New Zealand gives refuge to Sri Lankan asylum seekers
January 19th, 2010 - 2:31 pm ICT by ANIWellington, Jan.19 (ANI): New Zealand’s Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman’s office has confirmed that New Zealand has agreed to give asylum to 13 of the 78 Tamils who were taken to the Indonesian port of Tanjung Pinang.
“While New Zealand was not prepared to be part of a bilateral situation and take people directly off the Oceanic Viking, following discussions at prime ministerial level, New Zealand indicated to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) that it would be prepared to consider refugees from the Oceanic Viking as part of its overall quota of 750,” a spokeswoman for the minister said.
New Zealand takes 750 refugees a year through the UNHCR process.
The refugees had refused to get off the boat, insisting they be taken to Australia, their original destination.
The month-long standoff ended only after Australia promised to resettle the refugees within four to 12 weeks.
The Age reported that sources at the Tanjung Pinang detention centre had said 13 asylum seekers would leave for the Philippines for processing tomorrow before heading to New Zealand.
Of the remaining 65 refugees, 28 would go to the United States, 13 to Canada, three to Norway and the rest to Australia.
The minister’s spokeswoman said the Government supported a multi-lateral approach to boat people smuggling. (ANI)
- New Zealand to consider taking rescued Tamil refugees - Dec 18, 2009
- Australia seeks help from Sri Lanka on flow of asylum seekers - Nov 08, 2009
- Tamil refugees challenge Oz security intelligence ruling - Oct 02, 2010
- Lankans using civil war as excuse to seek asylum: Envoy - Nov 08, 2009
- Australian Government defers processing of Sri Lankan, Afghan asylum claims - Apr 09, 2010
- Pakistan was world's 8th largest asylum-seeker in 2010 - Apr 01, 2011
- Australia intercepts boats carrying more than 300 asylum seekers - May 07, 2012
- Political furore after refugees drown on way to Australia - Nov 03, 2009
- Indonesia rescues 120 asylum seekers who refuse to disembark - Apr 10, 2012
- Hundreds of Myanmar nationals seek refugee status (With Images) - Apr 21, 2012
- NHRC seeks solution on Mayanmarese asylum seekers - May 25, 2012
- Canadian Navy boards Tamil refugee ship, some expected to be LTTE members - Aug 13, 2010
- Indonesia plans to send detained Sri Lankan asylum seekers home - Nov 16, 2009
- UNHCR says over 20,000 Bhutanese refugees resettled abroad - Sep 08, 2009
- Australia rejects five Tamils asylum claim on security grounds - Jan 13, 2010
Tags: asylum seekers, immigration minister, indonesian port, jan 19, jonathan, jonathan coleman, lateral approach, ministerial level, oceanic viking, philippines, quota, spokeswoman, sri lankan, standoff, tamils, unhcr, united nations, united nations high commissioner, united nations high commissioner for refugees, wellington