NZ should double refugee intake, says Amnesty
As New Zealand prepares to take the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, Amnesty International is calling on this nation to double its refugee intake.
New Zealand’s poor record of accepting refugees was out of step with the country’s human rights record, the global head of Amnesty International, secretary general Salil Shetty, said.
He’s here to meet Prime Minister John Key and Immigration Minster Michael Woodhouse, a month before New Zealand begins its month-long presidency of the UN Security Council.
New Zealand should use that time to make good on its campaign for a Security Council seat, Shetty said.
In October, New Zealand won a two-year seat on the council after campaigning as a voice for smaller countries and being sharply critical of UN paralysis in the face of crises such as Iraq.
According
to
Amnesty’s
latest annual report, 2014 was one of the worst years for human rights in recent history.
‘‘One of the problems is that the global governance mechanism, which was in place after the world war, has pretty much become paralysed,’’ Shetty said.
‘‘We’re back to a Cold War situation where it’s the West versus the rest – China and Russia on one side, and the permanent five [Security Council] members simply cannot agree on anything.
‘‘In that sense it’s very good we have a country like New Zealand, which is not in a sense part of any of these groupings . . . It’s a country which has stood up on many issues like the anti-apartheid struggle or spoke out during the genocide in Rwanda, so there is a certain legitimacy when New Zealand speaks.’’
But that was being eroded by a poor record in accepting adequate numbers of refugees.
New Zealand accepts 750 refugees each year.
‘‘You could have that number of people dying in a boat capsize,’’ said Shetty.
‘‘We’re saying that number, which is small as it is, could be easily doubled.’’
Key has ruled out increasing New Zealand’s quota, saying it is ‘‘at the right level’’. It has stayed roughly the same for the past 30 years.
He said the people-smuggling boat with 65 people on board turned away by Australia this week was a ‘‘credible risk and threat’’ to New Zealand. Those on board were reportedly claiming to be asylum-seekers.
If a boat made it to New Zealand, ‘‘that opens up a pretty easy pathway for people to replicate’’.