Amnesty International is asking the New Zealand government to create a new humanitarian visa for Pacific people impacted by climate change.

Kiribati community leader Charles Kiata said life on Kiribati was becoming extremely hard as sea levels rose and the country was hit by more severe storms, higher temperatures and drought.

“Every part of life, food, shelter, health, is being affected and what hurts the most is that our people feel trapped. They love their home, but their home is slowly disappearing,” Kiata said.

Crops are dying and fresh drinking water is becoming increasingly scarce for the island nation.

Kiata said in New Zealand, overstayers were anxious they would be sent back home.

“Deporting them back to flooded lands or places with no clean water like Kiribati is not only cruel but it also goes against our shared Pacific values.”

Amnesty International is also asking the government to stop deporting overstayers from Kiribati and Tuvalu, who would be returning to harsh conditions.

Duty of care
The organisation’s executive director, Jacqui Dillon said she wanted New Zealand to acknowledge its duty of care to Pacific communities.

“We are asking the New Zealand government to create a new humanitarian visa, specifically for those impacted by climate change and disasters. Enabling people to migrate on their terms with dignity.”

She said current Pacific visas New Zealand offered, such as the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) and the Pacific Access Category (PAC), were insufficient.

“Those pathways are in effect nothing short of a discriminatory lottery, so they don’t offer dignity, nor do they offer self-agency.”

Dillon said current visa schemes were also discriminatory because people could only migrate if they had an acceptable standard of health.

The organisation interviewed Alieta — not her real name — who has a visual impairment. She decided to remove her name from the family’s PAC application to enable her husband and six-year-old daughter to migrate to New Zealand in 2016.

It has meant Alieta has only seen her daughter once in the past 11 years.

“I would urge all of us to think about that and say, if our feet were in those shoes, would we think that that was right? I don’t think we would,” Dillon said.

Tuvalu comparison
Tuvaluan community leader Fala Haulangi, based in Aotearoa, wants the country to adopt something like the Falepili Union Treaty which the leaders of Tuvalu and Australia signed in 2023.

It creates a pathway for up to 280 Tuvalu citizens to go to Australia each year to work, live, and study.

This year over 80 percent of the population applied to move under the treaty.

Haulangi said the PAC had too many restrictions.

“PAC (Pacific Access Category Visa) still comes with conditions that are very, very strict on my people, so if [New Zealand has] the same terms and conditions that Australia has for the Falepili Treaty, to me that is really good.”

In the past, Pacific governments have been worried about the Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme causing a brain drain.

Samoa paused scheme
In 2023, Samoa paused the scheme, partially because of the loss of skilled labour, including police officers leaving to go fruit picking.

Haulangi said it’s not up to her to tell people to stay if a new and more open visa is available to Pacific people.

“Who am I to tell my people back home ‘don’t come, stay there’ because we need people back home.”

Dillon said some people will stay.

“All we’re simply saying is give people the opportunity and the dignity to have self-agency and be able to choose.”

Charles Kiata from Kiribati said a visa established now would mean there would be a slow migration of people from the Pacific and not people being forced to leave as climate refugees.

He said people from Kiribati had strengths they could be proud of and could partner with New Zealand.

“It’s a win-win for both of us; our people come to New Zealand to contribute economically and to society.”

RNZ Pacific has approached New Zealand’s Minister of Immigration Erica Stanford for comment.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The prime ministers of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have signed a new statement of partnership marking 50 years of bilateral relations between the two countries.

The document — which focuses on education, trade, security, agriculture and fisheries — was signed by Christopher Luxon and James Marape at the Beehive in Wellington last night.

It will govern the relationship between the two countries through until 2029 and replaces the last agreement signed by Marape in 2021 with then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Marking the signing, Luxon announced $1 million would be allocated in response to Papua New Guinea’s aspirations to strengthen public sector institutions.

“That funding will be able to support initiatives like strengthen cooperation between disaster preparedness institutions and also exchanging expertise in the governance of state owned enterprises in particular,” Luxon said.

In his response Marape acknowledged the long enduring relationship between the government and peoples of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

He said the new statement of partnership was an important blueprint on how the two countries would progress their relationship into the future.

“Papua New Guinea brings to the table, as far as our relationship is concerned, our close proximity to Asia. We straddle the Pacific and Southeast Asia, we have an affinity to as much as our own affinity with our relations in the Pacific,” Marape said.

“Our dual presence at APEC continues to ring [sic] home the fact that we belong to a family of nations and we work back to back on many fronts.”

Meeting Peters
Today, Marape will meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and leader of the opposition Chris Hipkins.

Later in the week, Marape is scheduled to travel to Hamilton where he will meet with the NZ Papua New Guinea Business Council and with Papua New Guinea scholarship recipients at Waikato University.

James Marape is accompanied by his spouse Rachael Marape and a ministerial delegation including Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko, Trade Minister Richard Maru, Minister for Livestock Seki Agisa and Higher Education Minister Kinoka Feo.

