Phnom Penh: The Cambodian government has criticised Australia for failing to take responsibility for an unfolding human tragedy in the south-east Asian country as dozens of surrogate mothers carrying babies for Australian biological parents have gone into hiding, fearing arrest.
Chou Bun Eng, the secretary of state for the Interior Ministry, told Fairfax Media it is "regrettable" that Australia insists it cannot play a role in surrogacy agreements that Australians sign in one of Asia's poorest nations.
She said if Australia does not take responsibility for surrogacy-born babies "we will take responsibility for those babies…we will not abandon them".
"I asked [the Australian embassy] who is responsible? The answer was no-one. These [surrogate] women and the babies are the victims," she said.
A spokesman for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs said the department has "no involvement when overseas surrogacy arrangements are negotiated".
A DFAT statement to Fairfax Media said "the regulation of surrogacy in foreign jurisdictions is a matter for those jurisdictions. The Australian Embassy is monitoring the development of surrogacy arrangements in Cambodia. Any updated advice will be placed on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's International Surrogacy bulletin and Smartraveller website".
Cambodia has banned babies carried by Cambodian surrogate mothers for Australian biological parents from leaving the country, stranding more than 70 babies who either have been conceived or have already been born.
Authorities have appealed for Australians who have entered into surrogacy agreements to reveal themselves to Cambodian authorities so they can undergo DNA tests.
"We don't know who the fathers are. We want DNA tests to prove those who are responsible for the babies," she said.
However Cambodia has declared it regards commercial surrogacy as human trafficking, potentially putting Australian parents at risk of criminal charges.
Cambodian police allege that documents have been falsified in cases brokered by Australian nurse and fertility expert Tammy Davis-Charles, who has been arrested and is facing trial on criminal charges.
The documents have been presented at the Australian embassy in cases where Australian citizenship has been granted to the babies who left Cambodia. The Department of Foreign Affairs has refused to comment on the cases.
"The fact is that those Cambodian surrogates are married to Cambodian men with marriage certificates," said Ms Bun Eng.
"How come they can carry the babies of foreigners and make fake family certificates to process the surrogacies?," she asked.
Ms Bun Eng said she has appealed to the Australian embassy to become more involved in solving the crisis, including by providing information about the Australian parents.
"If there is no answer from the embassy I will write a notification to the Australian government," she said.
Australia moved closer to the authoritarian government in Phnom Penh and its strongman leader Hun Sen after Cambodia agreed to accept refugees from Nauru in a $55 million deal that was widely criticised, including by the UN refugee agency.
Cambodian officials have sought to reassure pregnant surrogates they will not face prosecution under a crackdown on about 50 surrogacy clinics and brokerage services that opened after commercial surrogacy was banned in Thailand, India and Ski Lanka.
Authorities have frozen Ms Davis-Charles' Cambodian bank accounts, leaving pregnant surrogate mothers fearing they will not be paid or receive money for medical check-ups.
Ms Bun Eng said the Cambodian government has told the Australian government to stop providing travel documents for surrogate-born babies.
Sam Everingham, global director of the Australian consultancy Families Through Surrogacy, said the human tragedy for Australian biological parents and their babies unfolding in Cambodia is not surprising given Australians have become one of the two largest nationalities to embrace international surrogacy in the last five years.
"Cambodia's surrogacy infrastructure was a hastily built rollercoaster with a high risk of collateral damage when it inevitably crashed," he said.
"Recruiting illiterate surrogates in a country with high levels of corruption to carry – in many cases – twin pregnancies for foreigners is not a humane, sustainable business model."
Mr Everingham said Attorney-General George Brandis must urgently instigate change to facilitate access to well-managed domestic surrogacy so fewer Australians will go overseas to enter into surrogacy arrangements.
A senate inquiry found earlier this year that "many Australians are pursuing offshore commercial surrogacy because of the difficulties of negotiating altruistic arrangements in Australia."