers waiting to have their claims determined are accommodated. They are required to wear a bright green ID card with a photo and have freedom of movement in and out of the detention centre, but visitors are not permitted to visit them inside the centre. The Rohingyan man is still outside the detention centre in the community in Nauru.
It is unclear when the four refugees will be flown to Cambodia.
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| 28 April 2015 |
A new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that Cambodians are leaving the country in large numbers to find employment elsewhere in the region, and that ‘Cambodia is predominantly a source country for irregular migrants who move independently or with the aid of smugglers to Thailand or Malaysia’.
Refugees on Nauru release a video in response to Minister Dutton’s video message about Cambodia on 22 April, stating that ‘the Australian and Nauruan governments are waging a one-sided war against vulnerable and defenceless refugees.’
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| 29 April 2015 |
Human Rights Watch calls for Australia to ‘withdraw plans to send refugees from Nauru to Cambodia in the face of continuing abuses against those already in Cambodia’. |
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| 30 April 2015 |
Refugee Action Coalition spokesperson, Ian Rintoul, says refugees have been offered up to US$12,000, health insurance and help with employment if they go to Cambodia. |
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| 7 May 2015 |
Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton says a small group of refugees will be sent to Cambodia from Nauru 'very shortly'. He says 'the message is absolutely clear from the Australian government that the illegal way to Australia is well and truly closed'. |
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| 13 May 2015 |
The four refugees who have volunteered for resettlement are reported to have been moved to an undisclosed location in Australia, reportedly in Darwin, to await their final transfer to Cambodia.
A spokesperson for the Cambodian Ministry of Interior's Refugee Department, Kerm Sarin, reportedly says that he has not been informed of the transfer, and that Cambodia has not yet made any final decisions about resettlement.
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| 20 May 2015 |
Cambodia formally accepts the four refugees for resettlement.
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| 4 June 2015 |
The four refugees arrive in Cambodia, and are taken away in a van with curtains covering the windows.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says the group were being taken to temporary accommodation in the Cambodian capital to undergo language training as well as 'cultural and social orientation'.
The media reports that the refugees were transferred to a newly-built villa in a Phnom Penh suburb where they will live for months while receiving language and other training and benefits including $15 000, accommodation, income support and health insurance.
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| 8 June 2015 |
It is reported that Australian immigration officials told refugees on Nauru earlier this year that Cambodia was a promised land of opportunity with mosques, jobs, football and martial arts.
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| 6 July 2015 |
Refugee Action Coalition, a Sydney-based advocacy organisation, reports that Australian Immigration staff on Nauru are actively encouraging more refugees to go to Cambodia. 'There is considerable renewed activity on Nauru to try and get people to agree to go to Cambodia,' said Ian Rintoul, a spokesman for the group. 'The last two weeks or so, Immigration and Connect have been cold-calling refugees and also using any scheduled interviews to push Cambodia again.'
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| 4 August 2015 |
A Cambodian official reports that the first group of refugees resettled in Cambodia are ‘very happy’ in Phnom Penh, and are able to move accompanied outside their compound, but that the four refugees would need to be 'integrated' into Cambodian society before the government would consider accepting further refugees.
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| 20 August 2015 |
Cambodian Opposition Leader, Sam Rainsy, says that his party does not support the refugee agreement with Cambodia, noting that the current government has repatriated refugees from Vietnam and China.
International and Cambodian human rights groups send a joint letter urging the UN Human Rights Council to address and monitor 'the deteriorating human rights situation in Cambodia'.
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| 30 August 2015 |
Cambodian Interior Ministry spokesman, Khieu Sopheak, says the country has no plans to receive any more refugees from Nauru to Cambodia.
Australian Government Ministers maintain that the agreement will still be honoured by Cambodia. Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, says that she recently met with her Cambodian counterpart and had a 'productive, constructive discussion about how Cambodia can continue to work in partnership with the Australian Government and others.'
Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, says that the statements were from a low level official and that the Agreement allows for more refugees to go to Cambodia. He stated, 'There are other people in Nauru now who are prepared to go to Cambodia and we're working through the detail of that with the officials.'
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| 7 September 2015 |
One of the four refugees, a 25 year old Rohingya man, who was resettled in Cambodia in June contacts Myanmar’s Embassy in Cambodia requesting that he be repatriated to Myanmar. The reason for the request is not yet known, however it is reported that the man’s father had recently visited him in Cambodia and may have encouraged a reunion.
The Refugee Action Coalition has stated that the four resettled refugees from Nauru have not yet received the lump sum payment of over US$10,000 which they reportedly expected to receive.
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| 10 September 2015 |
Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, meets with Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, and Interior Minister, Sar Kheng, and reports that they 'reinforced the commitment of both nations to the successful implementation of the resettlement arrangements of refugees from Nauru'. A Cambodian official states that the country is prepared to consider the resettlement of 'a group of four or five at a time'.
