A day in the life of the Cultural Cuts barbershop in Newtown, Wellington. All photos by Kent Blechynden. Syrian brothers Raed and Mohummed work at the Cultural Cuts barbershop in Wellington. They came to New Zealand from Syria as refugees three years ago with other members of their family; three of their sisters are still … Read more
In order to be a good friend we don’t owe Australia our loyalty – we owe them honesty, writes Graham Cameron. The deputy prime minister of Australia, Barnaby Joyce, is grumpy with Jacinda Ardern because she offered a place to 150 of those refugees that Australia illegally imprisoned and then abandoned on Manus Island in … Read more
New Zealand’s new government plans to create the world’s first humanitarian visa for climate refugees. If the policy goes ahead, 100 Pacific Islanders could be granted access to New Zealand on the basis that their lives are at risk from rising seas. Nina Hall writes that the commitment to tackle climate injustice should be applauded, … Read more
I was just a child when NZ took me and my family. Today, as hundreds of refugees cry out for help from Manus Island, we need to remember what we’re really about as a nation, writes Abbas Nazari. During her first foreign trip as prime minister, Jacinda Ardern on Sunday renewed New Zealand’s offer to … Read more
Mike Hosking has made another big mistake, this time on the UN’s refugee convention. Amnesty International New Zealand’s Grant Bayldon gives him a lesson in international law. In alarming misrepresentation of international law in today’s Mike’s Minute, Mike Hosking has applauded the Australian prime minister’s rejection of New Zealand’s offer to help resettle refugees from offshore … Read more
Over the weekend PM Jacinda Ardern reiterated the government’s offer to take 150 asylum seekers imprisoned on Manus Island. But we can’t stop there, writes Jessie Dennis. Now it’s time to swap compassionate words for life-saving action. The situation for refugees on Manus Island is a humanitarian crisis. The New Zealand government’s response to this … Read more
An essay about race, immigration, and KFC by Sri Lankan-born, Hutt Valley-raised novelist Brannavan Gnanalingam. On our way to New Zealand in 1986, we stopped at Singapore Airport. In this of all places, my dad bumped into his brother, whom he hadn’t seen for years. We were going to a new life in New Zealand. … Read more
The experiences of migrants and refugees are addressed in an annual summit hosted by AUT’s Immigration and Inclusion Research Group. This year a range of speakers will be tackling the workplace. “We are in a woven universe, so how do we create a weave that doesn’t fray?” This is the question at the core of … Read more
Today, as part of a week-long series chatting to Wellingtonians about what they’re up to in the windy city, Alex Casey talks to Rebecca Stewart of Pomegranate Kitchen about social enterprise and doing good in the community, one meal at a time. It’s 8am on a Friday, and it doesn’t take long to start talking … Read more
Thirty years ago next month, Armagan Sabetian arrived here as a refugee from war-torn Iran. Today, on World Refugee Day, he writes about his love and gratitude for his adopted home country. Why are secular English-speaking western democracies the destination of choice for so many immigrants from around the globe? Here’s the simple answer: they’re the … Read more
Today is World Refugee Day. This afternoon at parliament, Anglican Bishop of Wellington Justin Duckworth will represent his diocese in a call for MPs to sign a pledge supporting the doubling of our refugee quota to 1500 places. He writes about why New Zealand urgently needs to do more. In the final months of 2015 … Read more
When you crunch the numbers, the feebleness of NZ’s intake becomes shamefully clear, argues Murdoch Stephens, head of the campaign to double the quota For the first few days of Trump’s presidency, Bill English fumbled around trying to get the tone right. When Trump instituted his first Muslim ban and cuts to refugee numbers, English … Read more
An exhibition and auction about to hit the streets of downtown Auckland aims to raise awareness – and funds – for asylum seekers in desperate need, writes Keith Locke. Close to 90 artists, each with a wooden picture frame. A theme: compassion for asylum seekers. And a venue: the shop windows of downtown Auckland, on … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Sandra Clark and Francesca Emms about Together We Make a Nation, their multimedia storytelling project that shines a light on refugee women in New Zealand. Seeking to tell the stories of former refugee women who now call New Zealand home, Together We Make a Nation weaves together video, yum recipes, data … Read more
