True refuge still elusive for refugees

14 March 2014
The Phnom Penh Post
Civil society / Ethnic minorities and indigenous people / Government / Human rights / International laws and treaties / Law and judiciary / Migration / Ministries and other national bodies / Ministry of Interior / Population and censuses / Social development
Ang Chanrith / Australian aid / CLEC / Community Legal Education Center / Hor Namhong / Jesuit Refugee Services / JRS / Julie Bishop / Law on Nationality / Ministry of Interior’s Refugee Office / Minority Rights Organization / Moen Tola / Phay Siphan / UNHCR / United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

It took three illegal border crossings, several bribed officials and six months in an overcrowded detention centre before Mohammed Ibrahim* finally arrived in Cambodia. Four years later, the ethnic Rohingya, a victim of violence and oppression in strife-torn Rakhine state in Myanmar’s west, is one of the Kingdom’s few recognised refugees. … Concerns over the treatment of refugees in Cambodia surfaced again last month when Foreign Minister Hor Namhong announced that his Australian counterpart, Julie Bishop, had asked his government to consider resettling refugees seeking asylum in Australia. According to Sister Denise Coghlan, whose organisation Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) has been assisting Rohingya asylum seekers in the Kingdom since 2009, being granted refugee status in Cambodia doesn’t assure someone a life worth living. …

 Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/true-refuge-still-elusive-refugees