The Jesuit Refugee Service has welcomed the closure of a United Nations refugee centre in Cambodia on government orders.

Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia UN Photo/John Isaac

The centre had taken in indigenous mostly evangelical Christian Montagnard people from the central highlands of neighbouring Vietnam, BBC News reports.

Human Rights Watch says it is concerned that future asylum-seekers may not be treated “according to international standards”.

But the Jesuit Refugee Service says it is glad the facility is closing as it has been “the equivalent of a detention centre”.

Ten of the twenty detainees will be resettled in a third country – but the remainder failed to get refugee status and will be deported to Vietnam this week.