New Zealand lawmakers urged to drop restrictions on Africa, Middle East refugees
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
January 28, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2023
New Zealand lawmakers urged to drop restrictions on Africa, Middle East refugees

World+Biz

Reuters
21 August, 2019, 09:45 am
Last modified: 21 August, 2019, 10:03 am

Related News

  • 2 dead, 2 missing as rain pounds New Zealand's largest city
  • Troubleshooter Chris Hipkins faces a tough road as New Zealand PM
  • New Zealand's Chris Hipkins sworn in as prime minister
  • Grateful Ardern makes last bow as New Zealand PM
  • New Zealand's ruling party confirms Hipkins as new prime minister

New Zealand lawmakers urged to drop restrictions on Africa, Middle East refugees

The government has already announced plans to increase the number of refugees it takes each year, referred by the United Nations, by 500 to 1,500 from next year.

Reuters
21 August, 2019, 09:45 am
Last modified: 21 August, 2019, 10:03 am
Ambreen Naeem holds a medal which was posthumously awarded to her husband Mian Naeem Rashid for bravery, after being killed charging the attacker at an attack on Al Noor mosque in March in Christchurch, New Zealand June 13, 2019/ Reuters
Ambreen Naeem holds a medal which was posthumously awarded to her husband Mian Naeem Rashid for bravery, after being killed charging the attacker at an attack on Al Noor mosque in March in Christchurch, New Zealand June 13, 2019/ Reuters

Human rights advocates urged New Zealand lawmakers on Wednesday to drop restrictions on the intake of Middle Eastern and African refugees, saying the policy undermines the character of a nation praised for its response to deadly mosque attacks this year.

New Zealand currently has a tight quota on the numbers of refugees it takes from the region, including a requirement they have family in the island nation.

The restrictions were introduced by the previous center-right government in 2010, due to cost and security concerns, as it focused on an intake from the Asian region.

“We believe this regulation is unfair ... (and) completely undermines the humanitarian character of our refugee quota,” Carsten Bockemuehl, advocacy lead at World Vision, told a parliamentary committee considering a petition filed by the organization.

Pressure on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s center-left government to drop the restrictions has been growing since the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch in March, in which refugees from Syria and Somalia were among the 51 killed and dozens wounded.

Ardern’s support of the Muslim community in the wake of the attacks was praised around the world.

“Post-Christchurch, there’s been an enormous outpouring of love for the Muslim community in New Zealand,” said Meg de Ronde, acting executive director for human rights watchdog Amnesty International. “I would have thought it would be time for those words to be made a reality.”

Ardern and Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Lees-Galloway has said the restrictions were discriminatory and that the government would reconsider them.

The cross-party parliamentary committee has the power to decide whether to report the petition to the legislature. If it does so, the government would be required to respond within two months.

The current policy does not apply to people who apply for asylum in New Zealand, although the isolated island nation has few asylum seekers compared to other developed nations.

The government has already announced plans to increase the number of refugees it takes each year, referred by the United Nations, by 500 to 1,500 from next year.

Guled Mire, a Somalia-born community advocate who arrived in New Zealand from a refugee camp in Kenya aged six with his mother and eight siblings, told the committee he wanted the removal of “racist and discriminatory refugee policy settings”.

“If we were to go back to 1997 and we had the current restrictions ... the reality is I would not be here today,” Mire said.

Top News

New Zealand / Refugee

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Good at ducking.Photographer: David Hecker/Getty Images
    Forget 'autonomy': Europe needs the US as much as ever
  • Photo: TBS
    TBS roundtable: Prominent businessmen want long-term crisis management framework for energy security
  • Economic crisis stemmed from global situation: Quader
    Economic crisis stemmed from global situation: Quader

MOST VIEWED

  • A woman on a mobility scooter drives past a mural praising the NHS (National Health Service) amidst the continuation of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, London, Britain, March 5, 2021. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
    Hundreds of thousands of UK healthcare workers balloted for strikes
  • China’s economic policies in the post-pandemic situation have boosted its GDP and production of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises grew rapidly. Photo: Bloomberg
    China aims to boost consumption and imports as global demand cools
  • Chief Executive of oil producer Rosneft Igor Sechin attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia February 15, 2021. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo
    Russia's Sechin says Taiwan will return to China 'on schedule'
  • FILE PHOTO: Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Florence Regional Airport in Florence, South Carolina, US, March 12, 2022. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo
    Trump heads to New Hampshire, South Carolina in bid to jump-start campaign
  • China's and U.S.' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
    China says willing to communicate with US military but 'red lines' should be respected
  • Eni Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi (L), and NOC head Farhat Bengdara, attend an event to sign an agreement between the two companies, in Tripoli, Libya. January 28, 2023. REUTERS/Hazem Ahmed
    Italy's Meloni in Libya to conclude $8 billion gas deal

Related News

  • 2 dead, 2 missing as rain pounds New Zealand's largest city
  • Troubleshooter Chris Hipkins faces a tough road as New Zealand PM
  • New Zealand's Chris Hipkins sworn in as prime minister
  • Grateful Ardern makes last bow as New Zealand PM
  • New Zealand's ruling party confirms Hipkins as new prime minister

Features

Snipe in flight. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Baikka Beel: 'A world where snipe work late'

6h | Panorama
Photo: Noor-A-Alam

Pet cafes: Where love for food and animals cohabit

8h | Food
Illustration: TBS

How MFS is turbocharging national economy

11h | Thoughts
Now is the time to focus on FDI composition

Now is the time to focus on FDI composition

13h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

2h | TBS Entertainment
15 Reasons Your Entrepreneurial Career Can Fail

15 Reasons Your Entrepreneurial Career Can Fail

1h | TBS Career
Women are going to make history in match management in cricket

Women are going to make history in match management in cricket

28m | TBS SPORTS
Gold covered mummy discovered in Egypt

Gold covered mummy discovered in Egypt

6h | TBS World

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 
Bangladesh

Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 

3
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

4
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

5
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]