New Zealand Government does more to help Afghan refugees – Stuff

The Government has brought forward places set aside for refugees fleeing the crisis in Afghanistan and has increased the total number of spaces for refugees coming from the Middle East.

In response to the mounting refugee crisis in the Middle East, Cabinet recently agreed to increase the proportion of places allocated to resettlement of refugees from the region.

Now 20% of the annual refugee quota or 300 of the 1500 spots will go to those fleeing conflict or persecution in the Middle East. This is up from 15%.

Meanwhile, in response to the emergency situation in Afghanistan, the Government has decided to bring forward the first 200 places set aside for Afghan refugees.

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The move has been welcomed by a former Afghan refugee, who says it will make life a lot easier for a small group of refugees.

These 200 spots were originally going to be used next quota programme year (starting July 1, 2023), followed by 250 places in 2024, and then 300 places set aside in 2025.

Immigration Minister Michael Wood said Cabinet decided to bring forward the places set aside for Afghan refugees to the current year (starting this month), in order to match the number of refugee referrals being made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

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Newly minted Immigration Minister Michael Wood says the changes better reflect the current humanitarian need.

The UN refugee agency had signalled it was going to need more help to resettle the high number of Afghan refugees in the short-term.

The first group of Afghan nationals is expected to arrive this month, subject to flight availability and exit procedures.

Regarding the decision to welcome more people from the Middle East, Wood said it better reflected the resettlement needs in the region and the operational priorities of the UNHCR.

The situation of Syrian refugees remains the largest global refugee crisis.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

The situation of Syrian refugees remains the largest global refugee crisis. Meanwhile, the crisis in Afghanistan continues to build. (File photo)

Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, nearly 6 million people have fled the country and more than 5.5m have registered as refugees in the neighbouring countries of Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.

UNHCR figures show that Syrian refugees continue to compose the largest percentage of refugees who have priority resettlement needs at 39% of the total global resettlement needs.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Afghanistan continues to build. And in May, UNHCR announced the number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record.

Abbas Nazari, former refugee and author, said he welcomed the Governments decision to do more for refugees coming from the Middle East and Afghanistan.

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Former refugee, author and advocate Abbas Nazari says these changes will make life better for a small group of refugees.

The increase is a welcome step in the right direction, and takes some of the pain away for many members of the Afghan-New Zealand community, as well as other refugee communities in New Zealand.

Nazari said people were quick to criticise Immigration New Zealand, but massive staff shortages meant they were under the pump.

While the Government has helped evacuate hundreds of Afghans from Kabul, and has granted them visas, others have been left behind or taking legal action to get their visa applications processed.

More broadly, the Government has faced criticism for not doing more to help resettle refugees during the Covid-19 pandemic. And for what remains a comparatively low refugee quota per capita.

Nazari said he hoped the Government would find ways to address the backlog of cases, and get closure for families whod been waiting for years.

But right now, the changes made by the Government would make life a whole lot easier for a small group of refugees.

Overall, this is fantastic news.

Golriz Ghahraman, the Green Partys refugee and humanitarian issues spokesperson, said the Government should have committed to 200 additional places for Afghans.

Most New Zealanders cared about what was happening in Afghanistan, and they expected the Government to respond, she said.

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Green Party MP and former refugee Golriz Ghahraman says New Zealands refugee policy should always respond to the greatest needs.

The Government shouldn't get away with celebrating a response that's actually taking away spots from within our quota. Because actually, New Zealanders expect us to respond with something extra when a new humanitarian crisis happens.

As for the increased slice of the pie for refugees coming from the Middle East, Ghahraman said this was a good thing.

Thats the place with the most need, and with the most displacement, with the most war and violence.

The move comes after the last National government effectively placed a moratorium on refugees coming from the Middle East and Africa, in a policy that was labelled racist by advocates and the refugee community. This was overturned in 2019.

In a statement, National Party immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford said ultimately, New Zealand had a limited amount of spaces it could offer refugees.

But if there are spaces available, we have an obligation to do all we can to help those, especially those who worked with the New Zealand Government/Defence Force, to come to New Zealand.

The Governments refugee policy changes were made as part of Cabinets recent periodic review of the refugee quota programme.

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New Zealand Government does more to help Afghan refugees - Stuff