The goal of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) worldwide is to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people. JRS undertakes services at national and regional levels with the support of an international office in Rome.
JRS in Cambodia provides legal representation and advice, as well as social assistance, to asylum seekers and recognized refugees who arrive in Cambodia. JRS has assisted asylum seekers and refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Iran, Vietnam, the African continent, Pakistan and Burma. In order to address broader trans-boundary issues relating to displacement, JRS Cambodia works in partnership with our regional office in Bangkok, Thailand, as well as our international office in Rome.
Cambodia was one of the first countries in the Southeast Asian region to sign the 1951 Refugee Convention and the Protocol in 1992. The Cambodian government recently passed its own national laws regarding the implementation of the Convention in December 2009 in an instrument called the Sub-Decree on Procedures for Examination, Recognition, and Provision of Refugee or Asylum Status for Aliens in the Kingdom of Cambodia. As its name suggests, the Sub-Decree outlines the new procedures governing the process of refugee status determination in Cambodia.
The Sub-Decree grants responsibility for decision-making in asylum seeker cases to the Cambodian government, via its Refugee Office. Prior to the passage of the Sub-Decree, decision-making was a joint process shared by the UNHCR and the Cambodian government. Just two days after the passage of the Sub-Decree, however, Cambodia shocked the international community by deporting 20 Chinese asylum seekers back to China before their claims had been heard. The action indicates that the process of decision-making with regard to refugees is still very much in its infancy in Cambodia and that the protection of asylum seekers and refugees should be monitored closely. It is clear that the passage of the Sub-Decree does not guarantee protection of asylum seekers and refugees in Cambodia.
Once asylum seekers register at the Refugee Office, they are referred to JRS’s lawyer to draft statements of claim and representations for refugee status. Social workers at JRS assist refugees with finding accommodation, shopping for necessities, education, health and general orientation to life in Cambodia. Nearly all refugees remain in urban Phnom Penh, most desiring resettlement to a third country. Many become depressed as they reluctantly grasp that local integration may be their only durable solution. While the Sub-Decree does provide that refugees shall enjoy the same rights as legal immigrants as well as entitlement to work once they have received a positive decision, the reality is that life is extremely difficult for refugees in Cambodia; there is no formal procedure for refugees to obtain the necessary documentation required to find employment; travel permits are almost impossible to obtain and access to services such as education is limited.
Many Cambodians, both those in rural areas and evicted urban dwellers, live below the poverty line. Refugees and asylum seekers have added difficulties associated with the lack of language skills, the inability to obtain necessary documentation and alienation from the broader community. Most refugees have to rely on the assistance of JRS and UNHCR in order to survive. A number of refugees are able to rebuild their lives in Cambodia but others require resettlement to a third country; however, this is not easily available under current UNHCR policy.
The JRS mission to serve, accompany and defend the rights of refugees and displaced people becomes pertinent in a country such as Cambodia where the current refugee framework is still very fragile.
