Outsourcing Obligations to Developing Nations: Australia’s Refugee Resettlement Agreement with Cambodia

Despite a proclaimed commitment of the ‘developed West’ to international cooperation in the formation of durable solutions for refugees, a pattern of defensive policy designed to outsource obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention has emerged. In this context, on 26 September 2014, Australia and Cambodia signed a ‘responsibility sharing’ agreement for the relocation to Cambodia of recognised refugees who originally sought protection in Australia and were removed to Nauru for processing. Whilst the Cambodia Agreement is of particular relevance in the Australasian region, this paper will analyse its nature and effect against the backdrop of the global trend of burden shifting and the implications of such an agreement for international law. This paper will examine whether the Cambodia Agreementt complies with the 1951 Refugee Convention through an analysis of the potential issues with fulfilment of the rights found therein. This requires the establishment of a continuum of jurisdiction pursuant to which it is concluded that transferees under the Cambodia Agreementt remain under the effective jurisdiction of Australia. This paper concludes that while a developing country may have the capacity to provide the requisite standard of protection to refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention, in practice Cambodia fails to do so.