Resettlement offered to hundreds of refugees

YAREN – Nauru will resettle hundreds of people deemed to be genuine refugees after its government opted to ­accelerate the processing of asylum-seekers.

Nauru has a population of just over 10,000 people. The resettled refugees will be provided with housing, a living allowance and employment opportunities until a more permanent resettlement ­location can be found.

The government confirmed that additional accommodation, with “air-conditioning and self-catering facilities”, was being built and nearly all refugee determinations had been concluded.

Between May last year and October 16 this year, a total of 1065 refugee determinations were made, with 758 asylum-seekers receiving a positive outcome and a further 307 being denied refugee status.

This represents a 71 per cent recognition rate, with those who have received negative ­determinations able to lodge an appeal with the Nauru Refugee Status Review Tribunal.

Nauru’s Secretary to the ­Department of Justice and Border Control, Lionel Aingimea, said a decision to accelerate determinations over the past 10 days had not undermined the integrity of the process.

“Teams of qualified lawyers and protection officers have conducted rigorous quality control over the determinations to ensure the increased pace does not compromise the accuracy and lawfulness of the determinations,” he said.

Meanwhile, the first group of refugees to arrive in Cambodia as part of a controversial deal the government signed with Australia last year are now renting their own apartments and searching for jobs, having left their temporary accommodations in Phnom Penh, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.

The four refugees – three Ira­nians and a Rohingya man from Burma – arrived in Phnom Penh from Nauru on June 4 and were sent to live in a gated villa in the city’s south.

On Thursday, following a meeting in Australia between Sok Phal, chief of the Interior Ministry’s immigration department, and Aus­tralian Immigra­tion Minister Pet­er Dutton, Mr. Dutton’s office an­nounced that the refugees had moved out.

Contacted on Friday, Kristin Dad­ey, program manager of the IOM’s Refugee Settlement Pro­gramme, said the refugees were now renting their own apartments and searching for employment.

And while the group has not yet re­ceived official residency cards, she said, they had been furnished with temporary identification cards.

“IOM can confirm that some of the refugees have moved out of the temporary accommodation and into the community,” Dadey said in an email, declining to say whether they were still in Phnom Penh.

“The refugees from Nauru have been issued with refugee ID cards, which aims to help them with access to services and em­ployment. For example, they have also been able to open bank ac­counts,” she said.

“They are renting their own apartments. As the settlement services provider, IOM is in the process of helping them find job opportunities, and yes, there are several promising opportunities out there now,” she added.

On Tuesday, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said that the Rohingya refugee, who had asked to return to Burma, was scheduled to have departed the country on October 11.

General Sopheak said on Fri­day that he believed the man had left, but that he could not confirm his departure. Dadey declined to comment on his whereabouts.