Call for refugee review after UN rejects Tampa asylum seekers

2.45pm

ACT leader Richard Prebble has called for a review of how New Zealand handles refugee applications after the United Nations said most of the Tampa asylum seekers had not qualified as refugees.

New Zealand granted refugee status to all but one of the 131 asylum seekers taken off the Tampa -- a Norwegian freighter.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said only a small percentage of the Afghan asylum seekers being processed on Nauru had been so far accepted as refugees.

They did not get refugee status because the Taleban government of Afghanistan that they claimed to be escaping from no longer existed.

An original 433 asylum seekers had left Indonesia for Australia but were rescued on August 26 from their sinking vessel by the Tampa.

Canberra refused to allow them entry into Australia and sent Tampa people and others to Nauru and Papua New Guinea for processing.

A total of 1118 are held in two camps on Nauru.

New Zealand accepted 131 of the asylum seekers who arrived on September 26. Within three months all but one of them had been granted refugee status and given residency here.

Mr Prebble said the UN's decision was evidence that those allowed to stay in New Zealand would not qualify if they applied today.

"The Labour Government's decision to rush through the approval process was ill-considered and motivated by short term politics."

Mr Prebble said New Zealand's approach was in contrast to the way it dealt with refugee applications after the coup in Fiji. Then applicants were given temporary permits until events unfolded. In the end none of the asylum seekers from Fiji were given refugee status, Mr Prebble said.

"The sensible thing to do was to wait before granting refugee status to the Tampa boat people. All the New Zealand Government has done is reward queue jumpers and people-smugglers.

Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel told National Radio that this country had got involved following the urgent appeals of the Australian government and the UNHCR.

"We took people that we knew had a high likelihood of being granted refugee status," she said.

"We took family groupings and unaccompanied minors. We did that deliberately, we were selective about who we took and those that we took were more likely to be granted refugee status than others. I am not surprised at this result.

"We undertook our determinations immediately and we processed the individuals within three months and that means the circumstances that prevailed at the time were the circumstances taken into account."

Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency reported that the UNHCR review of 529 people on Nauru found 63 per cent of Iraqis, and only two per cent of the Tampa Afghans, were genuine refugees -- a total of 147.

But the Afghans, mostly from the Hazara ethnic group, will be asked to provide new information on their remaining fears of persecution.

The UNHCR found that 126 of the 201 Iraqi asylum seekers detained on Nauru were genuine refugees and declared another 14 from other origins should be granted refugee status, AFP said.

Ms Dalziel said New Zealand might take some refugees currently in Nauru and a decision on that was likely in the next few weeks.

"We are looking at assisting on a regional basis. We've been very clear about that," she said.

"One of the best messages that we can send to people that have come down to the region -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand -- is that the system works and so for New Zealand to be able to offer places within the region is certainly something we are looking at the moment."

- NZPA

Feature: Immigration