Refugee wishes brothers could be with him

Arshak fled Ethiopia and is happy in New Zealand. Picture / Richard Robinson

Former refugee Dawit Arshak this week packed his bags in his New Lynn home for the trip of a lifetime.

He was getting ready to fly out to the United States and then the Netherlands to visit his two brothers whom he has not seen for over 20 years.

Mr Arshak fled Ethiopia where he was to be drafted into the Army against his wishes.

He has lived in New Zealand since 1988 with his wife and their two young children, but wishes more of his family could have joined him here.

"It is difficult for my wife who works and myself. I stay home and look after the kids and then I go to work when she comes home. If we'd had my mother or mother-in-law here we'd have that support."

Mr Arshak said some refugees got extra family members in while he got none, but he was happy that the Government was at least able to assist others.

"It is very important, we can't leave refugees to be isolated."

Mr Arshak, a cross-cultural worker with the Refugee and Migrant Service, said many deeply missed the relatives they left behind, and their grief affected their resettlement.

National and New Zealand First have both said they will cut back on family reunification if elected. National's immigration spokesman, Tony Ryall, said last month that 80 per cent of refugees were still on benefits after five years in New Zealand, mainly because of their poor English.

Refugees already faced significant barriers to settlement like poor education and resistance by employers to recognise their work experience and separation from family members only added to the stress, Mr Arshak said.

Another cross-cultural worker and former refugee, Abbas Ahmad, said many refugees were consumed with worry for relatives they left behind, which made it harder to get on with their lives here.

Mr Ahmad, a Kurdish refugee who escaped from Iraq, came to New Zealand with his wife and daughter after eight years in a camp in Pakistan.

Like Mr Arshak he had not had extra relatives come to New Zealand but supported the reunification policy.

"Refugees often can't settle well because of their trauma and concern for family members left behind."

Dr Munjid Umara, president of the Auckland Refuge Council, said family reunification was important from a humanitarian point of view and some waited many years for it.

RMS Refugee Resettlement national coordinator Jenni Broom said family reunification was foremost in the mind of newly arrived refugees.

"The anxiety of family members still in danger is one of the biggest impediments to successful resettlement."

Mrs Broom said support from close family members helped others become emotionally stable so they could get on with other goals like learning English and getting a job.

New Zealand takes 750 United Nations-recognised refugees each year, including 300 places for family members.

A further 300 refugees can come under the refugee family quota category, which is operated by a ballot system and drawn annually in November.

Resident refugees can further apply to bring family members under the family category, which is open to all migrants, but they have to wait three years and prove they can financially support them.

Ariane Rummery, external relations officer at the regional office in Canberra for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said family reunion was a fundamental principle of refugee protection.

The UN commission advocated that refugees who had been separated during or as a result of having to flee be reunited with their immediate family.

Only reunification of the immediate family was normally promoted by the commission - spouses, minor or dependant unmarried children, and parents of minor children, she said.