Source: World Vision
This World Refugee Day (June 20) a new report calls for immigration changes to better support and protect people displaced due to disaster, conflict, and humanitarian emergencies.
World Vision New Zealand and the University of Auckland Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies have partnered on the report which urges changes to the country’s humanitarian protections and immigration settings.
It comes as the world faces an unparalleled refugee crisis in which the number of displaced people has nearly trebled since 2010 to more than 117 million people. [i]
The organisations say New Zealand and other countries need new approaches to assist and protect people for humanitarian reasons.
In the recent past, New Zealand has created special visas to support resettlement for those caught up in the war in Ukraine and regime change in Afghanistan but has not created equivalent pathways for people affected by other humanitarian emergencies such as Sudan or Iran.
World Vision’s Head of Advocacy and Justice Rebekah Armstrong says this has meant that New Zealand’s response to humanitarian emergencies has been ad hoc, inconsistent and unevenly applied.
She says New Zealand needs an Emergency Protection Framework which can be applied consistently and transparently across a range of humanitarian crises.
“Every time a crisis erupts, New Zealand has to design a response under pressure and while we’re figuring out the rules, children and families are left waiting for safety and certainty.
“We negotiate the visas, the eligibility, the support and the funding while the emergency is already unfolding. A country with New Zealand’s humanitarian record has an opportunity to prepare in advance and respond with greater clarity and compassion,” she says.
Timothy Fadgen, an affiliated scholar with the University of Auckland’s Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies, says New Zealand has the opportunity to show principled leadership in a time of growing global displacement.
“Countries like New Zealand have a responsibility to respond to conflict, disasters, and climate-related displacement with compassion and fairness, particularly in our Pacific region.
“An Emergency Protection Framework would allow New Zealand to show practical humanitarian leadership by putting fair and prepared systems in place before emergencies occur which can be applied fairly across the board,” he says.
Armstrong says in addition to being inefficient and costly, the current makeshift approach does not adequately support successful settlement.
“Children and families who have settled in New Zealand from Ukraine and Afghanistan have received different combinations of legal status, settlement support, and family reunification compared with those who arrive under the refugee quota. We need the same systems and services to apply to both groups of people,” she says.
Armstrong says an Emergency Protection Framework could be adopted as part of an amendment to the current Immigration Act 2009 and should include: pre-determined criteria for an emergency protection response, defined visa pathways, community sponsorship, and coordinated settlement systems.
Fadgen says a change is also needed to respond to the growing issue of climate-related displacement in the Pacific.
“Climate mobility is already affecting Pacific communities, and future emergencies may not fit within existing mobility pathways. We need to recognise this and have a plan in place to best manage climate-related displacement if it happens at scale,” he says.
Both World Vision and the Centre of Asia Pacific Refugee Studies hope that the country’s political parties will address New Zealand’s obligations to humanitarian protection as part of policy debates in the lead-up to the 2026 general election.
Notes:
World Vision New Zealand is a global, child-focused humanitarian organisation. We work alongside children, families, and communities to tackle the root causes of poverty and injustice, serving all people regardless of faith, ethnicity, or gender.