RefNZ News

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2001

Index

31 December 2001  Refugee campaigner becomes Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit

28 December 2001  Australia asks East Timorese to leave

22 December 2001  More Tampa refugee claimants approved

19 December 2001  Security Intelligence Service investigating people-smugglers

15 December 2001  Afghan man sent to jail for falsely claiming refugee status

14 December 2001  Australian asylum-seekers and tuberculosis

13 December 2001  States Parties reaffirm the 1951 Refugee Convention

13 December 2001  Australia spending $A500 million on the 'Pacific solution'

12 December 2001  Alien smuggler apprehended, prosecuted and expelled

11 December 2001  Spent Convictions Bill introduced to Parliament

11 December 2001  More criticism of Australia's refugee policy

10 December 2001  Twenty-nine refugee claimants in detention

8 December 2001  More Tampa refugee claimants approved

7 December 2001  Suspected terrorist admits to planning attacks in Australia

7 December 2001  Villawood escaper returned to Australia

7 December 2001  Riot charges faced by resettlement refugees withdrawn

7 December 2001  Australia may have to take back refugee claimants from South Pacific countries

1 December 2001  LTTE link to New Zealand investigated

30 November 2001  Refugee families need practical help

30 November 2001  Seventeen Tampa refugee claimants approved

27 November 2001  Third Villawood escaper claims refugee status in New Zealand

26 November 2001  Anti-terrorism regulations approved

26 November 2001  Submissions on registration of immigration consultants - 14 December 2001 deadline

26 November 2001  Australia approaches Tuvalu to become refugee processing centre

24 November 2001  Fiji refuses to become refugee processing centre

24 November 2001  Interpol wants man linked to Thai refugee scam in New Zealand

24 November 2001  Refugee applications cost $50 million - Minister of Immigration to toughen penalties for people-smugglers

22 November 2001  Thai police issue warrants for three people linked to refugee scam in New Zealand

22 November 2001  Government refuses to resettle 39 Burmese families

22 November 2001  RefNZ Website Upgrade - Refugee Lawyers Page added

22 November 2001  Extradition ordered for former refugee claimant

21 November 2001  Australian police have applied to extradite from New Zealand a man refused refugee status in Australia

20 November 2001  Thailand urges tough action on refugee scam

20 November 2001  Afghan denied refugee status applies for judicial review

19 November 2001  Thai scam headed for Canada?

17 November 2001  Refugee scam involving Thais exposed

14 November 2001  Multicultural centre opened in Hamilton

12 November 2001  UK proposes detention without trial

8 November 2001  Trafficker arrested in Indonesia

8 November 2001  UNHCR Global Consultations - expert roundtable on illegal entry and family unity

4 November 2001  Stowaway vessel to be investigated

4 November 2001  Shorter wait for refugee interviews

2 November 2001  New UNHCR Regional Representative visits New Zealand

1 November 2001  Compulsory citizenship classes for UK immigrants

1 November 2001  New chairperson for Refugee Status Appeals Authority appointed

31 October 2001  Fiji may become refugee processing centre

30 October 2001  Inquiry into claims made by stowaways

29 October 2001  Minister of Immigration questions stowaway claim

28 October 2001  Asylum-seekers reported to have entered as stowaways

26 October 2001  Claim that asylum-seekers forced on to unseaworthy vessel

26 October 2001  Thai nationals refused refugee status to be deported

26 October 2001  Rioting charges faced by resettlement refugees withdrawn

25 October 2001  English Court of Appeal rules asylum detentions legal

25 October 2001  Disturbance in PNG detention camp

24 October 2001  Boatpeople drown

23 October 2001  Annual report of Refugee Status Appeals Authority now available on this website

19 October 2001  English Court of Appeal upholds policy on detention of asylum-seekers whose claims can be decided quickly

19 October 2001  Australia approaches Pacific Island states to take Australian boatpeople

16 October 2001  Michigan Guidelines on Nexus to a Convention Ground now available on this website

15 October 2001  Australian government says its policies are deterring boatpeople

11 October 2001  Papua New Guinea agrees to accept boatpeople refused entry to Australia

9 October 2001  Resettlement refugees face new charges

7 October 2001  Important study of interpreters working for the Refugee Status Appeals Authority now available on this website

6 October 2001  Refugee and Migrant Service underfunded and facing staff cuts

6 October 2001  Bail for two men facing fraud charges in relation to their refugee applications

5 October 2001  Poll shows that a third of New Zealanders believe New Zealand accepts too many refugees

4 October 2001  Barristers acting in refugee matters no longer need instructing solicitor

4 October 2001  More boatpeople land at Nauru

4 October 2001  Tampa youths released from custody

3 October 2001  Resettlement refugees reconcile

3 October 2001  Funding increase for English language courses

3 October 2001  Asylum-seekers refuse to disembark at Nauru; UNHCR refuses to assess any further groups taken to Nauru

3 October 2001  Detained youths may be released; refugees apologise for fighting

2 October 2001  New Zealand to give $1 million to humanitarian relief for Afghan people

2 October 2001  Prime Minister says group of men detained in a maximum security prison are not terrorists

2 October 2001  Ten Iraqi and Iranian resettlement refugees appear in Court

2 October 2001  Nauru refuses to accept asylum-seekers forcibly removed from troop ship

1 October 2001  Detained youths not aware of reason for detention

1 October 2001  Nothing to fear from police inquiry

1 October 2001  Resettlement refugees become violent

30 September 2001  Anti-terrorism legislation to be fast-tracked; annual refugee quota may be reviewed

30 September 2001  Nauru agrees to process 262 more asylum-seekers

30 September 2001  Health and processing costs for Afghan refugee claimants in New Zealand

29 September 2001  Australian immigration legislation receive assent

29 September 2001  Long delay for English language classes

29 September 2001  Two Tampa asylum-seekers detained in prison for security reasons

29 September 2001  Police to investigate possible links between Afghan terrorist organisations and New Zealand

28 September 2001  Tampa asylum-seekers refused refugee status will be returned

26 September 2001  First group of Tampa asylum-seekers arrive in New Zealand

26 September 2001  High Commissioner for Refugees says genuine refugees should not be made victims again

25 September 2001  Only genuine refugees from the Tampa will be accepted by New Zealand

25 September 2001  Further warning of terrorist link

24 September 2001  Asylum-seeker arrested and detained in Mt Eden Prison

21 September 2001  Islamic terrorists said to operate in New Zealand

20 September 2001  Asylum-seekers to stay in Nauru until appeal period expires

20 September 2001  New Zealand to detain refugee claimants who arrive without documentation

19 September 2001  Government to provide extra funding for Aviation Security Service

19 September 2001  Australia introduces new immigration legislation

18 September 2001  Tampa decision reversed by full court of the Federal Court of Australia

14 September 2001  New 0800 number for information on terrorism

14 September 2001  Claim that Afghan refugees a threat

13 September 2001  Call to avoid linking NZ Muslim and refugee communities to terrorists

11 September 2001  Terrorist attacks on New York and Washington

11 September 2001  Single judge of Australian Federal Court orders release of persons rescued at sea by the Tampa

10 September 2001  Extradition for USA visa fraud fails

9 September 2001  Prime Minister expresses concern about continuing flow of asylum-seekers attempting to land in Australia

6 September 2001  UNHCR Global Consultations - expert roundtable on membership of a particular social group, gender-related persecution and internal protection/relocation/flight alternative

1 September 2001  Prime Minister demands action on Afghan refugee problem

1 September 2001  New Zealand to admit up to 150 "Tampa" asylum-seekers

30 August 2001  Seminar on Gender-Related Persecution

28 August 2001  Australia refuses entry to asylum-seekers rescued at sea

20 August 2001  Two inquiries ordered into marriage fraud

18 August 2001  Immigration marriage fraud uncovered

17 August 2001  Ethical guidelines for immigration and refugee law practitioners proposed

16 August 2001  Claim that New Zealand is a soft touch for "refugees"

16 August 2001  Villawood escaper denied work permit

15 August 2001  UNHCR says New Zealand can be proud of its asylum policies

15 August 2001  Escaper from Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney seeks refugee status in New Zealand

27 July 2001  UNHCR 50th Anniversary - Dinner

12 July 2001  Thai entries fall; abuse of refugee process; trafficking in women

9 July 2001  UNHCR Global Consultations - expert roundtable on principle of non-refoulement and supervisory responsibility

6 July 2001  ESOL scholarships awarded

2 July 2001  Indian police make terrorist inquiry in New Zealand

30 June 2001  Target date for reducing backlog of refugee claims

25 June 2001 Passport fraud penalty upheld by Court of Appeal

20 June 2001  World Refugee Day acknowledged by NZ government

20 June 2001  World Refugee Day

5 June 2001  High Court dismisses application for review

31 May 2001  Escapee from a Sydney refugee detention centre wanted by NZ police in fraud investigation

26 May 2001  Failed refugee claimant sentenced to three-and-a-half years

24 May 2001  Government increases funding for refugee resettlement

19 May 2001  Failed refugee claimant convicted on numerous charges

18 May 2001  Government releases guidelines for contracting with NGOs

10 May 2001  High Court sets aside decision of Refugee Status Appeals Authority in one judicial review application but dismisses one other application

9 May 2001  Pilot scheme by Auckland and Manukau cities to assist migrants and refugees attacked

4 May 2001  High Court dismisses application for review

3 May 2001  UNHCR Global Consultations - expert roundtable on cessation and exclusion

1 May 2001  Office of Ethnic Affairs launched

1 May 2001  New publication on security and intelligence agencies

28 April 2001  NZ Security Intelligence Service refers to terrorist link

20 April 2001  Australian federal and state Immigration Ministers meet

12 April 2001  Refugee Status Appeals Authority publishes decision addressing the withdrawal of appeals and whether a withdrawal may be retracted

5 April 2001  Auckland District Law Society seminar - Part II

30 March 2001  Refugee status procedures abused

23-25 March 2001  Second Michigan Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law

21 March 2001  Immigration statistics update

17 March 2001  Minister of Immigration rejects group application by Chinese Indonesians

8 March 2001  High Court dismisses application for habeas corpus and judicial review

8 March 2001  Minister issues warning on withholding of passports

28 February 2001  Minister updates situation of failed refugee status claimants excluded from amnesty

28 February 2001  RefNZ Website Upgrade - High Court refugee decisions now available in full text with comprehensive index

27 February 2001  Exodus to Australia

26 February 2001  Australia changes residence and citizenship arrangements for New Zealand citizens moving to Australia

26 February 2001  Auckland District Law Society Seminar on immigration and refugee law issues

21 February 2001  More funds allocated to refugee resettlement support

17 February 2001  Minister of Immigration disclaims responsibility for grievance claims

13 February 2001  Somali woman sentenced to periodic detention

10 February 2001  Immigration Service to settle claims by immigration officers

9 February 2001  Skilled migration to increase

9 February 2001  Minister of Immigration to consider enhancing refugee resettlement and enforcing standards for immigration consultants

2 February 2001  High Court decides not to award costs in M v RSAA

1 February 2001  Government allocates funds to assist migrants

21 Janaury 2001  Minister of Immigration names members of Immigration Advisory Group

9 January 2001  Regulation of immigration consultants proposed


31 December 2001 In the New Year Honours Horace William (Bill) Smith has become a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to refugees.  Mr Smith is secretary of the Auckland Refugee Council and Refugee Co-ordinator of Amnesty International, New Zealand.

[Gregg Wycherley, "Refugees' friend veteran battler", NZ Herald, Monday, December 31, 2001, p A7]

28 December 2001 The Australian Government says that refugees from East Timor can return home as safety has been restored there.  The Minister of Immigration, Mr Ruddock is reported as saying that it is not unreasonable to ask 1,600 East Timorese nationals to return home in order to  make way for other refugees in the nation's humanitarian programme.

["'Go home' call", NZ Herald, Friday, December 28, 2001, p B2]

22 December 2001 Of the 131 Tampa boatpeople received by New Zealand, 122 have been accepted as refugees.  All are Afghans.  A further nine are still having their backgrounds verified amid official concern that they are not who they say they are.  It is reported that Cabinet documents released under the Official Information Act 1982 reveal that Australia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees asked New Zealand to accept all 438 of the Tampa group for processing.  The Government rejected the request but offered to accept 80, later extended to 150.  The papers reveal the selection criteria put unaccompanied children, family groups and single women first, followed by others with special humanitarian needs.  The Minister of Immigration was sent a list of 143 to approve for selection, but asked for more information on many of them.  The offer of help is expected to cost New Zealand about $2 million.

[Eugene Bingham, "Greener home for 122 Afghans", Weekend Herald, December 22, 2001, p A5]

19 December 2001 In its report for the year ended June 2001, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service has disclosed that it is investigating whether organised people-smuggling networks are operating in New Zealand.  It has confirmed there are support structures within various communities to assist illegal migrants to New Zealand.  Inquiries are continuing to see whether these groups form an organised people-smuggling network with links overseas.

["People smugglers probe", NZ Herald, Wednesday, December 19, 2001, p A7]

15 December 2001 An Afghan man has been sentenced to nine months imprisonment for falsely claiming refugee status.  He has admitted making false statements in his application for refugee status in July 1996 after he arrived in New Zealand using a refugee travel document with a substitute photograph.  He claimed to have been imprisoned and tortured in Afghanistan because he had been an army officer and a member of the secret police during communist rule.  Later investigations found that he had not been an army officer or a member of the secret police and had never been persecuted.  Instead he had been a long term resident in Asia using a number of identities.  He had destroyed a Pakistani passport before arriving in New Zealand.  After obtaining refugee status he had received unemployment benefits in excess of NZ$36,000.

["Jail for false refugee bid", Weekend Herald, December 15, 2001, p A11]

14 December 2001 Four refugee claimants on Christmas Island are suspected of having tuberculosis and one has tested positive for HIV.  The Government spokesman says that it is not uncommon for boat arrivals to have TB with the rate predicted to be 30 times the national average.  The Acting Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that the detection of the health problems reinforced the need for a mandatory detention policy as it allows screening for diseases that pose a public health risk and the provision of treatment to the detainees.

[AAP, "Checks pick up TB, HIV", NZ Herald, Friday, December 14, 2001, p B3]

13 December 2001 At a Ministerial meeting of States Parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention representatives have solemnly reaffirmed their commitment to implement their obligations under the Refugee Convention fully and effectively in accordance with the object and purpose of the Convention and the 1967 Protocol.

[Declaration reaffirming the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, 13 December 2001]

13 December 2001 A day after Australia agreed to grant Nauru a further $A10 million to accept 400 more boatpeople, it has been reported that the cost of "the Pacific solution" is between $A400 million and $A500 million.  The costs include the direct expense of transporting refugee claimants to Nauru and Papua New Guinea on navy ships as well as health care, camp accommodation and security.

