MEDIA RELEASE

FOR RELEASE AT 4am Monday 22 July, 2013

The Refugee Council of New Zealand Condemns Australian Governments Abrogation of the UN Refugee Convention

The Refugee Council of New Zealand condemns the move announced by the Rudd Australian Government to slam the door shut and abrogate the UN Refugee Convention.

“This is an extremely serious, short-sighted, and unwise move based on expedient politics that will have far-reaching consequences for a time-tested UN Convention that has protected millions of people for over 60 years and through many generations.”

The Rudd Government has now effectively unilaterally pulled out of its obligations as a  Refugee Convention signatory nation, and, in doing so, has undermined the principal means of protection for desperate people around the world seeking only a place of safety for survival.

The downstream impacts on the future refugee protection, and on developing nations such as Papua New Guinea have not been anticipated nor even considered in this most unwise move which has been driven solely by a knee jerk reaction to toxic domestic politics.   

It is extremely disappointing that Australia, which in the past had led the way as an example of humanitarian response to earlier refugee crises, is now effectively slamming shut its doors to the most vulnerable and desperate people seeking asylum. What message is this sending around the world?

If a country of migrants like Australia is no longer willing to do its part, then other developed countries which do have genuine border control issues will lose all incentive to uphold the vital protection afforded by the UN Refugee Convention.

It is also predictable that Papua New Guinea will eventually regret its tacit agreement to be persuaded to go along with this deal. 

The permanent answer to stopping the despicable people-smuggling trade is in effective collaborative law enforcement and in a genuine regional solution that involves Malaysia and Indonesia becoming UN Convention signatories.  The solution lies in advancing and upholding the Refugee Convention, not in tearing it up.

New Zealand should have no part in supporting, enabling or following the present ill-advised course of the current Australian government down the same slippery slope. As we have in the past, as during the Tampa crisis, New Zealand should hold firm to upholding the UN Refugee Convention and to the humanitarian principles which set us apart as a nation.

ENDS

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