Refugees in New Zealand

This article describes the stance of New Zealand towards migration of refugees. A refugee accepted into the country is granted permanent residency and may apply for citizenship. As New Zealand receives relatively few asylum seekers much of the discussion in recent years has focussed on whether the annual UNHCR resettlement quota is adequate, focussed on the most vulnerable and on the outcomes of refugees coming through this system ^[1].

History of refugees in New Zealand

Even before the 1951 United Nations Convention was being adopted by member states, New Zealand accepted refugees.

Those granted refugee status prior to the UNHCR Convention were

• 1100 Jewish refugees during the 1930s
• 837 Polish refugees, mostly children arrived in 1944
• 4,500 refugees from Europe between 1949 and 1952

New Zealand acceded to the UNHCR Convention in 1960, and refugee policy is based on the obligations that flow from that, namely to offer protection to refugees. The text is currently set out in the Sixth Schedule of the Immigration Act 1987. The Immigration Act is not a description of policy, but rather a framework for assessing and determining claims made by people in New Zealand seeking refugee status. The 1987 Act formalised an annual resettlement quota of 800 places, which was decreased to 750 places in 1997^[2].

Those granted refugee status post the signing of the UNHCR Convention were:

• Hungarian refugees following 1956 Hungarian revolution
• Czechoslovaks from the 1968 Prague uprising
• Asians fleeing Uganda in the 1970s
• Chileans fleeing General Pinochet in the 1970s
• Jews and East Europeans fleeing Soviet Union in the 1970s
• Those fleeing wars in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the 1970s and 1980s
• Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan arrive in the 1990s
• Burma, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s
• Since 2000, Burundi, Eritrea, Djibouti and Bhutan
• Colombian refugees since 2008.
• Syrian refugees from 2014.^[3]

In 2009, the incoming National government moved to a focus on refugees in the Asia-Pacific region which substantially decreased the number of refugees coming from both the Middle East and Africa. New Zealand now restricts quota refugees from both the Middle East and African unless (a) they already have family in New Zealand, (b) they are part of an emergency quota outside of the annual intake or (c) refugees from this region are able to register with the UNHCR outside of the Middle East and Africa. ^[4]. These restrictions have led to prominent advocates comparing New Zealand's policies to the 'Muslim Ban' of Donald Trump. ^[5]

In the decade 2007-2016 the top three refugee resettlement countries of origin have been Myanmar, Bhutan, and Colombia. ^[6]

Categories under which refugees are accepted into New Zealand

There are two pathways that refugees find their way into New Zealand. The first is a quota agreement with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). The second is by way of an onshore claim to refugee status made after arrival in New Zealand. The status is then confirmed under conventions.

Each year New Zealand accepts 750 refugees per year, increasing to 1000 in July 2018, as part of an agreement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, whereby their status has been ‘mandated’ or authenticated by the UNHCR. Because New Zealand is inaccessible by refugee coming by boat or a land bridge, New Zealand offers a resettlement programme. Included within this quota are places for women at risk (75 or more; 125 in 2016/17) medical/disabled (up to 75; just 2 in 2016/17), and emergency protection cases (1 in 2016/17) within their quota. In doing so they offer a preferential option for those who are already marginalised and vulnerable, and the most difficult to place. For this New Zealand had gained international respect for its humanitarianism, though in recent years the numbers of medical/disabled and emergency places have been close to zero. ^[7]

In addition to this quota New Zealand receives asylum seekers, whose claim is then either approved or declined by the Refugee Status Branch of the Immigration New Zealand, or by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority. In 2016, only 387 refugee status applications were received, with 32% found to be genuine.^[8]

Refugees have also entered New Zealand in exceptional circumstances when requested by UNHCR. In 1999, in response to Kosovo humanitarian crisis, New Zealand accepted over 400 Kosovars for resettlement who had family in New Zealand. Again in 2001, New Zealand accepted resettlement for 130 Afghan asylum seekers picked up by the freighter, MS Tampa, after their craft capsized in the Indian Ocean. In 2015 a special quota of 600 places, additional to the annual quota, was announced for an intake of Syrian refugees, with 100 arriving in 2015/16 and 250 per year for 2016/17 and 2017/18. This, effectively, raised the quota to 1000 places from July 2016 onwards.

Refugee and asylum seeker settlement

Those refugees arriving under the UNHCR quota, arrive in Auckland in groups of about 180, and stay for the first six weeks at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre. They are offered a programme of residential and employment orientation, and then move off to one of the seven major resettlement areas, Auckland (restricted to family connected cases in 2016), Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch (stopped after the 2011 earthquakes), Dunedin and, from 2018^[9], Invercargill.

Asylum seekers who apply for refugee status on shore are equally likely to be held either in prison or the Mangere refugee reception centre . If they are found to be genuine refugees they will be granted residence, then they are technically able to access Social welfare in New Zealand and other benefits provided by the state. However, assistance that addresses their specific needs as they attempt to integrate into New Zealand is limited^[10].

