--- description: Cambodia said Monday that the country had no plans to accept any more refugees being held in Australian immigration detention on Nauru. title: Has Australia's Plan to Send Refugees to Cambodia Collapsed? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38eabf5a815527d5/698861a5cf40a81b0fc3f7a7/cambodia-refugee-resettlement.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Cambodia](/tag/cambodia/) ## Cambodia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Has Australia's Plan to Resettle Asylum Seekers in Cambodia Already Ended in Failure? by [Helen Regan](/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 31, 2015 9:15 AM CUT  A man rides a motorcycle past a house that is used to temporarily house asylum seekers sent from a South Pacific detention centre, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 31, 2015. A man rides a motorcycle past a house that is used to temporarily house asylum seekers sent from a South Pacific detention centre, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 31, 2015.Pring Samrang—Reuters by [Helen Regan](/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 31, 2015 9:15 AM CUT Cambodia said [Monday](http://www.smh.com.au/world/plan-to-resettle-refugees-in-cambodia-collapses-20150830-gjavdv.html "undefined") that the country had no plans to accept any more refugees living on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru. Just four detainees—an Iranian couple, a Rohingya man from Burma (formally known as Myanmar) and another Iranian man—have moved to the Southeast Asian nation under a $39 million controversial deal with Canberra, reports the Sydney _Morning Herald_. The group were transferred in June and are reportedly living in villas in the capital Phnom Penh. “We don’t have any plans to import more refugees from Nauru to Cambodia,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Khieu Sopheak told local paper the _Cambodia Daily_. “I think the less we receive the better.” Australian immigration officials also failed to sign any more Nauru detainees up for the resettlement program in June, July and August. However, speaking to reporters in Sydney, Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop denied the pact had collapsed, saying Cambodia was committed to the resettlement deal, [reports](http://www.businessinsider.com/r-cambodia-says-no-plan-to-take-more-refugees-from-australian-detention-camp-2015-8 "undefined") Reuters. Under the pact, which was signed last [September](http://time.com/3443252/australia-asylum-seeker-refugee-cambodia/ "undefined"), Cambodia is meant to accept an unlimited number of the asylum seekers currently being held on Nauru in exchange for $28.5 million in development aid from Australia. A further $11 million was to be used for healthcare, housing, education and training for the new arrivals. Human rights groups and opposition leaders in Cambodia and Australia have [slammed](http://time.com/3829148/australia-nauru-refugees-asylum-seekers-resettle-cambodia-bribes/ "undefined") the deal for sending vulnerable people to an impoverished country that itself has a long history of abuses against asylum seekers. Australia has repeatedly vowed that no asylum seeker trying to reach its shores by boat would ever be resettled in the country. Instead, such arrivals are sent to offshore processing camps on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. \[[_SMH_](http://www.smh.com.au/world/plan-to-resettle-refugees-in-cambodia-collapses-20150830-gjavdv.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4016756/cambodia-australia-refugee-deal-nauru/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4016756/cambodia-australia-refugee-deal-nauru/"},"headline":"Has Australia's Plan to Resettle Asylum Seekers in Cambodia Already Ended in Failure?","datePublished":"2015-08-31T09:15:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:34:00.824Z","description":"Just four people have been resettled under the plan","url":"https://time.com/4016756/cambodia-australia-refugee-deal-nauru/","keywords":["Cambodia","Australia","Human Rights","refugee","Nauru"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38eabf5a815527d5/698861a5cf40a81b0fc3f7a7/cambodia-refugee-resettlement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Helen Regan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/helen-regan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38eabf5a815527d5/698861a5cf40a81b0fc3f7a7/cambodia-refugee-resettlement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A man rides a motorcycle past a house that is used to temporarily house asylum seekers sent from a South Pacific detention centre, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 31, 2015.","caption":"A man rides a motorcycle past a house that is used to temporarily house asylum seekers sent from a South Pacific detention centre, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 31, 2015.","creditText":"Pring Samrang—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cambodia/","name":"Cambodia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4016756/cambodia-australia-refugee-deal-nauru/","name":"Has Australia's Plan to Resettle Asylum Seekers in Cambodia Already Ended in Failure?"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton - \"Wealth of Opportunity\" in Cambodia","description":"In a video address to refugees on Nauru on Wednesday, Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said Cambodia offered a \"wealth of opportunity\" for resettlement.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Mluv1Ssx/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-23T06:31:13.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Mluv1Ssx.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4016756/cambodia-australia-refugee-deal-nauru/","duration":"PT3M45S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4016756/cambodia-australia-refugee-deal-nauru/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```