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| 17 September 2015 |
Four more refugees detained on Nauru volunteer to be resettled in Cambodia.
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| 23 September 2015 |
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expresses concern about offshore processing networks in Nauru and Manus Island, but states that these asylum seekers will not be resettled in Australia. He said, "the Government is actively looking at means of resettling them, whether it is in PNG, or indeed in Cambodia or looking at other options."
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| 2 October 2015 |
Only two additional refugees on Nauru are set to be resettled in Cambodia, after some of the four who previously volunteered withdrew their requests. After conducting interviews with the refugees on Nauru, the Cambodian government has not stated the reasons for their withdrawal. Both of the refugees to be resettled are Rohingya who face persecution in Myanmar.
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| 6 October 2015 |
Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, says the Government is in negotiations to find new third country resettlement options for refugees in the Philippines. He states that the resettlement of refugees in Cambodia is still available despite his claims that "the process is being undermined by... well intentioned [refugee] advocates."
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| 15 October 2015 |
The first group of refugees move out of their supervised accommodations in Phnom Penh. IOM confirms that the refugees were now renting their own apartments and searching for employment.
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| 16 October 2015 |
One of the first four refugees to accept the Cambodia deal, a 25 year old Muslim man from Myanmar, is reported to have returned voluntarily to his country of origin.
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| 26 November 2015 |
After earlier reports that two more refugees on Nauru are considering the option of resettlement in Cambodia, just one man is moved to Phnom Penh under the resettlement deal - the fifth refugee to accept the offer.
After the voluntary departure of one of the original four in October, this refugee brings the total number in Cambodia under the deal back up to four.
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| March 2016 |
An Iranian couple, two of the original four refugees transferred from Nauru to Cambodia, leaves Cambodia. They apparently return to Iran despite having been assessed as refugees facing persecution in that country.
The total number of refugees left in Cambodia under the deal is down to two. The Rohingya man who agreed to go to Cambodia in November 2015 later tells journalists he is 'unwell, lonely and sad' in Cambodia, and that he feels abandoned and fears he will die.
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- 'More refugees leave Cambodia, further straining $55m deal with Australia', The Guardian, 8 March 2016
- 'Blow to Australia's $55 million Cambodia deal as two more refugees quit', Sydney Morning Herald, 8 March 2016
- Lindsay Murdoch, 'Remaining two refugees in Cambodia rue leaving Nauru', Sydney Morning Herald, 13 March 2016
- Erin Handley, 'Nauru refugee says coming to Kingdom "a big mistake"', The Phnom Penh Post, 14 March 2016
- Erin Handley and Bun Sengkong, 'Nauru refugee decries Kingdom's medical facilities', The Phnom Penh Post, 24 March 2016
- Mech Dara, 'Nauru refugees "not disappointed": immigration chief',The Phnom Penh Post, 30 March 2016
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| 3-4 April 2016 |
A spokesperson for the Cambodian government, Siphan Phay, tells journalists the agreement with Australia has been 'a failure', adding that Cambodia 'doesn't have social services like ultra-modern governments' to support refugees, and that 'we don't have that much money to support them'.
Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton defends the ongoing viability of the agreement, saying that more refugees have expressed interest in going to Cambodia but refugee activists have told them to 'hold out' for resettlement in Australia.
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| 5 May 2016 |
A spokesperson for the Cambodian Ministry of Interior's Refugee Department, Kerm Sarin, says two more refugees on Nauru have volunteered to relocate to Cambodia. However neither refugee has yet submitted a formal application.
In the same week that Cambodia announces it will send a delegation to Nauru to interview the two additional refugees who might be considering resettlement, the fourth refugee out of the initial group of four to be resettled leaves Cambodia. The Iranian refugee in his early twenties was reportedly deeply unhappy with his life there. Only one refugee - a Rohingyan man - remains in Cambodia. He has previously told journalists that he fears he will die in the country.
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| June 2016 |
The last refugee left in Cambodia under the resettlement deal is told he will soon be cut off from Australian-funded assistance. The man, Mohammed Roshid, says he has been left sick, isolated and despairing about the future.
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| August 2016 |
The Phnom Penh Post reports that the Australian government has contracted Connect Settlement Services 'to provide settlement services to support people transferred from Nauru to Cambodia'. The announcement causes confusion about the role of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which previously performed this role and has announced that it will continue to do so. Connect is currently contracted by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection to provide support and settlement services to refugees in Nauru.
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| October 2016 |
There are reports that three more refugees - two Sri Lankan men and a man from Syria - have volunteered to be relocated from Nauru to Cambodia.
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| November 2016 |
One Syrian man accepts a deal for relocation from Nauru to Cambodia, reportedly on the condition that he be reunited there with his family. A little information is available about his living conditions there.
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