Asylum seekers by boat

No mass boat arrival has ever made it to New Zealand. As such, New Zealand is one of a handful of countries that takes the majority of their refugees through a quota system. ^[11]

Nevertheless, in 2013 a Migration Amendment Bill was introduced which would allow the government to mandatorily detain refugees who arrive by boat in groups of ten or more. The bill, colloquially referred to as the Mass Arrivals Bill, was passed as the Migration Amendment Act 2014 but only after Peter Dunne insisted the number rise from ten to thirty people.^[12]

A number of refugees have claimed that they are attempting to travel to New Zealand to claim asylum in recent years. Refugee advocates have claimed that the John Key and the National government is scare-mongering over asylum seekers in a manner similar to that deployed in Australian politics^[13]. Examples of claimed boat arrivals include:

- In June 2011 85 Tamils were detained by Indonesia's maritime police off Sumatra, who were claiming they were travelling to New Zealand. New Zealand Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman said there was "no concrete evidence" that the Sri Lankan people were actually trying to reach New Zealand. "When they had a look at the boat, there was no evidence that they were truly intending to come here, so I'm sure there is a range of things that the people on that boat are trying to do to leverage their position," Coleman said. "^[14]

- In May 2015 a ship with passengers including 54 Sri Lankans (Tamils), 10 Bangladeshis, one person from Myanmar (Rohingya) and five additional crew were intercepted 8000km away from New Zealand. They claimed to be wanting to come to New Zealand. ^[15]

Australia-New Zealand relations on refugees

Since Helen Clark welcomed refugees from the Tampa, New Zealand has been seen as a place where Australia might resettle asylum seekers who arrive by boat. This approach was formalised in an agreement between Julia Gillard and John Key in 2013 to allow up to 150 refugees from the Nauru and Manus detention centres to be relocated to New Zealand every year. With the 2013 Australian election of Tony Abbott the deal has remained on the table but has never been taken up by the Australian Liberal Party^[16]. While many Australian refugee advocates have argued for New Zealand to bypass the Australian government and offer the deal directly to refugees in detention, the New Zealand government has made it clear that they are only interested in the deal as sanctioned by the Australian government^[17].

Double The Quota campaign

In June 2013 Doing Our Bit, a small Wellington-based charitable trust led by Murdoch Stephens launched the Double The Quota campaign^[18]. The campaign had two goals: to double the number of refugees welcomed through the annual resettlement quota from 750 to 1500 and to double the funding for resettlement services. The campaign justified this increase based on population growth since the quota was set at 800 places in 1987, and a sharp decrease in the number of asylum seekers accepted from 2001 onwards. They argued that the quota had not increased for three decades, that Australia welcomed five times as many refugees per capita as New Zealand, and that New Zealand ranked around 90th in the world at hosting refugees per capita^[19].

Prior to the 2014 election only the Green Party and United Future had policies on increasing the quota. The National party had a policy of decreasing the quota to 500 places in 2002^[20] but this policy was not continued, nor implemented when they gained power in 2008. At the 2014 election the Labour party indicated they would support raising the quota to 1000^[21].

In early 2015 Amnesty International joined the call to double the quota^[22]. The public awakening to the refugee crisis in August of that year led to doubling the quota becoming a popular argument for how New Zealand should respond, gaining support from mayors,^[23] churches,^[24] other NGOS, the National party youth wing,^[25] and media commentators^[26]. Public pressure saw the government agree to admit 600 additional Syrian refugees, with 150 places also set aside from within the quota for Syrians. They also said they would consider increasing the quota at the triennial review due in 2016^[27].

A broad-based campaign ran in the first six months of 2016 to encourage the government to double the quota. While it was ultimately unsuccessful in that goal, the government did set in place an increase of the quota to 1000 places for July 2018. More importantly, United Future, Labour and the Greens all took on a policy of doubling the quota^[28].

In the lead up to the 2017 election, Doing Our Bit continued the campaign with a nationwide speaking tour securing pledges of Members of Parliament and candidates to double the quota^[29]. Among those signing was then deputy leader of the opposition, Jacinda Ardern. When Ardern eventually became Opposition leader and then leader of the coalition government with New Zealand First, she reiterated that the refugee quota would grow to 1500 places^[30]. The Green party also secured a review of the numbers admitted under family reunification for their confidence and supply support.

On 19th September 2018, the Labour coalition government made the announcement that New Zealand will raise the annual refugee quota from 1000 to 1500 in July 2020, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had announced. Labour campaigned on increasing the refugee quota to 1500 over three years, and providing the funding to manage refugee resettlement.^[31]

Famous refugees from New Zealand

The following are well known refugees in New Zealand:

• Golriz Ghahraman - Oxford-educated, UN lawyer and New Zealand's first refugee member of parliament. Elected as a list candidate for the New Zealand Green Party. ^[32]
• Rez Gardi - Young New Zealander of the year 2017.
• Ahmed Zaoui - Algerian asylum seeker, politicians and poet.
• Ann Beaglehole, historian.
• Eliana Rubashkyn - Stateless refugee born in Colombia whose gender was recognized internationally under an UN resolution.

New Zealand is also home to numerous high-profile second-generation refugees including Sir John Key, investigative journalist Nicky Hager, and blogger David Farrar.

References

Further reading

• Brief history of refugees in New Zealand
• Stephens, M. "Refugee resettlement and activism in New Zealand" Forced Migration Review 54, 2017
• Stephens, M. 'The deep silence of the Pacific' Overland Aotearoa, 2015.
• Special issue of Kōtuitahi on Refugee resettlement and seeking asylum in Aotearoa New Zealand. Guest editors: Jay Marlowe and Sue Elliott.
• Doing Our Bit, Archive of New Zealand refugee news 2013-2017
• Immigration New Zealand refugee quota arrival statistics
• Immigration New Zealand refugee quota settlement statistics
• Barnett, Tracey 'The Quiet War on Asylum' 2013, BWB Texts: Wellington.
• Refugees from Te Ara, Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
• Pahiatua Children; books on the Polish refugees
• Refugee sector organisations in New Zealand
• Verbitsky, J. "Refugee Policy" in New Zealand Government and Politics, Ed. Miller, R, 4th edition 2006, OUP