The United Nations' children's agency urged Australia Friday not to send 14 unaccompanied children to Malaysia under a refugee swap deal signed last month.

Australian officials moved 55 asylum seekers, including 14 minors without parents or guardians, to a detention center on Christmas Island Thursday. They are to be moved to Malaysia next week.

UNICEF opposed the move Friday, saying that Malaysia is not a signatory to the international conventions on the treatment of refugees and on torture.

The government of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said that there will be no blanket exemptions, as it tries to curtail the flow of asylum seekers from places such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, who arrive in unsafe boats after transiting in Asia.

Under a controversial refugee swap, Australia will send 800 boat people to Malaysia to be detained while their applications for asylum are processed.

In return, it will accept 4,000 refugees whose applications have already been processed in Malaysia.