KEY POINTS:
Information provided by people seeking refugee status can be made available to government officials considering possible extradition or prosecution for war crimes, the Supreme Court has decided.
But it says the information must be treated in strict confidence by the officials who receive it.
In a decision released yesterday, the Supreme Court has also suggested the Department of Labour, which administers the Immigration Act, consider developing a code of practice, laying out the circumstances in which information may be disclosed under the act.
The judgment was released after an appeal by the Attorney-General.
This followed a decision by the High Court that information provided by applicants for refugee status could not be made available to government officials considering possible extradition or prosecution for war crimes.
The Attorney-General appealed against that ruling to the Court of Appeal but a majority of the judges agreed with the High Court's position.
However, the Supreme Court said it had "unanimously held that the information can be made available but must be treated in strict confidence by the officials who receive it".
It said section 129T of the Immigration Act addressed the use of information provided by an applicant for refugee status and the disclosure, in limited and controlled circumstances, of that information.
The outcome of the appeal should not be seen as in any way detracting from the importance of treating in "strict confidence" any information provided in support of an application.
"It may be sensible for the Department of Labour ... to consider the development and adoption of a code of practice which could be published," the Supreme Court said.
That code could lay out the circumstances in which information might be disclosed and "could usefully remind recipients that they will commit an offence under section 129T(5) if they themselves release the information contrary to the terms of the section".
The judgments follow the case of a Rwandan asylum seeker, whose name has been suppressed, who is wanted on charges of genocide and reportedly came to New Zealand on a false passport about three years ago.
The man, referred to as "X", appealed to the Refugee Status Appeals Authority against a decision of a refugee status officer declining his application for refugee status.
The authority refused applications made to it by X for confidentiality to attach to the evidence and for an adjournment until proceedings for extradition to Rwanda or criminal proceedings in New Zealand were finalised.
X brought proceedings in the High Court seeking judicial review of the authority's decision refusing his applications.
The Supreme Court said the application for judicial review was dismissed without costs.
- NZPA
