Venkat Raman
Auckland, March 28, 2023
Easier access to legal means, the ability to seek specialist support, better recognition of human rights and a new community management approach are among the changes being made by the government to manage the processing of applications by asylum seekers.
Immigration Minister Michael Wood has just announced that the government is making procedural changes to the Immigration Act made by the National government in 2013 to ensure that the amendments made in that legislation are working as intended.
Those changes were made to the Immigration Act 2009, and now Mr Wood is introducing a short Amendment Bill to ensure that the legislation does not detrimentally affect an individual.
Focus on Human Rights
“The assessment of asylum claims can take significant time. A community management approach will extend the tools available to manage asylum seekers. We continue to focus on upholding human rights and assisting in integration into New Zealand should a claim be successful. These changes will amend provisions to provide people seeking asylum a longer time to apply, thereby ensuring that they get adequate legal representation,” Mr Wood said.
He said that the current Act limits the ability of asylum seekers to gain comprehensive legal representation and jeopardises access to specialist support for highly vulnerable individuals.
Officials recommended these changes based on the experience of implementing the amendments made in 2013.
Mr Wood does not expect mass arrivals of people seeking asylum because of New Zealand’s remote geographic location but acknowledged the risk of human traffickers.
“When Parliament passed the Immigration Amendment Act in 2013, it established a definition of a ‘mass arrival group’ and allowed for group ‘warrants of commitment’ to support the management of people arriving in a mass arrival. People currently liable to detention under the Immigration Act include those who are liable for deportation or turnaround but who cannot be promptly deported. In practice, detention or management options would only be sought for people who pose some risk, for example, absconding,” he said.
The Victoria Casey Report
In her Report to the Deputy Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on May 3, 2022, Victoria Casey, a King’s Counsel (then a Queen’s Counsel) said that while very short-term detention of some arrivals who claim refugee status at the border may be justified (though the current practice of how this is done must change), the practice of long-term detention of refugee claimants in Corrections facilities is wrong at every level.
“It raises serious issues of non-compliance with New Zealand’s international and domestic human rights obligations. It is also inhumane and contrary to our society’s core values to treat such vulnerable people in this manner, and while a form of long-term detention might in extraordinary circumstances be necessary for public safety or national security, the current rate and form of detention are not justifiable on any basis,” she said.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) had commissioned Ms Casey to undertake the Review.
Mr Wood said that the government will separately address a key recommendation of the Casey report to develop a community management approach to assist in limiting the detainment of asylum seekers while their claims are processed.
“This means asylum seekers will be only detained in prisons when absolutely necessary. Community management conditions imposed by a court would be tailored to the nature of the risk posed by the individual. They could include residency conditions, curfews, the use of electronic monitoring, non-association requirements, restrictions on the use of and provision of technology and media, and attendance at cultural, therapeutic or rehabilitation programmes,” Mr Wood said.
This new community management order is intended to respond to some of the concerns raised in the Casey Report on the Restriction of Movement of Asylum claimants, in particular by providing electronic monitoring as an alternative to detention in prison. Further operational work to respond to the Report’s recommendations is also underway.
Mr Wood said that the proposed changes will be considered by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee this year and encouraged people interested to make their submission.