[AAP, "Boatpeople 'solution' costly", NZ Herald, Thursday, December 13, 2001]

12 December 2001 A man from Saudi Arabia was apprehended at Auckland International Airport on Monday, 10 December 2001 after authorities discovered that he was escorting three Iraqi women into New Zealand using a falsified passport.  The women intended applying for refugee status and upon arrival in New Zealand did so.  In the Manukau District Court the man pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a falsified passport and three charges of helping the three Iraqi women into New Zealand without visas.  The Court was told that Iraqi nationals require a visa to visit New Zealand whereas Saudi nationals do not.  The man and three women arrived in New Zealand on a falsified passport showing the three Iraqis posing as the man's family, thereby enabling the group to travel to New Zealand without visas.  The man was paid US$5,000.  He was fined NZ$1,000 and NZ$130 for the falsified passport charge and NZ$200 each for the other three charges.  In imposing sentence, the District Court Judge said that he had to weigh whether to jail the man so New Zealand was not seen as an easy target for smuggling people or send him home so he would not be a drain on the taxpayer.  The fine of NZ$1,730 was imposed along with an order that the man leave New Zealand on a flight from New Zealand that he had already booked.

["Smuggler of Iraqis sent home", NZ Herald, Wednesday, December 12, 2001, front page]

11 December 2001 The Minister of Justice has introduced to Parliament a Bill designed to allow people with minor convictions who have not re-offended to put their past behind them.  The Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Bill allows those with convictions which did not result in a custodial sentence to effectively have their criminal records sealed after a ten-year period without further convictions.  However, disclosure will still be required to be made to law enforcement agencies undertaking investigations or prosecutions and in criminal or civil proceedings before the court or parole hearings.  The Minister also says that the law does not and cannot change requirements by foreign states to disclose convictions for border control and immigration proceedings.

[Hon Phil Goff, "Goff introduces Clean Slate Bill", Media Statement, Tuesday, 11 December 2001]

11 December 2001 Australia's tough approach to refugee claimants has been criticised in a report by the Catholic Church Commission for Justice and Peace.  It follows the publication of a special refugee edition of the Australian Medical Journal which carries a series of articles attacking the Government's policies.  The Minister of Immigration, Philip Ruddock has called the criticism "far fetched".

[AAP, "Australia attracts chorus of criticism", NZ Herald, Tuesday, December 11, 2001, p B3]

10 December 2001 Twenty-nine refugee claimants are currently being detained in Auckland following the new procedures introduced by the government after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States of America.  It is reported that ten or eleven claimants are being held in the Mt Eden Remand Prison and eighteen in a new secure area at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre.  As a consequence the number of refugee claimants staying at the Glendene hostel run by the Auckland Refugee Council had been substantially reduced.  The hostel has room for twenty-three people but presently houses only thirteen.  The secretary of the Council is reported as saying that as the centre's funding depended on its residents, the hostel would not be able to carry on unless the numbers of residents increased.  The UNHCR Senior Liaison Officer for New Zealand, Hans ten Feld is reported as saying that the UNHCR policy was for asylum-seekers to have their cases considered in a normal and regular way but he understood that some of those at Mt Eden are not co-operating with the authorities in helping them to establish their identity.  If people are not co-operating or are unlawfully trying to cheat or come on fraudulent documents and insist that that is the true documentation, the UNHCR could understand that detention would be resorted to.  But detention should be the exception rather than the rule.  The Minister of Corrections, Matt Robson is reported as saying that the new policy did not amount to mandatory detention.  He is attending a UNHCR ministerial meeting in Geneva this week at which he will oppose moves by Australia and Britain to narrow the existing Refugee Convention which requires countries to accept genuine refugees.  He said that "We want to stake our claim in support of the Convention - making improvements and not retrograde steps".

[Simon Collins, "Govt stance on refugees 'breaches conventions'", NZ Herald, Monday, December 10, 2001, p A5]

8 December 2001 It is reported that sixty of the 131 Afghan refugee claimants who arrived in Auckland on 25 September 2001 have so far been granted refugee status.  The rest of those rescued from the Tampa have completed their hearings and are awaiting final decisions.  Nineteen of them will learn today that they have been granted refugee status.  The first group of Tampa refugees to move into the community will do so today.

["Tampa family move into home", Weekend Herald, December 8, 2001, p A14]

7 December 2001 A man suspected of links with the terrorist network of Osama bin Laden has confessed to planning suicide attacks in Australia, where he took flying lessons.  He was arrested in India on suspicion of having links with al Qaeda.  The nationality of the man has not been revealed.  The New Zealand Police are unaware whether there is any New Zealand link.

[Scott Inglis, "Terror suspect admits plot to hit Australia", NZ Herald, Friday, December 7, 2001, front page]

7 December 2001 A twenty-one year old man who escaped from Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney has been returned to Australia after being held in Mt Eden Prison.  He had tried to appeal against the rejection of his refugee status claim by the New Zealand Immigration Service.

["Escaper expelled", NZ Herald, Friday, December 7, 2001, p A4]

7 December 2001 Five Iranians charged with rioting at the Whangaparaoa temporary refugee camp have avoided conviction with the withdrawal by the police of charges relating to a clash with five Iraqis on 30 September 2001.  The men have completed a police diversion scheme.

["Riot charges withdrawn", NZ Herald, Friday, December 7, 2001, p A4]

7 December 2001 The Australian Minister of Immigration, Philip Ruddock is reported as saying that Australia might be forced to take most of the boatpeople detained in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

["Asylum stand", NZ Herald, Friday, December 7, 2001, p B3]

1 December 2001 Security agencies are investigating allegations that the Sri Lankan separatist movement, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has links in New Zealand.  The LTTE has been described as a terrorist organisation.  Tamils settled in New Zealand fear money they send back to Sri Lanka could mean jail under tough new anti-terrorism laws.  Under the Terrorism (Bombings and Financing) Bill it will be a crime punishable by fourteen years imprisonment to knowingly raise money for terrorist attacks.  Recklessly providing money to an organisation that turns out to have terrorist links will be punishable by seven years imprisonment.  It will also be illegal to recruit members for any terrorist group.

[Eugene Bingham, "Tamils fear being swept up in anti-terrorist net", Weekend Herald, December 1, 2001, p A3]

30 November 2001 Eleven families who are part of the group from the Tampa are due for resettlement in Auckland early next month and the Refugee and Migrant Service says that beds and other furniture are urgently needed.  The Government gives a re-establishment grant of $1,200 to set up each house but the Refugee and Migrant Service also needs donations.

[Nicola Taylor, "Refugees are desperate for furniture", Central Leader, Friday, November 30, 2001, p 6]

30 November 2001 Seventeen of 131 asylum-seekers from the Tampa have been granted refugee status.  Residence has been approved for three couples and eleven children, ranging in age from one to thirteen.

["Freedom for boatpeople", NZ Herald, Friday, November 30, 2001, p A5]

27 November 2001 A third escaper from the Villawood Detention Centre in Australia has arrived in New Zealand and sought refugee status.  The man, aged in his early twenties, arrived in Auckland on a flight from Melbourne last Friday and claims to be from Somalia.  A spokesperson for the Immigration Service is reported as saying that the man's claim for refugee status in Australia had been declined.  He will be detained in New Zealand while his status is determined.

["Refugee crosses Tasman", NZ Herald, Tuesday, November 27, 2001, p A5]

26 November 2001 Pursuant to the United Nations Act 1946 Cabinet has approved the Sanctions (Terrorism Suppression and Afghanistan) Regulations 2001.  The new regulations are intended to meet New Zealand's commitment to implement the United Nations anti-terrorism measures outlined in Resolution 1373 and are an interim measure pending the passing of the Terrorism (Bombings and Financing) Bill expected to be enacted early next year.  The new regulations will expire at that time or no later than 30 June 2002.  The new regulations prohibit the provision of financial and other related services to entities designated as terrorists by the United Nations, create a duty to report to the police suspicions that property belongs to such an entity, create several new criminal offences, prohibit collecting funds for use by specified entities, prevent recruitment to organisations to which the regulations apply and prohibit participation in any such specified entity.  New Zealand is due to report by 27 December 2001 to the UN Security Council's Counter Terrorism Committee on how it is implementing Resolution 1373.

[Hon Phil Goff, "NZ passes new anti-terrorism measures", Media Statement, Monday, 26 November 2001]

26 November 2001 The closing date for input on a new discussion paper on a system of enforceable standards for immigration consultants is 14 December 2001.  The discussion paper may be obtained from the Policy, Research and Development Group, New Zealand Immigration Service, Department of Labour, PO Box 3705, Wellington.

26 November 2001 It is reported that in September 2001 Australia approached Tuvalu with a request that it process asylum-seekers picked up en-route to Australia.

[Daniel Williams, "Neighbors, but not best friends", Time, November 26, 2001, p 10]

24 November 2001 Australia has abandoned its request to Fiji to become a refugee processing centre.  Fijians increasingly oppose the plan, partly because of the large number of asylum-seekers and fears they might stay.  It is reported that Australia is still waiting for Papua New Guinea to decide whether it would accept more asylum-seekers and Australia will now turn to Palau and Kiribati to take asylum-seekers.

["Fiji asylum plans dropped", Weekend Herald, November 24, 2001, p B11]

24 November 2001 The Thai businessman alleged to be behind a fraudulent scheme to get Thai workers refugee status in New Zealand is wanted by Interpol for other alleged international scams.  It is alleged that the man came to New Zealand in 1999 after authorities in Thailand issued two arrest warrants over his alleged defrauding of more than 150 Thai fishermen out of thousands of dollars by promising them jobs that never eventuated.  The "temple" set up by the man in New Lynn was served by two monks who were allegedly issued travel documents to worship in Europe but came to New Zealand instead.  Authorities in Thailand have since acted to cancel the authority of the men to be monks and their passports have been revoked.  A precedent decision by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority has criticised the "temple" and the immigration company for abusing New Zealand immigration laws and has stated that there is no credible evidence to support any of the claims to refugee status.

[Eugene Bingham & John Andrews, "Thai scam latest in long trail", Weekend Herald, November 24, 2001, p A5]

24 November 2001 It is reported that the 1,700 people who claimed refugee status last year will cost the Government more than $50 million.  Only about one in five will be recognised as a genuine refugee, leaving the taxpayer to bear the cost of removing the others.  Commenting on statistics which show that only about twenty percent of the 1,700 people were likely to be genuine, the Minister of Immigration is reported as promising to speed up the processing system as this will help genuine refugees and limit the cost of dealing with the rest.  It is said that the number of refugee claimants arriving last year was up more than ten percent on 1999.  They came from seventy-nine countries.  The New Zealand Immigration Service finally determined 1,635 applications last year and rejected more than 1,300.  The Immigration Service estimates that each refugee claimant costs about $30,000, including welfare assistance.  The bill does not include health or education.  New Zealand also accepts 750 people annually as part of a refugee quota through the UNHCR.  The cost of these quota refugees last year was about $16 million, or $21,000 each.  During the year to June 30, 2001, several countries stood out as the source of refugee claimants.  Thailand contributed 460, Sri Lanka 121, Iran 138 and the Czech Republic 123.  The Minister of Immigration says that the Government had taken steps to clamp down on abuse, including cancelling visa-free status for Czech and Thai visitors.  The Government had also halved the backlog of applications and cut the processing time.  At present, it took about two years to deal with an application.  The Minister wants this reduced to nine months.  During the worst of the backlog it took up to three years before an immigration officer even interviewed an applicant.  In the Manukau District Court on Friday 23 November 2001 a Sri Lankan was convicted on three counts of assisting people into New Zealand without visas.  He was fined $2,100.  The Court heard that he supplied Sri Lankans with false documents for flights to New Zealand and escorted them to Auckland where they declared themselves refugees.  In two of the three cases refugee status was granted.  The third man is waiting for his application to be heard.  The Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that she wants to make people-smuggling illegal under the Crimes Act 1961, with longer prison sentences than the three months provided under the Immigration Act 1987.  The president of the Refugee Council of New Zealand is reported as saying that there should be an international effort to stamp out people-smuggling.  He welcomed the Government's initiatives to speed up the application process.

[Eugene Bingham, "Refugee frauds cost us millions", Weekend Herald, November 24, 2001, front page]

22 November 2001 Thai police have issued arrest warrants for two Thai monks and a Thai businessman linked to a scheme to get New Zealand residence for up to 300 Thai nationals.  The Thai Foreign Ministry has also revoked the passports of the monks.  The chairman of the Thai Senate foreign affairs committee is reported as saying that the businessman concerned was about to send 200 more Thais to New Zealand, but cancelled his plan at the last minute after his activities were publicised.

[NZPA, "Thai police seek migrant monks", NZ Herald, Thursday, November 22, 2001, p A3]

22 November 2001 The Minister of Immigration, Lianne Dalziel has declined a request that 39 Burmese families, comprising 72 adults and 53 children, living in a Thai border camp be allowed entry to New Zealand.  Friends and family in New Zealand have claimed that the Burmese are "in danger of their lives".  The Minister is reported as saying that when deciding on the makeup of the resettlement refugee quota she must rely on recommendations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.  The newspaper report notes that New Zealand accepted 207 Burmese resettlement refugees this year.

[Tim Watkin, "Govt ears deaf to Burmese pleas", NZ Herald, Thursday, November 22, 2001, p A5]

22 November 2001 A new page has been added to the New Zealand Refugee Law Website.  The Refugee Lawyers Page provides practical information and topical comment relevant to current issues and problems faced by lawyers representing refugee claimants.  The first two items posted on this page relate to the role of the lawyer in presenting refugee claims and to the intervention rule as it affects barristers representing refugee claimants.  The first document (prepared by the Refugee Council of New Zealand) is a guide for detained refugee claimants as to what their legal representative should be doing for them.  The second documents contains the text of the amended Rule 11.04 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Barristers and Solicitors (6th ed 2000).  The amendment adds a new paragraph which now permits barristers to act without instructions from a solicitor where they (the barristers) are acting in refugee status matters pursuant to the Refugee Convention.  The amendment takes effect on 1 December 2001, being the first day of the month following the publication date of the relevant LawTalk issue.

22 November 2001 An order has been made in the District Court, Auckland permitting the extradition from New Zealand to Australia of a man wanted by Australian authorities for fourteen offences which include escaping from a refugee detention centre and making a false statement to obtain an Australian passport.

["Con man eligible for extradition", NZ Herald, Thursday, November 22, 2001, p A4]

21 November 2001 Australian police have applied to extradite from New Zealand a man currently serving a sentence of three and half years imprisonment on twenty-four counts relating to credit card scams.  He is wanted by the Australian authorities on fourteen charges alleging offences committed between 1995 and 1998.  The charges include making false written statements and declarations, dishonestly obtaining money, escaping a detention centre and making a false statement to obtain an Australian passport.  The man had unsuccessfully applied for refugee status in Australia, the decline decision being delivered on 30 September 1996.  He allegedly escaped from detention on or about the same day.  After being arrested on criminal charges he absconded on bail and after obtaining an Australian passport came to New Zealand.  It is reported that the man has told the Auckland District Court that he will not oppose the extradition, although he does not accept the allegations.  The decision on the extradition application is expected tomorrow.