Yesterday’s horrific chemical bombing in northern Syria left up to 100 people dead, many of them children. With no end to the brutal six-year war in sight, it’s easy to despair. But don’t give up, says Murdoch Stephens – there are steps you can take right now to help those in desperate need. If you … Read more
We’re less than two weeks into the Trump presidency, and already the world feels like it’s slipping into a black hole of racism and despair. But now’s no time to give up, says Joshua Drummond. Here’s part two of our series on how you can make a positive difference, right here in Aotearoa. Previously: Okay … Read more
President Trump reportedly called his fiery conversation with Malcolm Turnbull “the worst call so far” and later tweeted he would “study this dumb deal” to allow into the United States 1250 refugees currently being held in Australian detention centres. To help out student of international diplomacy Donald Trump – and the rest of us – Tracey … Read more
We need not just to boldly condemn the current US approach, but to act, by doubling in our refugee quota, argues Hon Peter Dunne. One of the more famous observations of the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, is that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. It is a point that the … Read more
We need to stand alongside Muslim New Zealanders in the wake of the US visa ban – and tell our decision makers in no uncertain terms that we will not allow the politics of hatred and bigotry to become normalised here, writes race relations commissioner Susan Devoy. Wellington’s very first UN Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in … Read more
The US President’s executive order banning all immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries has drawn global condemnation. Now, more than ever, it’s time for New Zealand to step up and do what’s right for refugees, writes Murdoch Stephens. When President Donald Trump banned a tweet from a government department that mentioned carbon dioxide, hinting at … Read more
Having reached safety in New Zealand, refugees desperate to help relatives still trapped at home are being prevented from doing so by overly strict local banking regulations. Not only are the rules morally wrong – they’re exacerbating the refugee crisis itself, says Steve Liddle. For the past nine months I’ve been working with a group … Read more
I have heard firsthand stories of the atrocities Syrians have witnessed, writes Jay Adams. Duff’s appalling comments are an insult to New Zealanders’ tradition of trying to make a difference in the world. We no longer grow up in a time when we’re only exposed to problems that affect our immediate community. Instead we all … Read more
On the world stage at the UN, the prime minister attempted to appear the global statesman. But following Obama’s pledge on resettlement, Key produced a series of clangers, argues Murdoch Stephens of the Doing Our Bit campaign. At the weekend both The Nation and Q+A interviewed John Key in New York, fresh from his address … Read more
Charity may start at home, but it shouldn’t stop there, writes Amnesty International’s Grant Bayldon I spent a recent chilly Thursday night sleeping in the car with my son at Mangere Town Centre. It was the Park Up For Homes event, raising awareness of local homelessness. I can’t pretend it was a great hardship for … Read more
Opinion: Murdoch Stephens of Doing Our Bit unpicks the announcement of a modest increase in NZ’s refugee intake, and the immigration minister’s suggestion that campaigners ‘care a little less’ about new arrivals’ resettlement There is a familiar arc that is meant to be respected when responding to disappointing news from a disappointing government: cautiously challenge … Read more
On the second anniversary of her migration to the Lucky Country, Di White is moved to tears by Chasing Asylum, an acclaimed new film about Australian refugee policy. It’s been two years since I moved to Australia. I arrived on a plane on 4 June 2014. I remember the day well. I was moving between … Read more
New Zealanders need to stand up for refugees today, just as we did in the past, writes Dame Susan Devoy Seventy-two years ago our Prime Minister and our country took in more than 700 child refugees when no one else would help. They had survived the Third Reich, endured life in Russian work camps and … Read more
Hundreds of refugees remain stranded in Nauru, some in one of Australia’s controversial detention camps, others now in the community. 28 refugees on Nauru have appealed to New Zealand, seeking resettlement under a 2013 deal with Australia. One of the Nauru refugees details conditions in the camp and on the island, and why they wish … Read more
