Tūi Tūi Tuituiā

Agreement with Australia

In February 2013, the Government of New Zealand announced a new bilateral agreement with Australia indicating that from June 2014, 150 refugees who are part of Australia’s refugee intake will be accepted in Aotearoa New Zealand each year. This will form part of the New Zealand Government’s current commitment to resettle 750 refugees a year, reducing the number of places available for referral by UNHCR to 600 places.

The decision was strongly criticised by UNHCR, Amnesty International and others, at a time when around 860,000 refugees are in need of resettlement with fewer than 85,000 resettlement places available globally each year. . . Concerns were also raised that these 150 refugees may be subject to years of mandatory detention in Australia or in offshore centres in the Pacific islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island under Australia’s ‘no advantage’ immigration policy. In its 2013 report, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged the New Zealand Government to refrain from sending asylum seekers to the Australian offshore centres until the conditions meet international standards.

New health checks for quota refugees

From 1 July 2013 new health checks for quota refugees were introduced to assess whether a person poses a serious public health risk or could place demands on Aotearoa New Zealand’s health system. The checks look for specified health conditions such as severe haemophilia, drug resistant TB and conditions requiring dialysis treatment or full-time care.

The new criteria mean anyone assessed as having certain conditions or treatment needs will not be selected for the quota programme unless granted an exception on a case-by-case basis by the Minister of Immigration.

Immigration Amendment Act 2013

In June 2013, the Government enacted the Immigration Act 2013. The Act aims to provide an efficient processing system in the event of a ‘mass arrival’ of asylum seekers and to deter people smuggling. The Act’s provision for the detention of groups of asylum seekers arriving together by boat has been widely criticised. Organisations, including the New Zealand Law Society, Amnesty International, the UNHCR and the Human Rights Commission also raised a number of other concerns. These included concerns about the language of the Act referring to asylum seekers as ‘illegal migrants’, the fact that there is no explicit presumption against detention, the detrimental impact of detention on the mental health of asylum seekers, and the risk of breaching New Zealand’s international obligations.

Other policy changes were also announced. These include a requirement that persons already recognised as refugees would have to re-establish their need for protection three years after the original determination and that permanent residency would not be approved until this reassessment is finalised.

Refugee Resettlement Strategy begins

The first stages of the national Refugee Resettlement Strategy got underway this year. The strategy, coordinated by Immigration New Zealand, sets out priorities for refugee resettlement. It introduces a stronger focus on preparing people for employment, as well as increasing their participation and self-sufficiency. It also aims to improve outcomes for refugees in health, housing and education.

The strategy is a cross-government initiative, involving the Ministries of Business, Innovation and Employment; Education; Health; and Social Development. It also has input from a group of key stakeholders from government and non-government organisations and refugee communities.

Some of the practical changes being introduced include improving the information provided to refugees before arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand as well as keeping service providers and refugee community leaders better informed about the composition of refugee quotas to help them to plan ahead. The Strategy initially only applies to quota refugees.

Alongside the Refugee Resettlement Strategy, the Government promised $5.5 million to help rebuild the ageing Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre. The centre, built during World War II, plays a crucial role in accommodating refugees and helping them to adapt to their new life in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Successful asylum seekers left to mark time

New research carried out by ChangeMakers Refugee Forum and The National Refugee Network highlighted marked differences in the way that quota refugees and successful asylum seekers are supported in Aotearoa New Zealand.³⁸

Each year the Government supports around 750 quota refugees to resettle in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, this same level of support is not offered to the approximately 140 other people granted refugee status each year after they arrive in New Zealand seeking asylum.

The ChangeMakers Refugee Forum report Marking time: experiences of successful asylum seekers in Aotearoa New Zealand explored the extent to which successful asylum seekers were able to participate in Aotearoa New Zealand life. It revealed that successful asylum seekers, also known as ‘convention refugees’, find it difficult to access interpreters and opportunities to learn English. They may also be forced to wait many years before gaining permanent residency. Not only does this mean prolonged periods of uncertainty it also presents major challenges in accessing education, housing, health care, welfare benefits and employment.

ChangeMakers Refugee Forum is calling for equitable support to be offered to both quota refugees and successful asylum seekers.

Intensive support keeps refugees healthy

Refugees require intensive support and education to stay healthy, according to research by Red Cross Refugee Services.³⁹ The pilot Health and Wellbeing Project revealed more needs to be done to help refugee-background families learn about the New Zealand health system and how to access services.

The project worked with a number of families, delivering health information directly to each household, in their language. Red Cross Refugee Services said that the project demonstrated the value of taking account of the literacy, education and language skills of people from refugee-background communities as well as any disabilities they may have.

It recommended former refugees are provided with intensive education about accessing the New Zealand health system as well as tailored health education programmes on areas such as immunisation, smoking cessation, health screening services and women’s health.