["Aussies seek extradition of con man", NZ Herald, Wednesday, November 21, 2001, p A4]

20 November 2001 The vice-chairman of the Thai House Committee on Foreign Affairs has called on New Zealand to take decisive action against those behind the alleged scam involving nearly 300 Thai nationals seeking refugee status in New Zealand on the grounds of religious persecution.  It is reported that the Thai Religious Affairs Department, which oversees the monkhood and the Foreign Affairs Ministry may take disciplinary steps against the New Lynn temple and revoke the monks' passports.  The monks are accused of helping to set up an "asylum-seeker processing company" in New Zealand.  It is alleged that the company is controlled by the New Zealand Thammagay Buddhist Trust which is said to offer asylum-seekers work and then claim a fee of 100,000 baht (NZ$5,400).  Thai officials reportedly estimate that up to $1 million has been paid to the operation by those hoping to get refugee status.

[NZPA, "Thailand urges tough stance on monk scam", NZ Herald, Tuesday, November 20, 2001, p A5]

20 November 2001 A former commander in the mujahideen in Afghanistan has been denied refugee status in New Zealand by the Refugee Status Branch because of alleged crimes against humanity.  This decision was upheld by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority.  The man, whose name has been suppressed, has applied to the High Court for a judicial review of the decision.  In a brief hearing at the High Court, Auckland before Randerson J the government gave an undertaking that the man would not be removed from New Zealand before his case was heard early next year.

[Tony Stickley, "Afghan refugee accused of war crimes", NZ Herald, Tuesday, November 20, 2001, front page]

19 November 2001 The Thai businessman who tried to get nearly 300 Thai nationals residence in New Zealand on the grounds of religious persecution has reportedly given up and will instead try to get into Canada.  He is reported as saying that he will apply today to Canadian authorities to have the 285 Thais accepted into Canada.  However, a Canadian immigration official in Sydney, the nearest place where immigration applications for Canada can be processed, is reported as saying that it is unlikely anyone who has been refused asylum in New Zealand would meet Canadian criteria.  The businessman is reported as saying that it was his belief that he and the other Thais were entitled to stay in New Zealand until the Canadian applications were heard and if the New Zealand immigration Service tried to make them leave they would go to the High Court.

[Paul Yandall, "Migrant scam boss targets Canada", NZ Herald, Monday, November 19, 2001, p A3]

17 November 2001 It is reported that New Zealand and Thai authorities have been investigating the validity of 285 refugee applications lodged in New Zealand by Thai nationals and of the organisation behind the scheme.  It is alleged that the main figures in the suspected scam are two monks from Thailand, a Bangkok businessman and a New Zealand fisherman.  The latter has helped the asylum-seekers obtain drivers licences issued by a "Maori Government of Aotearoa Transport Office".  Thai officials believe the refugee applicants have been fleeced of about $1 million through the operation and accuse the organisers of setting the applicants up in low-skilled jobs and skimming off some of their wages.  The scheme centres around three properties in a New Lynn street.  One of the houses has been turned into a temple with Buddhist statues in the lounge.  Two donation boxes and an EFTPOS machine are also in the room.  The first secretary of the Royal Thai Embassy is reported as saying that the temple is not a recognised religious site and that the Department of Religion in Bangkok was investigating.  The two monks did not have permission to practise outside Thailand.  It is alleged that many of the applicants are overstayers who have been in New Zealand for up to five years and have sought refugee status with the help of an immigration consultancy.  It is alleged that some of the refugee claimants are receiving unemployment benefits, but most work in jobs such as fruit-picking, labouring and dish-washing.  The chief operating officer of the New Zealand Immigration Service is reported as saying that the Refugee Status Appeals Authority had declined twelve applications from temple members and that as one of the decisions was a precedent, it was likely the other appeals would be dismissed as well.  The Immigration Service was now looking at the cases to see what needed to be done in terms of revoking permits or removing individuals if they had already overstayed.  The temple group was probably the largest to apply together.

[Eugene Bingham & John Andrews, "Monks in migrant scam", Weekend Herald, Saturday, November 17, 2001, front page]

14 November 2001 In opening the Hamilton Multicultural Services Centre, the Minister of Immigration, Hon Lianne Dalziel has paid tribute to staff and workers associated with the Refugee and Migrant Service, the Interpreting Service and the Home Tutors Scheme.  The Minister stated that Hamilton's strength in support services for new migrant and refugee communities should be mirrored across all regions.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "Minister opens multicultural centre", Media Statement, Wednesday, 14 November 2001]

12 November 2001 The British government is proposing legislation that will allow terrorist suspects to be detained without trial where the foreign national poses a threat to Britain's national security and there is no immediate prospect of that individual being returned to his or her country of origin.  Parliamentary approval will be required in order to claim a derogation from Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 which guarantees the right to liberty and prohibits detention without trial.  Under Article 15 governments are allowed to derogate from Article 5 in times of war or other public emergency.  The proposed definition would cover refugee claimants suspected of terrorist involvement who cannot be returned to their homeland because they have a well-founded fear that their lives would be in danger.

[Patrick Wintour, "Blunkett opts out of rights law", Guardian Weekly, November 15, 2001, p 9; AFP, "Jail without trial sought", NZ Herald, Monday, November 12, 2001, p B3]

8 November 2001 Indonesian police have arrested an Egyptian suspected of organising the boat which sank last month killing more than 350 illegal migrants.  Last month two Indonesian police officers were arrested for protecting people smugglers.

[Reuters, AP, AAP, "Police arrest mastermind behind death boat", NZ Herald, Thursday, November 8, 2001, p B3]

8 November 2001 The fourth Roundtable to be held as part of the UNHCR Global Consultations starts today in Geneva.  The topics are Illegal Entry (Article 31 of the Refugee Convention) and Family Unity (Final Act of the 1951 UN Conference).  The background papers have been commissioned from Guy Goodwin-Gill, Professor of International Law, University of Oxford (Illegal Entry) and Kathleen Newland, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Jens Vedsted-Hansen, Professor of Law, Aarhus University (Family Unity).

[In the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, useful information on UNHCR's Global Consultations on International Protection is to be found at http://www.unhcr.ch/issues/asylum/globalconsult/main.htm>.  The papers presented at the Expert Roundtables, summary of conclusions and list of participants are to be found at the same web page.]

4 November 2001 The foreign container ship on which a group of ten men allegedly entered New Zealand as stowaways will be boarded and investigated when it arrives in New Zealand early next week.  Meanwhile, the Refugee Status Branch of the New Zealand Immigration Service is considering the refugee application of an African man who also claims to have arrived as a stowaway, though it is reported that the Immigration Service does not believe his means of entry.

[Kim Purdy, "Suspect ship to be boarded", Sunday Star-Times, November 4, 2001, p A3]

4 November 2001 The Minister of Immigration, Hon Lianne Dalziel, has announced that waiting times for processing refugee status claims have fallen dramatically from two to three years in 1999 to an average of just two months.  Waiting times have also been reduced for people who lodge claims on arrival at the airport.  In 1999 the wait was between six to twelve months, in the year 2000 that average was down to six months and in 2001, the average is three months.  The Minister has stated that the reason for imposing quick turnaround times is to minimise the pressure on the system by those seeking to abuse the system in order to gain work permits, which was a common occurrence under the previous government.  It also provides certainty for  genuine claimants so that they can get on with their lives.  In 1999, when she first became Minister, the backlog of refugee claimants waiting to be interviewed by the Refugee Status Branch was almost 4,000.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "Shorter wait for refugee interviews", Media Statement, Sunday 4 November 2001]

2 November 2001 Mr Michel Gabaudan, the new UNHCR Regional Representative for Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific visited Auckland today and met with representatives of non-governmental organisations.

1 November 2001 The Home Secretary, David Plunkett has proposed that new immigrants take citizenship classes to give them an understanding of British democracy and culture, as well as being required to learn English, before they become British citizens.  Such classes and language lessons will be taken by the 60,000 people who apply to become full British citizens each year in order to promote a positive induction for those who settle in Britain.  He is reported as believing that the government needs to promote common citizenship between members of different communities because parts of British society have become effectively segregated, sometimes on ethnic lines.

[Alan Travis, "Compulsory citizenship classes for immigrants", Guardian Weekly, November 1, 2001, p 9]

1 November 2001 The Minister of Immigration has appointed Ema Aitken as Chairperson of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority.  The appointment is effective from 1 November 2001.

31 October 2001 Fiji is expected to agree to take one thousand asylum-seekers for Australia for a fee of $30 million.  Palau is also under pressure to provide facilities and Kiribati has offered a barren atoll to hold them.

[AFP, "Fiji likely to take 1000 asylum seekers", NZ Herald, Wednesday, October 31, 2001, p B3]

30 October 2001 The Port of Napier will check video footage of its berths to see if it sheds any light on claims that up to a dozen stowaways arrived in New Zealand on a container ship.

[Angela Gregory, "Port to examine video for clues to refugees", NZ Herald, Tuesday, October 30, 2001, p A6]

29 October 2001 Commenting on the claim that a group of ten asylum-seekers arrived undetected in New Zealand last month on a container ship, the Minister of Immigration, Lianne Dalziel, is reported as saying that she had no evidence that there had been an increase in people breaching border security.  She said asylum-seekers often made up stories and the latest allegations raised too many unanswered questions, like the whereabouts of the rest of the group.  There was no evidence to indicate the claims were true.  If they were, she would want the shipping company involved approached as it would be a major concern if a shipping company had involved itself with people smuggling.  Commenting on 13 African stowaways who attempted to enter New Zealand illegally a few years ago, she said that they were discovered by the crew of the vessel who forewarned the authorities.  She understood most, if not all, of the Africans had since been deported.

[Angela Gregory, "Puzzling tale by stowaways", NZ Herald, Monday, October 29, 2001, p A6]

28 October 2001 It has been reported that a group of ten men (five Indians and five from the Middle East) arrived in New Zealand last month on a container ship and were not detected.  It is claimed that the group boarded a fishing boat in Indonesia and were transferred to the New Zealand-bound container ship at sea.  Three of the men are seeking refugee status.  The chief operating officer of the New Zealand Immigration Service is reported as saying that staff were trying to identify who the men were and how they entered New Zealand.  He says that it was not uncommon for people seeking refugee status to lie about their entry.  Some who have had refugee claims denied before have changed their names and reapplied, or arrived on an aircraft under a different name.  It is further reported that in May 2001 the government released the Maritime Patrol Review which found that New Zealand is ill-equipped to stop illegal fishing, an increasing threat from boatpeople or illegal immigrants, drug trafficking and terrorism.

In a related report it is noted that in its latest financial year, the Immigration Service received 1703 claims for refugee status but only 311 were approved.  By comparison, in 1992-1993, 541 applications were received and 95 approved.  The numbers who had tried to enter by ship are not broken down, but it is far fewer than those arriving on flights.  The report also refers to a 1995 incident in which 13 young African men jumped ship near Nelson after stowing away on a Turkish bulk log carrier in South Africa two months earlier.  The men were arrested and were expected to be deported.  But they sought asylum.  One year on, Nelson MP Nick Smith was reported as saying that the men had taken New Zealand authorities for a ride.  Since their arrival, four of the men faced serious criminal charges ranging from assault to stalking.  Mr Smith claimed that the group had originally rented a home in Christchurch but were evicted after they demolished the interior and furnishings.  He claimed that within three years, they had received $26,000 in legal aid and $262,000 in welfare.  They had cost the Immigration Service $53,000, Police $31,000 and the prison service $37,000.  It is understood some of the men were subsequently deported.  An Auckland barrister who has represented refugee claimants for about ten years is reported as saying that he believes thousands of illegal immigrants have entered New Zealand's coastline, detected and undetected, in the past one hundred years.  Although many arrive at airports, maritime entry was now likely to increase in light of Australia's tightening borders.

[Kim Purdy, "Refugees sneak into NZ port", Sunday Star-Times, October 28, 2001, front page; Kim Purdy, "Stowaways come ashore", Sunday Star-Times, October 28, 2001, p A8]

26 October 2001 A claim has been made that the boatpeople who drowned off the coast of Indonesia had been forced on to the vessel by Indonesian police armed with pistols and automatic weapons notwithstanding that several passengers did not want to board after seeing the poor condition of the boat.  A survivor is reported as saying that the police were working together with three armed people-smugglers, an Egyptian and two Iraqis.  The Indonesian chief of police has denied the allegations but senior United Nations officials in Indonesia have called on the government to investigate.

[AP, AFP, "Refugees 'forced' to board boat", NZ Herald, Friday, October 26, 2001, p B3]

26 October 2001 Immigration officials have found 22 Thai nationals working illegally in New Zealand, including five in Auckland.  Seven were found in Hastings, three in Tauranga and seven in the Bay of Plenty.  The five in Auckland had been employed in the painting and plastering industries and the rest in horticulture.  The fourteen men and eight women range in age from their early twenties to early forties.  Seventeen of the group had been refused refugee status.  All are in custody and will be returned to Thailand over the next three days as travel documents and flights are arranged.

["Illegal Thais to be flown home", NZ Herald, Friday, October 26, 2001, p A10]

26 October 2001 Five Iraqis charged with rioting at the Whangaparaoa refugee camp have avoided conviction when the charges were withdrawn.  The men have completed a police diversion scheme.

["Iraqi rioters escape conviction", NZ Herald, Friday, October 26, 2001, p A4]

25 October 2001 The English Court of Appeal has ruled that it has been legal for the Home Secretary to detain for up to ten days more than 8,000 asylum-seekers at Oakington detention centre in Cambridgeshire since it opened in March 2000 while their "fast-track" claims were decided.  The Judges said that such a short period of detention was justified, especially when the government was faced with 7,000 new asylum applications each month, even though detention in such circumstances might go beyond what the European Court of Human Rights might require.  They said that no responsible government can simply shrug its shoulders and do nothing.  A short period of detention is not an unreasonable price to pay in order to ensure the speedy resolution of the claims of a substantial proportion of this influx.  In the circumstances such detention can properly be described as a measure of last resort.  However the Court of Appeal stressed that the use of such detention for "a significant length of time" would be objectionable to "most right-thinking people".

[Alan Travis, "Asylum detentions legal", Guardian Weekly, October 25, 2001, p 8]

25 October 2001 There have been disturbances at the detention camp at the Papua New Guinea island of Manus.  The mainly Iraqi asylum-seekers have broken camp equipment and threatened violence.  Police and about thirty security guards brought the situation under control.  The Indonesian foreign minister is reported as saying that Indonesia will host talks to try to stem the flow of Middle-Eastern migrants through the region after the drowning of about 350 Australia-bound asylum-seekers in the Java Sea.

[AAP, AFP, "Anger erupts at processing camp for refugees in PNG", NZ Herald, Thursday, October 25, 2001, p B2]

24 October 2001 More than 350 mostly Iraqi asylum-seekers drowned after their vessel capsized and broke up off Indonesia.  The International Organisation for Migration is reported as saying that it had expected such a disaster because of "the way the people-smugglers pack these boats".

["Boy loses family as refugee boat sinks", NZ Herald, Wednesday, October 24, 2001, front page]

23 October 2001 In its second annual report under Schedule 3C of the Immigration Act 1987, the Refugee Status Appeals Authority has reported that in the year to 30 June 2001 it received 640 appeals (11% above the 575 figure in 1999/2000).  The Authority scheduled 816 hearings, either by way of interview or on the papers.  The Authority was able to complete decisions in 642 appeals, as opposed to 517 in the previous year (a 24% increase).  Since the Authority was established in 1991, it has finalised 5,201 decisions.  Of these, 791 have been granted refugee status, with the balance being declined or withdrawn appeals.  In the year to 30 June 2001, 52 appeals were allowed and 590 declined.

[Refugee Status Appeals Authority Annual Report to 30 June 2001]

19 October 2001 The English Court of Appeal has upheld the lawfulness of the policy of the Secretary of State providing for short term detention of asylum-seekers whose claims can be decided quickly.  The Court ruled that as a matter of domestic law, there could be no doubt that the claimants' detention fell within the express statutory powers of immigration officers contained in the Immigration Act 1971 (UK) and it was impossible to condemn as irrational the policy of subjecting to a short period of detention, designed to ensure that the regime operated without dislocation, those asylum-seekers whose applications appeared susceptible to rapid resolution.  A short period of detention, in conditions suitable for asylum-seekers as opposed, for example, to convicted prisoners, was not an unreasonable price to pay in order to ensure the speedy resolution of the claims of a substantial proportion of the influx of asylum-seekers.  The Court also ruled that the detentions did not infringe Article 5(1) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1950.

[R (on the application of Saadi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2001] 4 All ER 961 (CA)]

19 October 2001 The Australian Minister of Immigration, Philip Ruddock, has confirmed that Fiji has been approached to process asylum-seekers as part of its "Pacific solution" to boatpeople landing on Australia's north-west coast.  It is also reported that Australia has approached Palau and Kiribati.  In the meantime about 200 mainly Iraqi boatpeople now on Australia's Christmas Island will be flown to Papua New Guinea next week.  They are to be taken to Manus Island, some 350 kilometres off the north coast of Papua New Guinea.  It was a Second World War air and naval staging point.

[Reuters, "Australia searches for 'Pacific solution'", NZ Herald, Friday, October 19, 2001, p A6]

16 October 2001 Now available on the Reference page of this website are The Michigan Guidelines on Nexus to a Convention Ground.  These Guidelines represent the conclusions of the second Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law convened at the University of Michigan Law School 23-25 March 2001.  The subject of the Colloquium was: "Fear of being persecuted 'for reasons of' civil or political status: what connection is required?"

[Prof James C Hathaway, The Michigan Guidelines on Nexus to a Convention Ground 23 Mich. J. Int'l L. ____ (2001)]

15 October 2001 The Australian Government says that its policy of refusing entry to asylum-seekers was deterring hundreds of boatpeople from attempting the voyage to Australia from Indonesia.  In late August 2001 the Defence Minister said there had been some 5,000 waiting to depart Indonesia on board boats operated by people smuggling gangs.  That figure had now dropped to around 1,200.  It is also reported that the Immigration Department is to expel some refugee impostors who claimed to be illiterate Afghan farmers but were subsequently able to pass written driving tests in English.  The Department has launched a pilot investigation of a small number of cases.  The findings of that investigation could have significant implications for the large number of asylum-seekers now being processed on Nauru and Papua New Guinea.  The original inquiry was prompted by members of the Australian Afghan community in Melbourne who concluded that many of those granted protection visas were really from Pakistan and not Afghanistan.

[AP, AAP, "Hardline policy 'deterring' refugees from making trip", NZ Herald, Monday, October 15, 2001, p B3]

11 October 2001 Papua New Guinea has agreed in principle to accept and process the mainly Iraqi 187 boatpeople rescued by the Australian Navy near Christmas Island.  The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, said a processing centre would be built at Australia's expense and run by the International Organisation for Migration with help from Australia.  The centre would help Australia in fighting people-smuggling and illegal migration in the Asia-Pacific region and would be a visible deterrent to people-smugglers.

[AAP, AP, "PNG agrees to accept asylum seekers", NZ Herald, Thursday, October 11, 2001, p B1]

9 October 2001 Four of the resettlement refugees charged with rioting at a Whangaparaoa camp north of Auckland faced new charges when they appeared in the North Shore District Court yesterday.  The new charges include possession of offensive weapons and assault.

["New charges for four refugees", NZ Herald, Tuesday, October 9, 2001, p A6]

7 October 2001 A study of interpreters working for the Refugee Status Appeals Authority has been published by Dr Sabine Fenton, Director of Translation Studies, Centre for Translation Studies, University of Auckland.  The paper, Expressing a Well-Founded Fear: Interpreting in Convention Refugee Hearings is to be found on the Reference Page of this website.

[Dr Sabine Fenton, "Expressing a Well-Founded Fear: Interpreting in Convention Refugee Hearings" (2001)]

6 October 2001 The refugee resettlement agency, the Refugee and Migrant Service, is facing staff cuts because of a cash crisis.  The Service is between $200,000 and $300,000 short of the $1.2 million it needs to run its services.  The Director, Peter Cotton, is reported as saying that it will need to cut at least three or four people and may have to close one of its six branches unless it can raise the money.  The Minister of Immigration has advised the Service that no more money is available from the New Zealand Immigration Service, which has already lifted its grant to the Refugee and Migrant Service this year from $323,000 to $623,000.  Ms Dalziel said the service's problems stemmed from its budget being fixed at $323,000 for a decade until this year, and she could not solve its problems in one year.  The resettlement agency has eighteen "permanent" employees with average salaries of between $28,000 and $29,000.  It has offices at the Mangere Refugee Centre, Mt Eden, Hamilton, Wellington, Lower Hutt and Christchurch providing training and support for volunteers who help refugees get into English classes, find jobs and adjust to life in New Zealand.  The Minister of Immigration is also reported as saying that she is willing to consider asking the United Nations to give priority for resettlement in New Zealand those refugees from ethnic groups which already have communities in New Zealand and to families rather than single men.  Mr Cotton is reported as saying that he has been pushing for these changes for years because they would reduce the need for new interpreters and make it easier to find volunteers who are predominantly female.

[Simon Collins, "Staff cuts loom for refugee service", Weekend Herald, October 6, 2001, p A16]

6 October 2001 The District Court at Auckland has released on bail two men who in June 2002 will stand trial on fraud charges relating to their applications for refugee status in New Zealand.  The men had earlier been held in custody for one week but the police later decided that their case did not involve a threat to national security.  It is reported that the police are still making investigations overseas.  In ordering that the names of the men be suppressed the District Court Judge said that he accepted concerns that the lives of the men and their families overseas could be endangered if their identities became public.

[Josie Clarke & Eugene Bingham, "Police confess: we got it all wrong", Weekend Herald, October 6, 2001, p A2]

5 October 2001 A National Business Review-Compaq poll has found that more than a third of New Zealanders think the country accepts too many refugees.  Overall, 37% of people said the 750 annual refugee quota was too high, compared with 48% who said it was about right.  Ten percent of people said the quota was too long and 5% were unsure.  Rural New Zealanders were most opposed to the refugee quota with 43% saying it was too high.  Blue-collar workers (43%), students (45%), the self-employed (43%) and the unemployed (50%) were represented among those who thought the 750 people a year figure amounted to accepting too many refugees.  Fifty-five percent of the Maori or part-Maori sample thought the quota was too high.  The Maori sample is too small to be taken as statistically sound but is said to be able to be considered as broadly representative of the Maori view.  The poll was taken between September 13 and 16 in the days following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington but before the full impact of the attacks had been assessed.

[Deborah Hill Cone, "More than one-third of Kiwis think refugee intake too high", National Business Review, October 5, 2001, p 16]

4 October 2001 The Council of the New Zealand Law Society has amended Rule 11.04 of the Rules of Professional Conduct (6th ed 2000) which deals with situations in which a barrister sole may act or advise without instructions from a solicitor.  The amendment adds a new paragraph which now permits barristers to act without instructions from a solicitor where they (the barristers) are acting in refugee status matters pursuant to the Refugee Convention.  The amendment takes effect on 1 December 2001, being the first day of the month following the publication date of the LawTalk issue.

["Rule change for barristers", LawTalk 573 (12 November 2001) p 5]

4 October 2001 The Australian Minister of Immigration, Philip Ruddock, is reported as saying that the HMAS Manoora hoped to unload the remaining 200 asylum-seekers as soon as possible and the Government would take whatever reasonable steps were needed to get them off the vessel.  He also rejected claims by Australia's Afghan community that the Australian Government was not doing enough to help those in camps bordering Afghanistan awaiting resettlement.  He said resettling three million people of Afghan origin was not realistic either for Australia or the international community.  He said that what Australia was seeking to do was to ensure that those with an urgent need for a resettlement place get them and that people smuggling reduced the number of places Australia could offer.  He said the Government had boosted funding to the UNHCR by AUD$14 million to help speed refugee processing and provide humanitarian relief.  It is reported that the Federal government intends to recover costs from the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties and the lawyer who represented the asylum-seekers rescued by the Tampa and refused entry to Australia.  The Attorney-General is reported as saying that it was fair and appropriate that the people who took the Government to court should have to pay at least part of the thousands of dollars in costs.  The lawyer, Eric Vadarlis, is reporting as saying that his costs could blow out to AUD$500,000 and were likely to send him broke.

[AAP & AFP, "More boatpeople ashore", NZ Herald, Thursday, October 4, 2001, p B3]

4 October 2001 After six days in Mt Eden Remand Prison, two teenage Afghan asylum-seekers from the Tampa have been released and taken back to the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre.  A spokesman for the Immigration Service is reported as saying that the two youths were detained to allow further security checks after their original interviews at Auckland Airport raised concerns.  However, following further interviews and after consideration of information provided by other Government agencies, it was decided the youths could rejoin the other Tampa asylum-seekers at Mangere.  The lawyer representing the youths is reported as saying that the misunderstanding had arisen because of difficulties with an interpreter and that the lack of competent Afghan interpreters was a problem in dealing with the asylum-seekers.  Different languages, accents and dialects used in Afghanistan caused confusion.

[Angela Gregory, "Afghan youths freed from jail", NZ Herald, Thursday, October 4, 2001, p A4]

3 October 2001 It is reported that the ten Iranian and Iraqi resettlement refugees charged with rioting at their camp north of Auckland have settled their differences.  The Immigration Service says that the men were embarrassed and apologetic after they appeared in the North Shore District Court on Monday.  The Service has no plans to keep Iranians and Iraqis apart at the camp.  The NZIS Manager of Refugee Services, Marie Sullivan, is reported as saying that the men had reconciled their differences.

[NZPA, "Refugees settle dispute after court hearing", The Dominion, Wednesday, October 3, 2001, p 3]

3 October 2001 English language courses for refugees and other migrants have been given nearly $1 million in extra funding.  The Social Development Ministry has received more than $750,000 to run extra English for speakers of other languages courses for migrants and $200,000 for research and evaluation of the courses.  The Minister of Immigration, Lianne Dalziel, who is responsible for training in English as a second language is reported as saying that she had asked for work to be done on a strategy for English language training for adults.  She said that refugees accepted as part of New Zealand's quota had four weeks of English language training when they arrived and were immediately eligible for English courses.  Families who followed them through the family reunification programme were not.  Asylum-seekers had to get refugee status before they had an automatic right to English language training and in some cases that could take years.  Other migrants, such as those accepted under Immigration Service skills criteria were not eligible for the courses.  The strategy will look at who should be eligible and how courses should be offered and paid for in the future.  The Minister said that there had been a build-up of problems arising out of the multiplicity of funding arrangements and she was not satisfied by piecemeal changes and wished to address the question of English language training from a strategic framework position.  Funding opportunities had been unchanged at $96 million during the past three years.

[Christine Langdon, "Migrant English courses get $1m boost", The Dominion, Wednesday, October 3, 2001, p 3]

3 October 2001 Nauru has suspended the disembarkation of asylum-seekers from the HMAS Manoora after a group of 217 Middle Eastern boat people refused to leave the vessel.  Nauru says that it will only accept people who have disembarked voluntarily.  However, the Australian Defence Minister, Peter Reith, is reported as saying that the asylum-seekers will be forcibly removed.  In relation to a second group of 262 asylum-seekers presently being taken to Nauru by a second Australian warship, the UNHCR has said that it will not be involved in the processing of their refugee claims.  The UNHCR says the asylum-seekers should be dealt with in Australia, not in Nauru and that the agreement to process the Manoora people did not extend to further boatloads.  It is understood that officials of the Australian Immigration Department are on their way to Nauru to do their own processing under UNHCR guidelines.

[AFP & AAP, "Nauru and UN having second thoughts", NZ Herald, Wednesday, October 3, 2001, p B3]

3 October 2001 Two young men from the second group of Tampa boat people could be moved from the Mt Eden Remand Prison to the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre today after being held for five days for security reasons.  The Minister of Immigration, Lianne Dalziel is reported as saying that the Service had been inquiring into the case and a decision on the future of the pair was expected early today.  She is also reported as saying that the ten Iranians and Iraqis involved in a fight at the Whangaporaoa camp had apologised and promised to behave themselves.  One of the families involved had been moved to the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre to avoid more conflict but the Minister was not aware of any increase in security at the Whangaporaoa camp.  She is also reported as saying that a conviction for the ten involved would not affect their refugee status.  She has rejected a call by the Leader of New Zealand First, Winston Peters, for them to be deported.  Refugee workers have denounced Mr Peters' comments as "redneck" and ignorant.  The UNHCR representative in New Zealand is reported as saying that deporting refugees would be sending them back to potentially certain death and that politicians should not try to score points on the backs of refugees who have suffered enough.  The refugees would go through the court system like any other New Zealanders.  It was regrettable that asylum-seekers and refugees were being painted in a negative light because they are victims and should be received with sympathy and with assistance.  The Director of the Refugee and Migrant Service is reported as saying that a spat between refugees did not make them terrorists, but the country needed to look more carefully at the ability of some groups to be settled here.  The Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that her decision (against legal advice) to allow Tampa boat people to speak to the media was to counter an Opposition scare-mongering campaign.  It is reported that a senior Immigration Service official said last week that it could prejudice the Afghans' claim for refugee status for them to talk to the media, but the Minister of Immigration allowed a television camera into the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre.  She is reported as saying that the print media had repeatedly ignored her requests to respect the privacy of refugees by running photographs and she decided to let one television crew in so the asylum-seekers could put their side of the story.

[Greg Wycherley & Catherine Masters, "Decision day for jailed pair", NZ Herald, Wednesday, October 3, 2001, p A5]

2 October 2001 The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has announced that New Zealand will contribute $1 million to the United Nations Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan.  The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs expects the number of Afghan citizens requiring emergency assistance to climb from five million to 7.5 million in the coming months.

[Rt Hon Helen Clark, "NZ gives $1 million to humanitarian relief for Afghan people", Media Statement, Tuesday, 2 October, 2001]

2 October 2001 The Prime Minister (who is also the Minister in charge of the Security Intelligence Service) says that a group of men being held in Auckland's maximum security prison are not being detained because of links to overseas terrorists.  At a closed session in the Auckland District Court last Friday, a District Court Judge heard the case in secret under a provision related to national security and suppressed details of the number of defendants, their ethnicity and identity, details of the case and any connection being made to specified events.  The case will be heard again on Thursday 4 October 2001.  A question has been raised as to whether the Minister of Corrections, Matt Robson has breached the suppression order by comments he has reportedly made about the case.

[John Armstrong, "Clark mute on reasons mystery men detained", NZ Herald, Tuesday, October 2, 2001, front page]

2 October 2001 Ten Iraqi and Iranian resettlement refugees have appeared in the North Shore District Court on charges arising from rioting at the military camp at Whangaparaoa.  Each has been charged with using violence against an Immigration Service employee working at the camp.  They have been remanded on bail until 8 October 2001.  A spokesperson for the Refugee and Migrant Service is reported as calling on the government to review the ethnic minorities accepted in each resettlement intake, along with the number of single men accepted.  The Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that there had been conflicts among earlier groups of resettlement refugees.

[Catherine Masters & Josie Clarke, "Accused rioters go back to camp", NZ Herald, Tuesday, October 2, 2001, p A5]

2 October 2001 Nauru has refused to accept asylum-seekers from the Australian troop ship Manoora who have refused to leave the vessel.  For the past two weeks more than two hundred boatpeople, reportedly Iraqis and Palestinians, have refused to leave the Manoora.  But the Australian government has ordered troops to clear the vessel and the men have been escorted to shore by soldiers.  A spokesperson for the Australian Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that a small group of asylum-seekers on board the Manoora had been demanding the others remain on the ship in the hope of forcing a backdown by Australia.

[AFP, "Nauru says no to asylum seekers", NZ Herald, Tuesday, October 2, 2001, p B3]

1 October 2001 The two Afghan youths from the Tampa presently detained at Mt Eden prison have not been told why they have been detained and their lawyer is reported as saying that he did not know the security reasons which have led to their detention.  The Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that if concerns which arose during interviews on the arrival of the youths at Auckland International Airport were allayed, the men would be moved to the Mangere resettlement centre with the other 139 asylum-seekers.

["Teens in dark over prison shift", NZ Herald, Monday, October 1, 2001, p A5]

1 October 2001 The New Zealand Police say that new immigrants and law abiding citizens have nothing to fear from a team set up to investigate links between Afghan terrorist organisations and New Zealand.

[Naomi Larkin, "Probe no threat to immigrants: police", NZ Herald, Monday, October 1, 2001, p A3]

1 October 2001 Eleven resettlement refugees have been arrested after fighting broke out between Iranians and Iraqis at a temporary refugee camp at the Whangaparaoa Military Camp.  Four asylum-seekers were taken to hospital, including a child who suffered burns.  It is not known what started the fighting or if weapons were used.  The twenty-three Iraqi and forty-three Iranian refugees were moved from the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre early in September to make way for the 140 mainly Afghan refugees from the Tampa.  A spokesman for the New Zealand Immigration Service is reported as saying that there had been animosity between the groups and community leaders had been called in to try to defuse tension.  He did not know what had sparked the fighting.  Police had also been called to the Whangaparaoa camp on Saturday, but details were sketchy.

[Gregg Wycherley & Bernard Orsman, "Violence erupts at camp for refugees", NZ Herald, Monday, October 1, 2001, front page]

30 September 2001 The Government is to fast-track anti-terrorism legislation introduced to Parliament before the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.  The proposed legislation will criminalise financing of international terrorism and strengthen methods of investigating offences and extraditing suspects.  The decision to fast-track the legislation follows the unanimous approval by the United Nations Security Council of a resolution demanding that all countries take sweeping measures to crack down on terrorism.  The Terrorism (Bombings and Financing) Bill is currently being considered by a select committee which is expected to report on 2 November 2001, but the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Phil Goff is reported as saying that he will ask the committee to report back as soon as possible.  Penalties under the Bill include up to life imprisonment for a terrorist bombing, up to fourteen years imprisonment for an individual financing terrorism and a fine of up to $250,000 for organisations financing terrorism.  Until now, terrorist-style offences have been covered by the Crimes Act 1961.

The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, is reported as saying that the attacks and expected US-led response may also force New Zealand to review its annual refugee quota of 750 because with some twenty-two million people world-wide on the move, a humanitarian crisis was unfolding.  The Prime Minister is also reported as saying that intelligence gathering may be New Zealand's primary contribution to the war on terrorism.  The Government spends $40 million a year on intelligence agencies, including the Government Communications Security Bureau and these resources would be re-evaluated given heightened global stability.

[Guyon Espiner, "Terror bill in fast lane", Sunday Star-Times, September 30, 2001, front page]

30 September 2001 Nauru has agreed to process another 262 asylum-seekers intercepted off Australian waters by a navy vessel.  This means that almost 800 asylum-seekers originally destined for Australia will be processed by Nauru under a deal reached with the Australian government.

[AAP, "Nauru to process 262 more asylum-seekers", Sunday Star-Times, September 30, 2001, p A11]

30 September 2001 The Afghani asylum-seekers from the Tampa will be tested for conditions such as hepatitis B, anaemia, syphilis, tuberculosis, gut parasites, evidence of physical trauma and torture and will undergo psychological assessments.  About $450,000 is spent on immigration health work in New Zealand each year, while $300,000 of that is spent on the medical screening of refugees and asylum-seekers.  The Auckland Medical Officer of Health, Dr Lester Calder, is reported as saying that the Afghanis would be HIV tested if they had symptoms.  He says historically, Afghani asylum-seekers suffered from a wide range of nutritional, psychological and dental infections, tropical diseases and post-traumatic stress disorder which could derive from cultural and geographical dislocation.  Tuberculosis and hepatitis B were the most common diseases.  He also says that some health services for refugees and asylum-seekers in New Zealand had been stretched periodically ever since they began arriving post-World War II.  He added that the illnesses impose quite a significant burden on the public health system.  Refugees and asylum seekers have a high rate of illness requiring on-going treatment and sophisticated services.  It is also reported that the average cost of a refugee status claim is about $12,500 per person.  That includes health screening, an education component for children and an appeal to the Refugee Status Appeals Authority.

[Kim Purdy, "Taleban jailed teenage asylum-seeker, says Green's MP", Sunday Star-Times, September 30, 2001, p A4]

29 September 2001 Seven new Acts which deal with the control and management of Australia's borders and increased penalties for people-smugglers were assented to on 29 September 2001.  The new Acts, which amend the Migration Act 1958, are as follows: Migration Amendment (Excision from Migration Zone) Act 2001 No. 127; Migration Amendment (Excision from Migration Zone) (Consequential Provisions) Act 2001 No. 128; Migration Legislation Amendment (Judicial Review) Act 2001 No. 134; Migration Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2001 No. 129; Migration Legislation Amendment Act (No. 5) 2001 No. 130; Migration Legislation Amendment Act (No. 6) 2001 No. 131; and Border Protection (Validation and Enforcement Powers) Act 2001 No. 126.  The main provisions of the new legislation are: Measures to strengthen deterrence of unauthorised arrivals, including a new visa regime and minimum prison terms for people-smugglers (five years for a first conviction and eight years for a second conviction); The excision of certain territories from Australia's migration zone including Christmas Island, Ashmore and Cartier Islands and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands; Unauthorised arrivals to those territories cannot apply for a visa; The possible detention and removal from those territories of unauthorised arrivals; A clear definition in law of the term refugee; A limit to the grounds for judicial review; Prohibition of class actions in migration litigation; The possibility that adverse inferences may be drawn when visa applicants fail to provide supporting information, including documentation.  For further background information reference should be made to the Current Issues Brief No. 5, Refugee Law - Recent Legislative Developments published by the Australian Parliamentary Library which may be found at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs.

[Butterworths, Australian Immigration Law, Bulletin No. 192 (October 2001)]

29 September 2001 More than three hundred refugees who have arrived in New Zealand in the past few years are still waiting to get into English language classes because of funding difficulties.  The long wait reflects cuts in the government's training opportunities programme (TOP).  These grants were cut from $96 million in 1999 to $92 million last year, but lifted to $98 million this year.  The programme is targeted mainly at long-term unemployed New Zealanders.  In November 2000, only 160 (2%) of the 8,726 TOP trainees gained entry to the programme as refugees.  The assistant head of AUT's School of Languages is reported as saying that the scheme was geared to getting people into paid work and does not cater for people who are older and mothers at home with children.

[Simon Collins, "Long wait on dole to learn English", Weekend Herald, September 29, 2001, p A8; Simon Collins, "Tongue-tied in an alien land", Weekend Herald, September 29, 2001, p B5]

29 September 2001 Two young men from the second group of Tampa boatpeople have been taken to Mt Eden for "security reasons".  Immigration officials will not elaborate on the reasons for detaining the two youths who arrived at Auckland Airport on the night of Thursday, 27 September 2001.  The youths are aged sixteen and seventeen respectively.  The Minister of Immigration has confirmed that security concerns emerged during interviews with the two youths.  Asked whether, if excluded as refugees, New Zealand would send them back to Afghanistan, the Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that if the Immigration Service could not get documentation in order for them to be removed, they would be held in detention until such time as they could be removed, which could be indefinite.  It is also reported that a high number of young men without family or relatives are among the asylum-seekers.  They include three fourteen-year-olds and sixteen youths aged seventeen.  A spokesman for the Refugee and Migrant Service is reported as saying that this will present special problems in that New Zealand has not until now taken unaccompanied minors as part of its refugee programme.

[Anne Beston, "Teen asylum seekers in prison after interview", Weekend Herald, September 29, 2001, p A8]

29 September 2001 A team of top police officers has been set up to investigate possible links between Afghan terrorist organisations and New Zealand.  The Superintendent of Counties Manukau police district is reported as saying that depending on what information the team uncovered, other enforcement agencies might become involved.  Those agencies included the New Zealand Immigration Service.

[Naomi Larkin, "Police to probe NZ links to terror", Weekend Herald, September 29, 2001, front page]

28 September 2001 Marie Sullivan, the Immigration Service Manager of Refugee Services is reported as saying that if asylum-seekers from the Tampa did not meet the criteria for refugee status, an attempt would be made to return them to their own country.

[Martin Johnston, "Children wake eagerly to new country", NZ Herald, Friday, September 28, 2001, p A5]

26 September 2001 Seventy asylum-seekers from the Tampa arrived today at Auckland International Airport and were taken to the immigration hostel at Mangere.

[Angela Gregory and Anne Beston, "Nothing to declare except joy", NZ Herald, Thursday, September 27, 2001, front page]

26 September 2001 In an article published in the New Zealand Herald, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers asks those in the political arena to remember that they are not just scoring a point against opponents when they play with asylum-seeker statistics and stoke fears of the foreigners in our midst.  They are, in fact, indirectly potentially endangering lives all over the world.  He asks them to tone down their rhetoric.  While immigration and asylum systems are valid subjects for debate, distortion, exaggeration and hyperbole are no way to approach an issue that is not simply about numbers but about saving human lives.  Refugees should not become victims yet again.

[Ruud Lubbers, "Asylum-seekers easy meat for the politics of hatred", NZ Herald, Wednesday, September 26, 2001, p A15]

25 September 2001 The Minister of Immigration has stated that New Zealand will not accept any of the boatpeople from the Tampa who are not found to be genuine refugees.  She was responding to a report claiming that many of the asylum-seekers are illegal immigrants from Pakistan and not refugees from Afghanistan.  The first group of Tampa boatpeople are due to arrive at Auckland International Airport tonight and will be taken to the Refugee Resettlement Centre at Mangere.  The second group are due to arrive the following day.  The Sydney Morning Herald, citing a UNHCR official, said there was evidence some of the men claiming to have fled Afghanistan were really from Pakistan.  Some also had fake documentation.  It also reported that one asylum-seeker had said that he had learnt that one hundred of the Tampa boatpeople who had claimed to be from Afghanistan were really born in Pakistan.  The Australian Federal Parliament yesterday debated legislation aimed at cracking down on people-smuggling with provisions to excise some overseas territories including Christmas Island, from Australia's migration zone.

[AFP, "No haven in NZ for refugee impostors", NZ Herald, Tuesday, September 25, 2001, p A5]

25 September 2001 The United States congressman leading the inquiry into the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington has identified New Zealand as one of sixty-four countries where terrorist cells with links to Osama bin Laden could be active.

["America warns of NZ terror links", NZ Herald, Tuesday, September 25, 2001, front page]

24 September 2001 A man claiming to be a refugee is being held in Mt Eden Prison after refusing to identify himself at Auckland Airport.  In his early twenties, the man arrived from Kuala Lumper but refused to co-operate with the Immigration Service staff and was detained.

["Passenger held", NZ Herald, Monday, September 24, 2001, p A5]

21 September 2001 In a lead article published on the front page of The National Business Review, it is alleged that Islamic terrorists operate in New Zealand.  The article states "They have known links to terrorist groups overseas and police and security authorities monitor their fund-raising activities.  As recently as April [2001] Security and Intelligence Service director Richard Woods confirmed people in New Zealand had been identified as having links with overseas terrorist groups.  He confirmed that terrorists had tried to recruit members and obtain weapons in New Zealand.  His disclosures followed a warning last year by a world authority on terrorism that New Zealand was a "cleaning and conditioning station" for Islamic terrorists conducting a holy war".  The expert referred to as Mr Yossef Bodansky, director of the US congressional task force on terrorism and unconventional warfare.  He is reported as saying that New Zealand was used as a staging post for terrorism because of its liberal society and "relaxed security environment".  He said it was an attractive place for terrorists to come to gain refugee status and residence to get "clean" New Zealand documents so they could travel the world easily.  Waikato University director of defence and strategic studies, On Smith, is reported in the article as raising questions over Prime Minister Helen Clark's quick commitment to take 150 Afghanis from the Norwegian ship Tampa.  He said that screening refugees was a major problem and was the Achilles' heel of national security.  "Everyone who wants to plant people knows the best way is to put them among refugees".  According to Dr Smith moderate Muslims were concerned by an increasingly fundamentalist line allegedly being taken by clergy at a Hamilton mosque.  Former chief of Defence Force Vice-Admiral Sir Somerford Tegale is reported as doubting that adequate procedures were in place to check refugees.  The Prime Minister is reported as saying that any individuals found to pose a security risk would be locked up.

[Jock Anderson, "Afghan refugees lift terror stakes", National Business Review, Friday, September 21, 2001, front page]

20 September 2001 Following the announcement that an appeal will be lodged with the High Court of Australia a spokeswoman for the New Zealand Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that the asylum-seekers now in Nauru will be unable to come to New Zealand until all legal avenues in Australia had been exhausted.  She had no idea how long that would be.  A spokesman for the Immigration Service said that Australia will arrange for the asylum-seekers to be flown to New Zealand after the appeal period was over.

[Scott MacLeod, "Refugees face long wait", NZ Herald, Thursday, September 20, 2001, p A6]

20 September 2001 The Immigration Service said yesterday that refugee claimants would be detained if they could not prove their identity or if there were security concerns.  If a refugee claimant is refused a permit for security or identity reasons, he or she can be detained at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre or in prison until identity is proven or a refugee status claim is decided.  These changes follow the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York in the United States of America.

["Crackdown on refugees", NZ Herald, Thursday, September 20, 2001, p A3]

19 September 2001 The Government has agreed to give extra funding to the Aviation Security Service to boost their ability to screen domestic air travellers.

