United Nations agencies were at odds today over a deal struck between Canberra and Kuala Lumpur under which 4,000 refugees in Malaysia would be swapped for the next 800 asylum seekers arriving in Australia.

Earlier this month UN High Commission for Refugees regional representative Richard Towle praised the deal as a "significant

practical contribution to what we're trying to achieve in the region."

But UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who is visiting Australia, has pledged to tell Prime Minister Julia Gillard that the transfer would "violate refugee law."

Pillay, speaking before a meeting with Gillard, said Australia "cannot send individuals to a country that has not ratified the torture convention, the convention on refugees."

Canberra maintains the swap is not in breach of its undertakings under UN conventions.

"The Australian government is quite confident, very confident, of the lawfulness of this policy and this approach," Immigration Department secretary Andrew Metcalfe said.

He also accepted that those transferred to Malaysia, mostly from the Middle East, would be subject to Malaysian law on their arrival "just like an Australian tourist would."

Agreement is yet to be signed

He indicated that Kuala Lumpur would have a say in those arriving - just as Canberra would be able to veto those among the 4,000 mostly Myanmar refugees it had agreed to resettle.

At the weekend, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said none of the 800 flown to Malaysia would be resettled in Australia, even if they had immediate family members in Australia.

Bowen said the deportees would receive "dignity and respect" in Malaysia but not special treatment.

He said their welfare would be monitored by a task force that would include representatives of both governments, the UN refugee agency and the International Organisation for Migration.

It also emerged that Canberra is committed to taking the 4,000 refugees from Kuala Lumpur regardless of whether it sends any asylum seekers to Malaysia.

The agreement, under which Australia pays all expenses, is yet to be signed.

Bowen claimed that the promise of the deal had already had the effect of deterring asylum seekers from paying people-smugglers to board Indonesian fishing boats for the crossing to Australia.

- dpa