NZ to start taking Myanmar refugees

New Zealand has started interviewing refugees from Myanmar so that 250 can come here - about a third of the total number of "quota" refugees the country handles annually.

The refugees have been referred by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"These refugees will be coming into New Zealand between now and the end of July next year," Labour Department deputy secretary Mary Anne Thompson said.

The refugees are from jungles on the border between Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) and Thailand.

They will be from a group of 500 being divided between Finland and New Zealand. Another group of 100 will be divided between Canada, England and Australia.

Ms Thompson said that as a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention and the 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees, New Zealand had agreed to take in a quota of 750 refugees a year.

"These are people who have been processed and determined as refugees offshore by the United Nations High Commissioner," she said.

"Quota refugees go through a screening process.

"Initially, the UNHCR vets them. Then, the Department of Labour carries out its own checks, which include interviews and security checks".

Once in New Zealand, quota refugees are housed for six weeks at the Mangere Accommodation Centre in Auckland.

Ms Thompson said they would be given support to make sure their integration into the community went as smoothly as possible. Later they would continue to get support from organisations such as RMS Refugee Resettlement, which was largely funded by the department and helped refugees settle in the community.

"Our experience to date with refugees from Myanmar is that they settle well in New Zealand," Ms Thompson said.

The people coming to New Zealand are expected to be from the Shan and Karen ethnic groups.

Meanwhile, about 65 singers, dancers and musicians will perform at the PumpHouse beside Takapuna's Lake Pupuke in Auckland this month to raise funds for refugees from Myanmar.

Proceeds from the event will help provide English classes and other support for refugees from the Thai border camps.

- NZPA