[Hon Mark Gosche, "Extra funding for aviation security", Media Statement, Wednesday, 19 September, 2001]

19 September 2001 The Australian Government will introduce legislation which will remove remote island territories from Australia's migration zones and impose minimum five-year jail terms for people smugglers on a first conviction and eight years for a second conviction.  Under laws introduced in 1999, anyone convicted of people smuggling faces a maximum jail sentence of twenty years and a fine of up to AUD$220,000.  The changes will be backdated to 8 September 2001.  Under the proposed law, the Cocos, Christmas and Ashmore islands off Australia's remote northwest coast will not be considered Australian territories under migration laws.  The change will allow officials to deny illegal arrivals a visa and move boat people to another location or neighbouring countries to have refugee claims processed. The Minister of Immigration, Philip Ruddock, is reported is saying that under the new proposed laws asylum-seekers will be treated the same as they are by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Indonesia where most of the boats originate.  The Labour opposition says that it will support the legislation.

["Law will block boat people", NZ Herald, Wednesday, September 19, 2001, p B4]

18 September 2001 In a majority decision the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has set aside the decision made by Justice North on 11 September 2001 in which he had directed the Commonwealth of Australia to release people who had been rescued from a sinking vessel by the Norwegian ship, the MV Tampa on 26 August 2001.  The order made by Justice North was by way of habeas corpus and was granted on the basis that the Commonwealth had detained without lawful authority the people rescued by MV Tampa.  The Commonwealth and the Ministers concerned appealed against the decision.  By a majority, comprising Beaumont and French JJ (Black CJ dissenting) the Full Court determined that the appeal should be allowed.  The majority concluded that the Commonwealth was acting within its executive power under s 61 of the Constitution in the steps it took to prevent the landing of the rescuees.  The closure of Christmas Island port was done under statutory authority which was not challenged.  The majority also concluded that the rescuees were not detained by the Commonwealth or their freedom restricted by anything that the Commonwealth did.

[Ruddock v Vadarlis [2001] FCA 1329 (18 September 2001); (2001) 183 ALR 1 (FC:FC)] [<www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2001/1329.html>]

14 September 2001 The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service has established an 0800 number for use by people who wish to convey information which could help defeat international terrorism.  The number is 0800 SIS 224 (0800 747 224).  The Prime Minister and Minister in charge of the SIS, Helen Clark says that we cannot assume that somehow in New Zealand we are immune from terrorism.  It is an international phenomenon and its organisers operate around the world.

[Rt Hon Helen Clark, "New 0800 number for information on terrorism", Media Statement, Friday, 14 September, 2001]

14 September 2001 It is reported that according to ACT New Zealand leader Richard Prebble, Prime Minister Helen Clark has suspect Afghani refugees in her electorate with terrorist links whom security services have advised should not get New Zealand passports.  It is also reported that the Minister of Immigration, Lianne Dalziel will neither confirm nor deny that immigration officials are about to axe humanitarian grounds for refugee status in New Zealand.  Mr Prebble has called for an immediate tightening up of refugee entry and says there have been more security problems with Afghanis than any other refugee group.  He is reported as saying that he understands that more than half of all applications for New Zealand citizenship declined for security reasons were from Afghanis.  He is reported as saying that it is only a matter of time before boat people will see New Zealand as a convenient and compliant destination.  He said he understood one of the biggest concerns for the Security Intelligence Service was fund-raising activities on behalf of undesirable organisations overseas.

[Jock Anderson, "PM warned of threat from Afghan refugees", National Business Review, September 14, 2001, p 5]

13 September 2001 The Acting Prime Minister, Jim Anderton has urged New Zealanders not to associate New Zealand's Muslim community or Afghan refugees with acts of terrorism in the United States.

[Hon Jim Anderton, "Call to avoid linking NZ Muslim and refugee communities to terrorists", Media Statement, Thursday, 13 September, 2001]

11 September 2001 Terrorist attacks on New York and Washington

11 September 2001 Sitting at first instance in the Federal Court of Australia, North J has ordered that the 433 people rescued at sea by the MV Tampa be brought ashore to a place on the mainland of Australia.

[Victorian Council for Civil Liberties Inc. v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2001) 182 ALR 617]

10 September 2001 The High Court at Hamilton has ruled that visa fraud is not covered by the New Zealand - United States of America extradition arrangement.

[Cullinane v Government of the United States of America (High Court Hamilton, A116/00, 10 September 2001, Priestley J); [2001] BCL 962]

9 September 2001 The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has expressed concern about the continuing flow of asylum-seekers attempting to land in Australian territory from Indonesia.  She said that New Zealand's decision to take up to 150 asylum-seekers is unchanged but called for a fresh international approach to the problem of asylum-seekers from Afghanistan and the huge problem of refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people world wide.

[Rt Hon Helen Clark, "PM responds to latest interception of asylum-seekers", Media Statement, Sunday, 9 September, 2001]

6 September 2001 The third Roundtable to be held as part of the UNHCR Global Consultations starts today in San Remo.  The topics are Membership of a Particular Social Group, Gender-Related Persecution and the Internal Protection/Relocation/Flight Alternative.  The background papers have been commissioned from Alex Aleinikoff, Professor of Law, Georgetown University (Membership of a Particular Social Group); Rodger Haines QC, Deputy Chairperson, New Zealand Refugee Status Appeals Authority (Gender-Related Persecution); James Hathaway, Professor of Law, University of Michigan (Internal Protection/Relocation/Flight Alternative).

[In the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, useful information on UNHCR's Global Consultations on International Protection is to be found at <http://www.unhcr.ch/issues/asylum/globalconsult/main.htm>.  The papers presented at the Expert Roundtables, summary of conclusions and list of participants are to be found at the same web page.]

1 September 2001 The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has called for a fresh international approach to Afghanistan's refugee problem.  She is reported as saying that it would be desirable for the problem to be dealt with on Afghanistan's borders.  She will be asking the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to raise the concerns of New Zealand at the highest level of the United Nations.

[Rt Hon Helen Clark, "PM demands action on Afghan refugee problem", Media Statement, Saturday, 1 September, 2001]

1 September 2001 The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has announced that New Zealand has offered to admit up to 150 asylum-seekers from the Norwegian vessel the Tampa for processing and eventual resettlement as part of its annual refugee quota.  After processing the refugees will be able to settle in New Zealand as part of the normal refugee quota of 750.  The next planned refugee arrivals in New Zealand under its quota arrangements with the UNHCR are also Afghans.  The Prime Minister said that New Zealand had been moved to make its offer to help out of humanitarian concern for those on the Tampa and because it wished to support Australia in its efforts to stem the spontaneous flow of refugees.

[Rt Hon Helen Clark, "New Zealand to admit up to 150 'Tampa' asylum-seekers", Media Statement, Saturday, 1 September 2001]

30 August 2001 The Refugee and Immigration Law Committee of the Auckland District Law Society has arranged a seminar at which refugee practitioners and other interested persons will have an opportunity to discuss the paper on gender-related persecution prepared by Rodger Haines QC for the UNHCR Global Consultations on International Protection.  The purpose of the meeting is to provide a forum for views and comment prior to the paper being presented at the San Remo roundtable.

["Refugee lawyers invited to comment on UN paper", Law News, Issue No. 31 (August 24, 2001) p 2]

28 August 2001 The Australian government has refused entry to a group of approximately 430 asylum-seekers rescued from a sinking boat between Indonesia and Christmas Island.  The individuals have been left stranded on the Norwegian freighter which rescued them.  Indonesia has also refused to take the intending migrants.  The Australian government last week announced a $A22 million programme to double its capacity to detain illegal migrants to 7,000.

[Greg Ansley, "Rejected refugees stranded on ocean", NZ Herald, Tuesday, August 28, 2001, front page]

20 August 2001 The Minister of Immigration and the Minister of Internal Affairs have requested full reports into the marriage fraud in which homeless Aucklanders are paid to enter into sham marriages with Asians.  The Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that she has power to revoke the residence permit of any individuals concerned.  She also wants to reassess whether the maximum fine of $5,000 is high enough, given the payments of up to $20,000 reported by the New Zealand Herald.  An Immigration Service spokesman is reported as saying that the Immigration Service will check whether any recent marriage applications might have come from the racket.  The Service was continually investigating possible cases of fraud, including marriages, and there had been a number of convictions in the past two years.  The Minister of Internal Affairs is reported as saying that he would ask his officials to investigate whether a provision to fast-track passport applications by New Zealand citizens was being abused.  He would also ask officials to look into the issuing of marriage certificates.

[Angela Gregory & Mathew Dearnaley, "Double probe into marriage for cash deals", NZ Herald, Monday, August 20, 2001, front page]

18 August 2001 Homeless people are being paid up to $20,000 to marry wealthy Asians wanting to obtain New Zealand residence permits.  It has been reported that an Auckland company arranges travel documents and flies them to China and other Asian countries to marry people they have never met.  Others go through the marriages of convenience in New Zealand.  The foreign spouses then apply for New Zealand residence permits.  A newspaper reporter who infiltrated the organisation arranging the marriages was offered a bride, $8,000 and a trip to China.  Under s 142 of the Immigration Act 1987 it is an offence for a person (without reasonable excuse) to produce any document or to supply any information to an immigration officer or visa officer knowing that it is false or misleading in any material respect.  A person also commits an offence if he or she makes any statement, or provides any information, evidence or submission knowing that it is false or misleading in any material respect in support of an application or request (whether by that person or by another person) for a visa or permit.  It is also an offence under s 142 for any person to aid, abet, incite, counsel or procure any other person to commit an offence against the Immigration Act 1987.  Every person who commits such offences is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding $5,000.

[Tony Wall, "Homeless paid thousands in a marriage-for-residency racket", Weekend Herald, Saturday, August 18, 2001, front page; Tony Wall, "'It's not illegal' the wedding broker told me", Weekend Herald, Saturday, August 18, 2001, p A3; Tony Wall, "Fake roses for a wilting wedding", Weekend Herald, Saturday, August 18, 2001, p A3.]

17 August 2001 The Refugee and Immigration Law Committee of the Auckland District Law Society has drafted a set of ethical guidelines for immigration and refugee law practitioners.  The New Zealand Law Society will be asked to approve the guidelines.  The committee told the ADLS Council it had drafted the guidelines to assist lawyers practising in these two areas and to have clear standards against which complaints could be judged.  A second aim of the guidelines is to avoid the inclusion of legal professionals (barristers, solicitors and legal executives working under the supervision of barristers and solicitors) in planned registration requirements.  The committee says that double registration will not only be a financial burden, but will also severely impact on the independence of the legal profession.

["Immigration Ethical Guide", Law News (Issue No. 30, August 17, 2001), front page]

16 August 2001 In an editorial commenting on the case of the Yemen national who entered New Zealand on a false passport from Australia and who has claimed refugee status, the opinion is expressed that New Zealand is in danger of being regarded as a soft touch.  It is stated in the editorial that if such a reputation were confirmed the country would become extremely attractive to a host of people who, for many reasons, wish to escape their surroundings.  Australia once attracted such a status.  To address that and to more accurately identify bona fide refugees, it has opted for holding asylum-seekers in migrant detention centres.  The editor opines that in the case of the Yemen national, New Zealand must be similarly assertive and claims that "he is a fugitive who has entered this country illegally.  That, alone, makes it difficult to understand why his application for entry is even being considered.  People who approached New Zealand by stealth deserve no welcome mat."

[Editorial, "NZ soft touch for 'refugees'", NZ Herald, Thursday, August 16, 2001, p A12]

16 August 2001 The Yemen national who claims to have escaped from a Sydney detention centre and to have entered New Zealand on a false passport is receiving free medical care at Takapuna hospital for stomach ulcers.  Since May 2001 he has been supported by the mostly government-funded Auckland Refugee Council at its hostel at a cost of about $160 a week for bed and food.  The Council, which is looking after 22 other paying refugees is reported as saying that it could not turn him away but admitted that supporting him was a financial burden.  So far it has spent more than $2,000 looking after him.  The Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that the man has been refused a work permit because he refused to disclose to immigration authorities how he came to New Zealand.  The Government was not going to accept his identity without that information and details of the false documentation he used to enter New Zealand.  The Minister is also reported as saying that because the man had gone public with his case he obviously had no fear about anyone seeing him and this had undermined his refugee claim.  Because the man had been refused a permit he could not receive an emergency benefit.

[Scott Inglis, "Fugitive given free hospital care", NZ Herald, Thursday, August 16, 2001, p A3]

15 August 2001 In a statement released today the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has taken an active part in the current debate on New Zealand's commitments under the United Nations Refugee Convention.  The text of the UNHCR statement follows:

"UNHCR has noted with concern media reports in recent days which seem to raise questions about New Zealand's asylum policies.  'Fugitive', and 'escaped detainee' were some of the terms used in reports about an asylum seeker who is currently in New Zealand after reportedly having spent some weeks or months at a detention centre for unathorised arrivals in Australia.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has time and again expressed his  misgiving about the fact that a number of countries, including Australia, place asylum seekers in detention.  Asylum seekers are not criminals, refugees often have no choice but to make use of fraudulent documentation in order to reach safety.

Fortunately New Zealand has consistently refused to go down this same, hugely expensive path of detention.  UNHCR acknowledges that many asylum seekers do not, in the end, qualify as refugees.  Refugees in recent years have increasingly been caught up in the migration flows of modern times.  Governments have a legitimate and sovereign right to control their borders, but at the same time they have an international obligation not to return refugees to territories where their lives and freedom would be at risk.

Both previous and current New Zealand governments have recognised that the best way to deal with this situation, is to invest resources in a fast and efficient, but fair asylum system.  As a result the New Zealand Immigration Service has made significant progress since mid-1999, when it was faced with a backlog of asylum applications of nearly 3,100.  That backlog has been reduced to some 1,850 as at the end of July 2001.  With the deployment of 25 new refugee status officers at the beginning of the year 2001, the objective of a fast but fair turn-around of asylum claims can be achieved.  Genuine refugees will be able to get on with their lives, while people who have come for purely economic reasons will realise that they can not extend their stay and obtain a work permit and/or welfare benefits by applying for asylum in New Zealand.  A quick decision will furthermore facilitate a quick removal before a person who has not been recognised as a refugee, would be able to start to settle in New Zealand society.

The UNHCR Senior Liaison Officer for New Zealand, Hans ten Feld, said: 'New Zealand can be proud of its asylum policies, which fully recognise that refugees and asylum seekers are not criminals, but instead deserve respect, sympathy and appropriate treatment and help.'"

[UNHCR, "UNHCR: New Zealand can be proud of its asylum policies", Media Statement, Wednesday, 15 August 2001]

15 August 2001 A man who says he is from the Republic of Yemen and who claims to have escaped from the Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney in March 2001 has applied for refugee status in New Zealand.  He says that he was "trafficked" from Sydney to Melbourne and then flown to New Zealand in May 2001 after paying $5,000 for a false passport.  The Minister of Immigration, Lianne Dalziel is reported as saying that the man appears to have acted illegally to enter New Zealand and is trying to manipulate the Immigration Service into approving his application.  She is further reported as saying that he would be in jail "at the very least" if he had claimed refugee status at the New Zealand border.  She says that she is concerned about the case because she believes that "we are being taken for a ride" and she was unable to confirm that he is a person who has escaped from Villawood.

[Paul Yandall & Scott Inglis, "Fugitive turns up in NZ ward", NZ Herald, Wednesday, August 15, 2001, front page]

27 July 2001 To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees a seminar and dinner will be held on 27 July 2001 at 6pm, the Auckland Club, 34 Shortland Street, Auckland.  All members of the legal profession, and in particular the Refugee and Immigration bar are invited to attend.  The keynote speaker is Hans Ten Feld, the UNHCR representative in New Zealand.  He will be speaking on the current UNHCR global consultations, on international protection and other issues of current interest to the UNHCR.  The cost per person is $55.00.  Tickets may be obtained from Fiona Robertson, Auckland District Law Society, PO Box 58, DX CP 24001, Auckland; Fax: 309 3676.

12 July 2001 Since the suspension of visa-free entry to New Zealand of Thai nationals only fifty-eight Thais have been refused entry to New Zealand because they were not believed to be genuine visitors.  In the six months before the suspension, 689 were refused entry.  This is a reduction of over ninety percent.  The Minister of Immigration is reported as saying that Thai nationals had been abusing the refugee claim process to gain access to work permits and welfare benefits.  Also in January 2001 visa-free entry of nationals of the Czech Republic was suspended, although the government said it would review the decision before the end of 2001.  Between 1998 and 2000, 1,630 Czech nationals visited New Zealand and 129 claimed refugee status.  The Minister says that none were approved.  She is also reported as saying that organised groups were bringing in women to work in the sex trade and in the clothing and building industries.

[Francesca Mold, "Visa clampdown cuts Thai influx", NZ Herald, Thursday, July 12, 2001, p A6]

9 July 2001 The second Roundtable to be held as part of the UNHCR Global Consultations starts today in Cambridge.  The topics are the Principle of Non-Refoulement (Article 33 of the Refugee Convention) and Supervisory Responsibility (Article 35).  The background papers have been commissioned from Professor Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, University of Cambridge (Article 33) and Walter Kälin, Professor of Law, University of Berne (Article 35).

[In the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, useful information on UNHCR's Global Consultations on International Protection is to be found at <http://www.unhcr.ch/issues/asylum/globalconsult/main.htm>.  The papers presented at the Expert Roundtables, summary of conclusions and list of participants are to be found at the same web page.]

6 July 2001 The government has awarded scholarships to 28 primary and secondary school teachers to upgrade their skills in teaching English to speakers of other languages.  As part of the Pacific English Language and Literacy Initiative announced last December, the government is providing scholarships to 80 teachers this year.  The scholarship programme is part of a wide range of initiatives to improve literacy learning in New Zealand schools.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "28 Teachers awarded scholarships covering University tuition fees", Media Statement, Friday, 6 July, 2001]

2 July 2001 It is reported that Indian police investigating the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ten years ago are believed to have questioned two men in New Zealand.  Investigators from the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation arrived in late April 2001 seeking three men living in New Zealand, namely two Tamils and a Sikh.  It is reported that two of the men were found and questioned in May.  They are believed to be Tamils.  The investigators were in New Zealand for more than a month and made inquiries all over New Zealand, but particularly in South Auckland.  The connection the questioned men might have to the assassination has not been revealed.  An Indian Interpol investigator is reported as saying that the inquiry was continuing.  Mr Gandhi was killed in a suicide bombing in the Indian city of Sriperumbudur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in 1991 and more than 40 people have been charged in connection with the case.  Indian authorities have blamed the Sri Lankan separatist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam for the bombing, but the group has denied any involvement.

[Paul Yandall, "Indians bring Gandhi murder probe to NZ", NZ Herald, Monday, July 2, 2001, p A3]

30 June 2001 According to the report of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, 2000/01 Estimates: Vote Immigration, the New Zealand Immigration Service expects to determine approximately 2,450 claims for refugee status in the 2000/01 year.  It aims to reduce the number of outstanding cases to be determined from 2,400 cases on 1 July 2000 to 860 on 30 June 2001.  The Minister of Immigration aims to reduce waiting times to six months by 1 July 2001.  Approximately $500,000 has been allocated to these targets.  The Committee intends to monitor the progress of the Immigration Service.

[Report of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee - 2000/01 Estimates: Vote Immigration (2000) at 271, 275]

25 June 2001 In R v Qi (CA103/01, 25 June 2001, Blanchard, Fisher & Potter JJ) an appeal against conviction for passport fraud has been dismissed.  The appellant was charged under the Crimes Act 1961, s 229A after paying $60,000 for a passport for her son and a further US$8,000 for a passport for her husband.  The Court of Appeal rejected submissions that the Judge had misdirected himself in failing to apply a subjective test on the question of honest belief or that he had failed to distinguish between passports and residence permits.  The Court upheld the fines of $7,500 on the first conviction and $15,000 on the second.

20 June 2001 In acknowledging the first World Refugee Day the New Zealand government has stated that it is proud of its association with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and has taken the opportunity to recognise "the excellent work that the UNHCR undertakes in respect of individuals who have suffered persecution and forced into displacement from their homelands".  New Zealand takes up to 750 UNHCR mandated refugees every year (including immediate family members) under the Refugee Quota Programme.  The Minister of Immigration has also paid tribute to the organisations that assist with the resettlement of refugees in New Zealand and in particular commended those who volunteer their services to help with the resettlement process once refugees arrive in this country.  The Minister has also drawn attention to the fact that the government has established a refugee sub-group which provides community based advice to the Minister of Immigration on refugee resettlement policy.  In the last financial year the government also allocated $560,000 to resettlement support services for refugees.  This year's budget contained a funding boost for refugee resettlement services - an additional $350,000 a year, beginning during the year 2001-2002 to enable non-government agencies to provide extra support services for UN mandated refugees and their families resettling in New Zealand.  There has also been a commitment to fund volunteer training and support, housing assistance, interpreter services, information and advice, and assistance with refugee family reunification applications.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "World Refugee Day", Media Statement, Wednesday, 20 June 2001]

20 June 2001 Auckland City will be among the many organisations recognising the first international World Refugee Day to be held on Wednesday 20 June 2001.  The Council is developing relationships with refugee communities and has recently begun convening a refugee network of service providers and refugee community groups.  The network has set up two project groups: one to explore how  to meet refugees' resource needs and the second to raise the profile of refugee issues.  Details of World Refugee Day internationally can be seen on the website of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees <www.unhcr-50.org>.

[Auckland City, City Scene, Issue 23, Sunday, June 17, 2001, p 3]

5 June 2001 The High Court at Wellington has dismissed an application for review in which the decision of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority was challenged by an Indonesian citizen of Chinese ethnic origin.

[DG v Refugee Status Appeals Authority (High Court, Wellington, CP213/00, 5 June 2001, Chisholm J)]

31 May 2001 A man said to be from Kuwait and who allegedly escaped from a Sydney refugee detention centre is being investigated by New Zealand police for fraud.  It is alleged that in Auckland he set up an immigration consultancy and then befriended Asian women on temporary permits, telling them he could arrange residence permits for them or their friends.  It is reported that he was apparently caught using a false passport while trying to enter Vanuatu in June 2000 and returned to New Zealand.

[Scott Inglis, "Migrants fleeced by conman", NZ Herald, May 31, 2001, p A4]

26 May 2001 The man who twice applied unsuccessfully for refugee status and who has been convicted in the Manukau District Court on twenty-four counts of using a document with intent to defraud, two counts of altering a document with intent to defraud and two of possessing false passports has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment.  However, he can seek parole after just one-third of his term.  As he has already spent one year in custody awaiting trial, he could be free in two months.

[Scott Inglis, "Conman may be released in July", Weekend Herald, May 26, 2001, p A3]

24 May 2001 The Minister of Immigration has announced that refugee resettlement services will receive an increase of $350,000 a year, beginning in 2001-02.  The funding will enable non-government organisations to provide extra support services to help United Nations-mandated refugees and their families resettle in New Zealand.  The additional funding almost doubles the $364,000 currently paid for refugee resettlement and support services which is delivered through the New Zealand Immigration Service resettlement budget.  The new funding will help provide a range of services, including volunteer training and support, housing assistance and interpreter services, information and advice to people in their first year of resettlement, ongoing support to refugees past their first year of settlement and assistance with refugee family reunification applications.  This is the first time in a decade that extra funding is being provided to help refugees settle in New Zealand.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "Refugee resettlement services funding boost", Media Statement, Thursday, 24 May 2001]

19 May 2001 A man who twice applied unsuccessfully for refugee status (claiming he was from Chechnya) has been convicted in the Manukau District Court on twenty-four counts of using a document with intent to defraud, two counts of altering a document with intent to defraud and two of possessing false passports.  The charges arise out of a credit card scam involving $325,000.  It is reported that the man is also wanted in Canada, Spain, England, Ireland, France, Germany and the United States for alleged credit card scams.

[Paul Yandall & Jo-Marie Brown, "The many faces of a fraudster", Weekend Herald, May 19, 2001, p A3]

18 May 2001 The Government has released Guidelines on contracting with Non-Government Organisations (NGOs).  The formal title of the document is Guidelines for Contracting with Non-Government Organisations on Behalf of the Crown.  The document was drafted by Treasury after consultation with a number of government departments and more than thirty NGOs.  The Guidelines will be issued to all government departments and most Crown entities.  They will apply to contracting relationships with profit-making bodies supplying services sought by the Crown as well as the community and voluntary sector.

[Hon Trevor Mallard, "Guidelines for contracting with NGOs" and "Questions and Answers on NGO guidelines", Media Statement, Friday 18 May 2001]

10 May 2001 The High Court at Wellington has set aside a decision of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority on the ground that the decision reviewed was inconsistent with another decision of the Authority in which, on similar facts, refugee status had been granted.  The matter has been remitted back to the Authority for reconsideration.  However, in a judgment delivered on the same day in a different case, the Court dismissed a challenge which had alleged that the Authority had failed to take into account a fact central to the (unsuccessful) refugee application.

[TN v Refugee Status Appeals Authority (High Court Wellington, CP 212/00, 10 May 2001, Chisholm J) and D v Refugee Status Appeals Authority (High Court Wellington, CP 232/00, 10 May 2001, Chisholm J)]

9 May 2001 Council officers from Auckland and Manukau cities will co-ordinate a pilot scheme and work with the government to help provide effective services to migrants and refugees.  The government is to provide $132,000 for the study, which will only cost the Auckland City Council staff time.  However the councillor for Penrose has argued that the Auckland City Council should focus on its core responsibilities of roads, rates and rubbish - not refugees.

[Kaine Henderson, "Christian attacks council plan to  make migrants feel at home", East & Bays Courier, May 9, 2001, p 3]

4 May 2001 The High Court at Auckland has dismissed an application for review in which the decision of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority was challenged on a number of grounds including the fact that the Authority sat as a division of one member; the standard of interpretation and the refugee claimant's interview ability.  The High Court emphasised that judicial review proceedings cannot be used as a vehicle to appeal decisions of the Authority.  The Court also identified a number of features of the New Zealand refugee status determination procedures which must be borne in mind when evaluating the conduct of a hearing by the Authority.

[C v Refugee Status Appeals Authority (High Court Auckland, M1365-SW00, 4 May 2001, Nicholson J)]

3 May 2001 The first Roundtable to be held as part of the UNHCR Global Consultations starts today in Lisbon.  The topics are Cessation (Article 1C of the Refugee Convention) and Exclusion (Article 1F).  The background papers have been commissioned from Joan Fitzpatrick, Professor of Law, University of Washington (Article 1C) and Geoff Gilbert, Head, Department of Law, University of Essex (Article 1F).

[In the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, useful information on UNHCR's Global Consultations on International Protection is to be found at <http://www.unhcr.ch/issues/asylum/globalconsult/main.htm>.  The papers presented at the Expert Roundtables, summary of conclusions and list of participants are to be found at the same web page.]

1 May 2001 The Office of Ethnic Affairs which opened at the start of the year was formally launched today by the Prime Minister, Helen Clark and the Minister for Ethnic Affairs, George Hawkins.  The office is responsible for providing policy advice to the government and keeping ethnic communities informed on issues relevant to them.  Projects include a sum of $674,000 for piloting support services to help new migrants settle in New Zealand, more than $560,000 for refugee resettlement support, an $11.8 million package to retrain overseas doctors and a $6.6 million increase in English as a Second Language (ESOL) funding over the next four years.

[Rt Hon Helen Clark, "Ethnic Affairs office officially launched", Media Statement, Tuesday, 1 May 2001]

1 May 2001 The Prime Minister, Helen Clark today launched a detailed publication on how New Zealand's security and intelligence agencies are managed.  The booklet, Securing our Nation's Safety has been published by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.  It explains the roles and responsibilities of the agencies, how they are managed and how they are kept accountable through the democratic process.  Timing of the release of the publication was intended to co-incide with the introduction into parliament on the same day of a Bill to provide a legislative base for the Government Communications Security Bureau.

[Rt Hon Helen Clark, "New publication on NZ's security and intelligence agencies", Media Statement, Tuesday, 1 May 2001]

28 April 2001 The Director of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) has revealed that the SIS has identified people in New Zealand with links to overseas terrorist groups.  He is reported as confirming that terrorists have tried to recruit members and obtained weapons in New Zealand though the SIS is not aware of any cells or factions of international terrorism located in New Zealand.  But there are in New Zealand individuals with links to terrorist groups overseas.  The SIS assessment was that there are no specific threats of terrorist activity directed against New Zealand or against New Zealand's interests overseas, but there are no grounds for complacency.  The possibility of a terrorist act in New Zealand against some other target could not be excluded, especially with advances in communication and travel.  He is reported as saying that among the activities that might have been undertaken in New Zealand to support terrorism were people smuggling, money raising, money laundering, posting propaganda on the internet, recruiting people to take part in terrorist activities elsewhere, procuring weapons or explosives and acquiring false documentation.  He is also reported as referring to immigration policies of the past 20 or 30 years and the arrival of refugees.  He is reported as saying that many of these people come from countries where terrorism is a fact of life or which are in the grip of civil war or are under dictatorship but he stressed that the vast majority were law-abiding, useful, contributing members of society.  The SIS checked some applicants for visas and residence permits and all applicants for New Zealand citizenship and objected if it believed the individual had connections with a terrorist group.

[Audrey Young, "SIS aware of links to terrorists", Weekend Herald, April 28, 2001, p A6]

20 April 2001 At the annual meeting of Australian federal and state immigration ministers, the New Zealand Minister of Immigration will discuss immigration, settlement, citizenship, multicultural affairs, research, migrant settlement and refugee settlement, and community input.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "Minister to attend NZ/Australia Immigration meeting", Media Statement, Thursday 19 April 2001]

12 April 2001 The Refugee Status Appeals Authority has published a decision in which it addresses the withdrawal of appeals and in particular, whether a withdrawal may be retracted.  The Immigration (Refugee Processing) Regulations 1999 (SR1999/285), Reg 21 provides that a claimant or an appellant may at any time withdraw a claim to refugee status or an appeal to the Authority by giving written notice to a refugee status officer or the Authority, as the case may require.  The Authority has held that leave of the Authority is not required for an appeal to be withdrawn and an appeal may be withdrawn at any time prior to the decision being notified to the appellant.  Once an appeal has been withdrawn, there is nothing to dismiss or grant.  The Authority can only issue a Minute recording the receipt of the withdrawal and any other relevant circumstances.  A withdrawal may in certain circumstances be retracted with the leave of the Authority.  Those circumstances are set out in R v Medway [1976] 1 All ER 527 (CA).  The basic question is whether the mind of the applicant went with the act of withdrawal.

