Progress report on New Zealand’s support of refugees shows room for improvement
New Zealand’s annual refugee quota of 750 people represents a tiny fraction of the 750,000 people worldwide currently requiring resettlement.
The massive global demand for refugee resettlement and support was discussed at the 2009 Refugee Health & Wellbeing Conference in Auckland which began on Wednesday and runs until the end of the week.
Keynote speaker Richard Towle, regional representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, says the total global resettlement capacity for refugees is currently around 76,000 places – around a tenth of the current demand.
Towle says that 203,000 refugees are in situations so urgent that resettlement is needed within 2010.
Discussing the challenges that exist for refugee resettlement, beyond capacity, Towle said it was critical that resources committed to the support of refugees are kept at an adequate level even in the current tough financial times.
Towle said it was also extremely important that refugee resettlement intakes retained their integrity and were “racially blind” and purely about the protection of refugees. He said cases were beginning to emerge of countries selecting refugees based on other factors including the relative likelihood of smooth integration into the new country.
AUT University’s Professor Max Abbott, the conference chair, opened the conference with a review of New Zealand’s history in resettling refugees in the 21 years since the last major refugee conference was held in Wellington in 1988.
Professor Abbott acknowledged progress in establishing support networks and services for refugees but noted the quota for refugees had actually decreased in that time.
He also outlined major risk factors for poor refugee health and wellbeing including prolonged exposure to stress, separation from family, isolation from people of similar ethnic or cultural backgrounds, unemployment and underemployment and negative public attitudes.
“The mental health and wellbeing of refugees is not just about the experiences they have in leaving their home behind or even the terrible traumas of war and violent conflicts.
“The experience of resettling can have a major impact on mental health, and that is dependent on the support they receive in their resettlement country and whether they are given the tools they need to integrate into their new community.”
Minister of Immigration Dr Jonathan Coleman who addressed the conference noted New Zealand was one of few countries to specially allocate refugee places to “women at risk” and to a “medical/disabled” category, which allowed for refugees outside the traditional criteria for resettlement countries.
He also acknowledged the demand for family reunification but said this had to be limited to 300 spaces each year.
The conference will continue to run on AUT University’s North Shore Campus until 4.30pm on Friday afternoon. Other speakers presenting on Thursday and Friday include Dr Eileen Pittaway, Director of the Centre for Refugee Research at the University of New South Wales, and Adam Awad, who spent 17 years in refugee camps as a refugee from Somalia, went on to establish a successful career in business and now works in New Zealand building refugee communities as Executive Chair of ChangeMakers Refugee Forum.
See www.refugeeconference.aut.ac.nz for details on the keynote speakers and conference programme.
Images of Richard Towle (regional representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Dr Jonathan Coleman and Professor Max Abbott available on request from Melanie Cooper.