This is Marape’s first official visit to New Zealand following his re-election as prime minister in the last national elections in 2022.

According to the PNG government, the visit signals a growing relationship between the two countries, especially in trade and investment, cultural exchange, and the newly-added Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme that New Zealand has extended to Papua New Guineans to work in Aotearoa.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s aid for Kiribati is being reviewed after its President and Foreign Minister cancelled a meeting with him last week.

Terms of Reference for the review are still being finalised, and it remains unclear whether or not funding will be cut or projects already under way would be affected, with Peters’ office saying no decisions would be made until the review was complete.

His office said Kiribati remained part of the RSE scheme and its eligibility for the Pacific Access Category was unaffected — for now.

Peters had been due to meet with President Taneti Maamau last Tuesday and Wednesday, in what was to be the first trip by a New Zealand foreign minister to Kiribati in five years, and part of his effort to visit every Pacific country early in the government’s term.

Kiribati has been receiving increased aid from China in recent years.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Peters said he was informed about a week before the trip President Maamau would no longer be available.

“Around a week prior to our arrival in Tarawa, we were advised that the President and Foreign Minister of Kiribati, Taneti Maamau, was no longer available to receive Mr Peters and his delegation,” the statement said.

‘Especially disappointing’
“This was especially disappointing because the visit was to be the first in over five years by a New Zealand Minister to Kiribati — and was the result of a months-long effort to travel there.”

The spokesperson said the development programme was being reviewed as a result.

“New Zealand has been a long-standing partner to Kiribati. The lack of political-level contact makes it very difficult for us to agree joint priorities for our development programme, and to ensure that it is well targeted and delivers good value for money.

“That’s important for both the people of Kiribati and for the New Zealand taxpayer. For this reason, we are reviewing our development programme in Kiribati. The outcomes of that review will be announced in due course.

“Other aspects of the bilateral relationship may also be impacted.”

New Zealand spent $102 million on the development cooperation programme with Kiribati between 2021 and 2024, including on health, education, fisheries, economic development, and climate resilience.

Peters’ office said New Zealand deeply valued the contribution Recognised Seasonal Employer workers made to the country, and was committed to working alongside Pacific partners to ensure the scheme led to positive outcomes for all parties.

Committed to positive outcomes
“However, without open dialogue it is difficult to meet this commitment.”

They also said New Zealand was committed to working alongside our Pacific partners to ensure that the Pacific Access Category leads to positive outcomes for all parties, but again this would be difficult without open dialogue.

The spokesperson said the Kiribati people’s wellbeing was of paramount importance and the terms of reference would reflect this.

New Zealand stood ready “as we always have, to engage with Kiribati at a high level”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Hamilton couple convicted of exploiting Pacific migrants have had their convictions quashed after the New Zealand’s Court of Appeal ruled there had been a miscarriage of justice.

Anthony Swarbrick and Christina Kewa-Swarbrick were found guilty on nine representative charges of aiding and abetting, completion of a visa application known to be false or misleading and provision of false or misleading information, at a trial in the Hamilton District Court in February 2023.

A month later, Kewa-Swarbrick, who originally came from Papua New Guinea, was sentenced to 10 months home detention. She completed nine months of that sentence.

Swarbrick served his full eight months of home detention.

In February this year the Court of Appeal found that in Swarbrick’s case, the trial judge’s summing up of the case was “not fair and balanced” leading to a “miscarriage of justice”.

It found the trial judge “undermined the defence” and “the summing up took a key issue away from the jury.”

“Viewed overall, the Judge forcefully suggested what the jury would, and impliedly should, find by way of the elements of the offence. The Judge made the ultimate assessment that was for the jury to make. The trial was unfair to Mr Swarbrick for that reason. We conclude that this resulted in a miscarriage of justice,” the decision states.

It ordered Swarbrick’s convictions be quashed and a retrial.

Charges withdrawn
It came to the same conclusions for Kewa-Swarbrick in April, but the retrial was abandoned after the Crown withdrew the charges in May, leading to the Hamilton District Court ordering the charges against the couple be dismissed.

Immigration NZ said it withdrew the charges after deciding it was no longer in the public interest to hold a re-trial.

The couple, who have since separated, are now investigating redress options from the government for the miscarriage of justice.

“We lost everything. Our marriage, our house. I lost a huge paying job offshore that I couldn’t go back to because we were on bail,” Swarbrick told RNZ.

“It’s had a huge effect, emotionally, financially. We had to take our children out of private school.”

Swarbrick had since been unable to return to his job and now had health issues as a result of the legal battles.

Kewa-Swarbrick said the court case had “destroyed” her life.

“It’s affected my home, my marriage, my children.”

Not able to return to PNG
She had not been able to return to Papua New Guinea since the case because she had received death threats.

“My health has deteriorated.”

The couple estimated they had spent at least $90,000 on legal fees, but their reputation had been severely affected by the case and media reports, preventing them from getting new jobs.

The couple’s ventures came to the attention of Immigration NZ in 2016 and charges were laid in 2018. The trial was delayed until 2023 because of the covid-19 pandemic.

