RefNZ NewsRecent Developments in NZ Refugee Law
Last updated: 5 February 2010
RefNZ News provides a chronological summary of noteworthy news and developments in refugee law. The focus is primarily on New Zealand, but significant judgments from overseas Courts will also be noted. Use the Index below to link to summaries of interest.
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Index
4 February 2010 Foreign Minister denies backflip on Sri Lankans from Oceanic Viking
1 February 2010 Aleinikoff becomes UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees
20 January 2010 Thirteen Sri Lankans from Oceanic Viking provisionally accepted by New Zealand
4 February 2010 The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr McCully, is reported as saying that New Zealand has not performed a backflip on the issue of accepting asylum-seekers from the Australian Customs vessel Oceanic Viking. New Zealand's position has always been that this is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with through a multilateral process. The UNHCR manages that process and in relation to the Oceanic Viking they had tendered some individuals through that process. New Zealand had a refugee quota and the Sri Lankans would form part of that quota. He also warned, after meeting his Australian counterpart, that New Zealand had become a target for people-smugglers.
[Greg Ansley, "NZ 'target for people smugglers'", NZ Herald, Thursday, February 4, 2010, p A4]
1 February 2010 T Alexander Aleinikoff, previously Dean of the law school at Georgetown University in the United States has today assumed the duties of the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. He had been Executive Vice President of Georgetown University and dean of the Georgetown University Law Center since 2005 and Professor of Law at Georgetown since 1997. He is an expert in refugee, immigration and citizenship law and policy.
[UNHCR Communications Service, "T Alexander Aleinikoff becomes UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees", Press Release, Monday 1 February 2010]
20 January 2010 The Prime Minister, John Key, has announced that after talks with the UNHCR and with the Prime Minister of Australia, New Zealand will take thirteen Sri Lankan refugees rescued at sea by the Australian customs vessel Oceanic Viking in October and who, on being taken to Indonesia, refused to disembark from the vessel. Although the thirteen have been found to be genuine refugees by the UNHCR, Mr Key says that they will still have to meet New Zealand's security clearance criteria. The Prime Minister has also warned that New Zealand is at risk of being a target for "boat people", disclosing that last year there was an attempted voyage to New Zealand by a boat but those on board ended up in Australia instead.
New Zealand had earlier refused to take any of the asylum-seekers from the Oceanic Viking, saying it did not want to reward people who jumped the queue. It is also reported that all nations initially rejected Australia's request to take people from the Oceanic Viking. Now twenty-eight will go to the USA, thirteen to Canada, thirteen to New Zealand, three to Norway and the remainder to Australia. Twelve of the asylum-seekers have already been resettled in Australia, while four have failed security checks and will remain on Christmas Island. A spokeswoman for the Minister of Immigration, Jonathan Coleman, is reported as saying that the Government supported a multilateral approach to people-smuggling and boat people.
[Isaac Davison and Claire Trevett, "NZ gives 13 Sri Lankan asylum seekers a home", NZ Herald, Wednesday, 20 January 2010, p A4]
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