[Refugee Appeal No. 72462/00 (12 April 2001)]

5 April 2001 At an immigration law seminar presented by the Auckland District Law Society papers were presented on the practice, procedure and presentation of appeals to the Removal Review Authority, the Residence Appeal Authority and the Refugee Status Appeals Authority.  Copies of the seminar papers Winning Immigration and Refugee Cases (5 April 2001) may be purchased from the Auckland District Law Society, PO Box 58, Auckland.

30 March 2001 With the amnesty closing at 5pm today, more than 4,000 of an estimated 22,000 overstayers have applied to stay in New Zealand, about half the number expected.  In the past week 632 people have applied to stay under the Transitional Policy.  A spokesman for migrant centres in Auckland is reported as saying that the centres are finding that most overstayers who are eligible for the scheme have applied under it.  He says that most overstayers who qualify under the policy are Pacific Islanders and that many Asian migrants have been advised by immigration consultants that it is better for them to opt for refugee status.

[Bridget Carter, "Deadline day arrives for overstayers", NZ Herald, Friday, March 30, 2001, p A6]

23-25 March 2001 Hosted by Professor James C Hathaway, the second Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law was convened at the University of Michigan Law School to consider the following subject:  "Fear of being persecuted 'for reasons of' civil or political status: what connection is required?"  The conclusions of the Colloquium have been published as The Michigan Guidelines on Nexus to a Convention Ground 23 Mich. J. Int'l L. ____ (2001) and are to be found on the Reference page of this website.  The conclusions of the first Colloquium are recorded as the The Michigan Guidelines on the Internal Protection Alternative (1999) which are also to be found on the Reference page of this website.

21 March 2001 The Minister of Immigration has announced that increased levels of permanent resident approvals are tracking to exceed the migrant target this year.  Statistics New Zealand figures show a total of 7,164 permanent and long term arrivals during February 2001 compared with 5,758 in February 2000 and 4,948 in February 1999.  The figures also show that a large number of New Zealand citizens left for Australia ahead of the February 2001 social security agreement with Australia.  There was a net outflow to Australia from December 2000 to February 2001 of 5,030 more than for the three months ending February 2000.  The increase in departures (net outflow of 2,530 in February 2001, compared with the net outflow of 1,740 in January 2001) was partially offset by a 1,410 increase in arrivals.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "February external migration", Media Statement, Wednesday, 21 March 2001]

17 March 2001 The Minister of Immigration has declined an application by a group of Chinese Indonesians that they be granted residence permits.  In rejecting the application the Minister is reported as saying that a special policy would not be appropriate.  She said that Chinese Indonesians were not recognised by the United Nations as a refugee group.  A pastor who is assisting the group is reported as claiming  that the recent arrest of four Chinese Indonesian overstayers had forced two hundred others to go underground in the hope of remaining in New Zealand.

[Naomi Larkin, "Refugee arrests drive 200 into hiding: pastor", Weekend Herald, March 17-18, 2001, p A13]

8 March 2001 The High Court at Auckland has held that a decision of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority signed by only one member but on its face unanimous did not breach the Immigration Act 1987, s 129Q.

[Achhido v Governor of Mt Eden Prison (High Court Auckland, M187-SW00, 8 March 2001, O'Regan J)]

8 March 2001 The Minister of Immigration has expressed the view that immigration agents who withhold their clients' passports are breaking the law and should be reported to the Police.  The Minister is reported as saying that she is concerned at anecdotal reports indicating that some immigration lawyers and consultants are withholding people's passports, and as a result, disadvantaging them from making applications to the New Zealand Immigration Service.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "Immigration agents warned not to withhold passports", Media Statement, Thursday, 8 March 2001]

28 February 2001 The Minister of Immigration has announced that failed refugee status claimants, who are excluded from the Transitional Policy, and who had written to her seeking regularisation of their status, will be notified soon as to whether she has approved or declined their applications. The majority of those who have written to the Minister would not have qualified under the Transitional Policy in any event and the Minister has stated that she is not prepared to advantage them ahead of others who do not qualify.  For those and others who do not qualify, she said that it was in their best interests to leave New Zealand as soon as possible, or face removal by the New Zealand Immigration Service and and automatic five-year ban on being allowed back into New Zealand.  The Minister has also disclosed that so far, 2,887 people have applied under the Transitional Policy.  The deadline for applications is 30 March 2001.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "Last month for Transitional Policy applications", Media Statement, Wednesday 28 February 2001]

28 February 2001 High Court cases dealing with refugee issues are now available on the Case Search page of this website in full text format.  For each decision there is a comprehensive headnote summarising the important holdings and observations made.  Where appropriate there is also an editorial note concerning matters relevant to the particular decision.  There is also now a comprehensive subject index, table of cases reported, table of cases cited, table to statutes referred to, table of regulations referred to and table of international instruments referred to.  The Statistics page has been upgraded and now contains forty two tables.  The annual reports of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority are to be found on the Comment page.  A paper by Rodger Haines QC analysing recent immigration and refugee law decisions and delivered at the Auckland District Law Society Seminar Winning Immigration and Refugee Cases is now to be found on the Reference page.

27 February 2001 Because migrants from New Zealand to Australia will lose their automatic right to permanent residence in Australia under the agreement signed by Prime Ministers Helen Clark and John Howard on 26 February 2001, there has been a surge in the number of people moving to Australia.  Statistics New Zealand figures show that 4,125 New Zealanders left for Australia in December 2000, 1,100 more than in the same month a year before.  There is growing anecdotal evidence that some New Zealanders, including new immigrants, moved to Australia ahead of the deadline.  The President of the Auckland Refugee Council, Dr Rasalingam, is reported as saying that immigrants had told him that they had deliberately moved before the changes took effect.  He said that he had lost up to twenty five immigrant families from his Glen Innes medical practice in the past few months and estimates about ninety percent of the Sri Lankan community in the St Johns and Kohimarama area have left over that time.  He was also aware of similar departures within the Chinese and Southeast Asian communities.  He said that those leaving were frustrated by the lack of jobs and support services for immigrants in New Zealand.  At one Kohimarama primary school, forty immigrant students left in a matter of weeks.  It is reported that Australia has long pressed for a common border because it believes New Zealand's looser immigration rules provide "backdoor" entry to migrants from other countries.  Helen Clark is reported as having rejected a common border, saying New Zealand's freer visa laws benefit tourism.

[Vernon Small & Angela Gregory, "Migrants rush to beat Australian residence clamp down", NZ Herald, Tuesday, February 27, 2001, front page]

26 February 2001 The Australian government has announced changes to residence and citizenship arrangements for New Zealand citizens moving to Australia.  The changes will not affect the ability of New Zealand citizens to visit, live and work in Australia, but will affect their access to a number of social security benefits.  Under the new arrangements, New Zealand citizens will be automatically granted a special category visa which will allow them to live and work indefinitely in Australia.  However, unless they were in Australia on 26 February 2001 (and certain other exceptions) most people will need to obtain a permanent resident visa before they are able to sponsor their non-New Zealand citizen family members for permanent residence in Australia or be eligible to apply for Australian citizenship.

[Rt Hon Helen Clark, "New social security agreement with Australia", Media Statement, Monday 26 February 2001;<www.nz-oz.gov.au>]

26 February 2001 At an immigration law seminar presented by the Auckland District Law Society papers were presented on recent immigration and refugee case law and the obtaining of interim orders from the High Court.  A commentary was provided by the Hon Justice AP Randerson.  Copies of the seminar papers Winning Immigration and Refugee Cases (26 February 2001) may be purchased from the Auckland District Law Society, PO Box 58, Auckland.  On Thursday 5 April 2001 the seminar will continue with presentations by the Chair of the Removal Review Authority and Residence Appeal Authority and by the Deputy Chair of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority.  The seminar will start at 4pm at the Centra Hotel.  Intending registrants should contact the Continuing Legal Education Department, Auckland District Law Society.

21 February 2001 The Minister of Immigration has confirmed the allocation of more than $560,000 into refugee resettlement support.  The announcement was made by the Minister when detailing funding allocations at the first meeting of the Refugee Sub-Group (of the Ministerial Advisory Group) which has met in Wellington.  The Refugee Sub-Group provides a sounding board for specific aspects of Government immigration policy.  The meeting covered a number of issues seeking better resettlement outcomes for refugees in New Zealand and the Minister confirmed that New Zealand is committed to good resettlement outcomes.  The resettlement funding up to June 2002 will focus on two important areas - supporting groups working with asylum seekers and orientation courses for families of refugees.  A total of $335,000 has been set aside to pilot initiatives for groups working with asylum seekers, including a $279,758 grant to the Auckland Refugee Council to provide emergency accommodation.  Funding will also be allocated to the Shakti Asian Women's Safe House, the Auckland Latin American Community in Auckland, and the Refugee and Migrant Centre.  The second part of the funding, totalling $229,000, will fund orientation courses for families of refugees.  This includes funding for the services in West Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Hamilton.  The courses range from English language to housing and community orientation.  While UNHCR resettlement refugees receive a six week orientation course at the Mangere Reception Centre, this is the first time that families of refugees will have access to orientation programmes and they will delivered in the places where they will be living.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "New support for refugee resettlement", Media Statement, Wednesday, 21 February, 2001]

17 February 2001 The Chief Executive of the New Zealand Immigration Service has issued a statement saying that the comments by the Minister of Immigration in Parliament do not form the basis of personal grievance claims brought by immigration officers following the claim by the Minister in Parliament that she had been misled by immigration officials.  It is reported that the Minister has since held a peace summit with the border and investigation unit which had been criticised over the deportation of a Filipino family last year.

[Eugenie Bingham, Minister rejects blame for grievance claims, Weekend Herald, February 17, 2001, p A7]

13 February 2001 In the Wellington District Court a resettlement refugee from Somalia has been sentenced to four months periodic detention and twelve months' supervision for attacking another Somali resettlement refugee at a sewing class.  The attack left the victim disfigured.  The Court was told that the violence was partly a reflex action developed while competing for food in refugee camps.

[NZPA, "'Refugee camp reflex' made woman attack", NZ Herald, Tuesday, February 13, 2001, p A4]

10 February 2001 The Immigration Service has made a confidential payout to a staff member over statements made to Parliament by the Minister of Immigration, Lianne Dalziel.  Ms Dalziel criticised her officials over the mistaken deportation of a Philippines family in October 2000.  Two immigration officers took legal action against the Service, claiming that they were unfairly treated when Ms Dalziel told Parliament she had been misled by her officials and that they had let the country down.  A second Auckland-based immigration officer is due to settle her personal grievance case over the same incident.

[Eugenie Bingham, "Double payout for Dalziel's immigration outburst", Weekend Herald, Saturday, February 10, 2001, front page]

9 February 2001 The Prime Minister and Minister of Immigration have announced that the Government aims to increase the annual number of skilled and business migrants approved to enter New Zealand to a total of around 27,000 a year.

[Rt Hon Helen Clark, "Govt to increase skilled migrant numbers", Media Statement, Friday 9 February 2001]

9 February 2001 The Minister of Immigration has announced that she will consider policy changes in immigration and settlement over the next few months.  She is reported as saying that areas needing to be looked at included enforcing standards for immigration consultants and enhancing refugee resettlement.

[Angela Gregory, "Dalziel studies rule changes for migrants", NZ Herald, Friday, February 9, 2001, p A6]

2 February 2001 In his judgment delivered at Auckland on 28 November 2000 in M v Refugee Status Appeals Authority, Nicholson J said that the application for review was unfounded and bereft of any merit and that it seemed to be an appropriate case in which to order the payment of costs by the plaintiff and/or his lawyers.  He invited counsel to file memoranda.  In a decision delivered on 2 February 2001 Nicholson J noted that had the Attorney-General sought a costs order in respect of the plaintiff's current lawyers then, for the reasons stated in his judgment of 28 November 2000 and applying the principles stated by the Court of Appeal in Harley v McDonald [1999] 3 NZLR 545, he would have awarded sanction costs of $4,000 against the plaintiff's current counsel and $1,000 against the plaintiff's current solicitor.  He had considered whether to make such orders even though the Attorney-General had not sought them but, so far as was aware, this was the first time that such a situation had arisen on the dismissal of a review application in respect of a decision of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority.  In the circumstances he had decided not to award sanction costs.

[M v Refugee Status Appeals Authority (High Court, Auckland, M 1101-SW00, 2 February 2001, Nicholson J)]

1 February 2001 The Minister of Immigration has announced the allocation from the Migrant Levy of more than $674,000 over eighteen months for piloting support services to help new resident migrants settle in New Zealand.  The Auckland and Manukau City Councils have been allocated $132,000 to establish a Migrant Resource Centre for the Auckland region, and to improve the co-ordination of services.  Other groups to receive funding are the Shakti Migrant Refugee Centre, Auckland and the Refugee Migrant Centre, Christchurch.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "Councils to play pivotal role in migrant services", Media Statement, Thursday, 1 February 2001]

21 January 2001 The Minister of Immigration has named the six people appointed to a newly formed immigration Ministerial Advisory Group and the four members of a Refugee sub-group.  The Group has been set up to provide additional advice to the Minister on the community's views on immigration policy and practice.  Members of the Ministerial Advisory Group are William (Bill) Milnes, Dr Ashraf Choudhary, Parthasarathy Bhagavathula (Partha Sarathy), Samuelu Sefuiva, Patrick O'Connor, Trudi McNaughton and Karen Te-O-Kahurangi Grant.  The Refugee sub-group comprises Patrick O'Connor, Heval Hylan, Abbas Mohammed El-Shiekh and Zeinab Hussein.

[Hon Lianne Dalziel, "Immigration Advisory Group Members Named", Media Statement, Sunday 21 January 2001]

9 January 2001 The New Zealand Immigration Service has placed two proposals before Cabinet aimed at regulating immigration consultants and protecting vulnerable migrants.  The first proposal (favoured by the Minister of Immigration) involves the compulsory registration of immigration consultants who would be required to meet ethical, professional and other requirements such as minimum educational qualifications.  A board would have the power to suspend or strike off anyone who behaved unethically or fraudulently.  This proposal will require legislative changes and would not be operating until 2002.  The second and less favoured option would require the migration industry to regulate or monitor its own behaviour.  The Association for Migration and Investment (which represents about 70 consultants) is keen to see a compulsory registration board as it says voluntary self-regulation is not working.  It is reported that a common practice by unethical consultants is to lodge a refugee status claim to obtain a work permit for clients who think they have applied for a residence permit.

[Libby Middlebrook, "Migrant agent clampdown", NZ Herald, Tuesday, January 9, 2001, front page]
 

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