Immigration NZ alleged the couple had arranged for groups of seasonal workers from Papua New Guinea to work illegally in New Zealand for very low wages between 2013 and 2016.

The trial heard the workers were led to believe they would be travelling to New Zealand to work under the RSE scheme in full time employment, receiving an hourly rate of $15 per hour, but ended up being paid well below the minimum wage.

However, Kewa-Swarbrick and Swarbrick argued they always intended to bring the PNG nationals to New Zealand for a cultural exchange and work experience.

“They fundraised $1000 each for living costs. We funded everything else. And when they got here they just completely shut us down,” said Kewa-Swarbrick.

She said it was “a relief” to finally be exonerated.

“The compensation part is going to be the last part because it will help us rebuild our lives.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Vanuatu is leaning on Aotearoa’s medicinal cannabis production expertise in an effort to prop up its own market.

While the Melanesian nation has topped the Happy Planet Index list twice, as the happiest place in the world, it remains one of the most climate vulnerable states in the world.

Its topsy-turvy political landscape in the recent past has kept its citizens on the edge with prime ministers coming and going non-stop in 2023.

Prime Minister Charlot Salwai, who was elected as prime minister for the second time in October last year after his predecessor was voted out in a no-confidence vote, was in New Zealand for an official visit this week.

He stopped at Puro’s state-of-the-art cannabis cultivation facility in Kēkerengū on Tuesday, as part of his itinerary.

It has taken a while to kick Vanuatu’s 2018 medicinal cannabis legislation into motion, but Salwai is optimistic to get things moving for the economy.

New Zealand has a well-established medical cannabis industry with 40 companies in business since it was legalised in 2020.

Salwai said marijuana grew “easily” across Vanuatu.

‘Grows everywhere’
“[It] grows everywhere in the villages, but we don’t want to grow the wrong one, because it’s against the legislations.”

He said he found the visit to the cannabis farm “interesting”.

“They know about the benefits of this particular kind of marijuana,” he said.

“We need to invite the people who know about it, and the purpose of growing this marijuana is what is interesting to see.

“We invite them to come to Vanuatu and do a small-scale test to see and compare the quality of what we are producing here in Vanuatu, because here [New Zealand] it is seasonal while in Vanuatu it grows the whole year.

“It is good to compare the quality.”

He said Vanuatu is interested in granting medicinal cannabis production licences to those who know “the purpose of growing”.

Vanuatu PM Charlot Saiwai talks New Caledonia. Video: RNZ

Seasonal worker pits and peaks
In June, Luxon said he wanted to double — from 19,000 up to about 38,000 — the number of seasonal workers from its RSE programme participating countries, which include Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and Nauru.

There were approximately 47,800 Pacific Islanders that travelled to New Zealand or Australia for seasonal work in 2022-2023, under various labour mobility schemes, according to analysis by Australian academics Professor Paresh Narayan and Dr Bernard Njindan Iyke for 360info.

Vanuatu share of seasonal workers in New Zeeland was more than 5000 in 2022.

The Labour Commissioner Murielle Meltenoven warned at the time that the domestic labour market was concerned about “brain drain”.

Salwai has hinted at a possible internal review of Vanuatu’s seasonal worker programmes with Australia and New Zealand.

He wrapped up his tour of New Zealand with RSE workers, a focal point of discussions Luxon.

Responding to questions around whether his counterpart’s plans to double RSE numbers are realistic, he said: “We need to discuss it, not with New Zealand, but internally in Vanuatu.”

Small population
He said Vanuatu has a small population of only about 300,000 people, and doubling RSE workers to New Zealand would also affect the labour in his own country.

However, her acknowledged that the regional labour schemes were bringing in much needed remittance and assisting many families.

“[The RSE] provides access to their kids to go to school, have access to development, build new houses or doing business.

“What we [are] afraid of is what is happening even in the Pacific . . . even those who are well-educated are taking the same opportunity to look for jobs outside.”

New Zealand welcomes Vanuatu leader.     Video: RNZ

Deep sea mining
Meanwhile, Vanuatu has been a vocal advocate against deep sea mining, has legislation which allow licences to be granted for deep sea mining exploration.

Salawai said Vanuatu sits on the rim of fire and there are environmental risks under the water.

“As a country, we need to know what is under and inside our waters” as well as “opportunity on our airspace”.

“We can allow license to do [deep sea] explorations, but to operate, it is another issue,” he said, adding “we don’t get what we [are] supposed to get on our airspace”.

‘We lose all the beauties of our islands’
More than a year on from twin cyclone disaster Judy and Kevin, Vanuatu is building back but not necessarily better.

Salwai said people whose homes were destroyed have been in limbo for what feels like a lifetime.

He said something that cannot be replaced is the land.

He said waves generated by the cyclones and sea level rise have destroyed beaches across Vanuatu:

“I am afraid that we lose all the beauties of our islands, but our kids, our children for tomorrow, won’t see it.

“Maybe, we will see it in the picture, but not in reality.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz