The Australian government's Pacific Solution policy prevents asylum seekers from landing on the Australian mainland, instead transporting them to detention centers on the island of Nauru, and in Manus province, Papua New Guinea, while their claims are processed.
Australia is currently holding 1,500 asylum seekers in its offshore detention centers, and is now looking for their next move. According to reports in the Australian press, the central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan is one of the places that the government is considering sending refugees, rather than allowing them to live in Australia.
Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Saturday refused to comment on whether Kyrgyzstan was one of the countries proposed for the resettlement of people seeking asylum in Australia.
Last year Australia was criticized by the UN refugee agency for reaching a US$35 million deal with Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries, to resettle refugees there.
"International responsibility sharing is the basis on which the whole global refugee system works. I hope that the Australian government will reconsider its approach," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] Antonio Guterres.
The agency voiced "deep concern" about the agreement, reporting that asylum seekers in Australia's Nauru detention center had stitched their lips together to protest against the plan to send them to Cambodia.
The news of Kyrgyzstan's candidacy for refugee resettlement comes despite the Australian government's own travel advice for its citizens who are considering traveling to Kyrgyzstan. It advises visitors exercise a "high degree of caution," due to high levels of crime, the threat of terrorism, and the potential for civil unrest.
"Women travelling alone and after dark should take extra care for their own security as kidnapping local women for marriage is an ongoing occurrence in the Kyrgyz Republic, and foreigners could mistakenly fall victim to such kidnappings," warns the Department of Foreign Trade and Affairs.
Australians should avoid the border areas of Kyrgyzstan completely, the ministry advises, due to the particularly volatile security situation, and frequent incidents of violent crime, civil unrest and reports of terrorist activity.
