United States immigration and deportation enforcement continues to ramp up, impacting on Marshallese and Micronesians in new and unprecedented ways.

The Trump administration’s directive to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and deport massive numbers of potentially illegal aliens, including those with convictions from decades past, is seeing Marshallese and Micronesians swept up by ICE.

The latest unprecedented development is Marshallese and Micronesians being removed from the United States to the offshore detention facility at the US Navy base in Guantánamo Bay — a facility set up to jail terrorists suspected of involvement in the 9/11 airplane attacks in the US in 2001.

Marshall Islands Ambassador to the US Charles Paul this week confirmed a media report that one Marshallese was currently incarcerated at Guantánamo, which is also known as “GTMO”.

The same report from nationnews.com said 72 detainees from 26 countries had been sent to GTMO last week, including from the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

A statement issued by the US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE operations, concerning detention of foreigners with criminal records at GTMO said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was using “every tool available to get criminal illegal aliens off our streets and out of our country.”

But the action was criticised by a Marshallese advocate for citizens from the Compact countries in the US.

‘Legal, ethical concerns’
“As a Compact of Free Association (COFA) advocate and ordinary indigenous citizen of the Marshallese Islands, I strongly condemn the detention of COFA migrants — including citizens from the Republic of the Marshall Islands — at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay,” Benson Gideon said in a social media post this week.

“This action raises urgent legal, constitutional, and ethical concerns that must be addressed without delay.”

Since seeing the news about detention of a Marshallese in this US facility used to hold suspected terrorists, Ambassador Paul said he had “been in touch with ICE to repatriate one Marshallese being detained.”

Paul said he was “awaiting all the documents pertaining to the criminal charges, but we were informed that the individual has several felony and misdemeanor convictions. We are working closely with ICE to expedite this process.”

Gideon said bluntly the detention of the Marshallese was a breach of Compact treaty obligations.

“The COFA agreement guarantees fair treatment. Military detention undermines this commitment,” he said.

Gideon listed the strong Marshallese links with the US — service in high numbers in the US military, hosting of the Kwajalein missile range, US military control of Marshall Islands ocean and air space — as examples of Marshallese contributions to the US.

‘Treated as criminals’
“Despite these sacrifices, our people are being treated as criminals and confined in a facility historically associated with terrorism suspects,” he said.

“I call on the US Embassy in Majuro to publicly address this injustice and work with federal agencies to ensure COFA Marshallese residents are treated with dignity and fairness.

“If we are good enough to host your missile ranges, fight in your military, and support your defence strategy, then we are good enough to be protected — not punished. Let justice, transparency, and respect prevail.”

There were 72 immigration detainees at Guantánamo Bay, 58 of them classified as high-risk and 14 in the low-risk category, reported nationnews.com.

The report added that the criminal records of the detainees include convictions for homicide; sexual offences, including against children; child pornography; assault with a weapon; kidnapping; drug smuggling; and robbery.

Civil rights advocates have called the detention of immigration detainees at Guantanamo Bay punitive and unlawful, arguing in an active lawsuit that federal law does not allow the government to hold those awaiting deportation outside of US territory.

In other US immigration and deportation developments:

• The delivery last month by US military aircraft of 18 Marshallese deported from the US and escorted by armed ICE agents is another example of the ramped-up deportation focus of the Trump administration. Since the early 2000s more than 300 Marshall Islanders have been deported from the US. Prior to the Trump administration, past deportations were managed by US Marshals escorting deportees individually on commercial flights.
• According to Marshall Islands authorities, there have not been any deportations since the June 10 military flight to Majuro, suggesting that group deportations may be the way the Trump administration handles further deportations.
• Individual travellers flying into Honolulu whose passports note place of birth as Kiribati are reportedly now being refused entry. This reportedly happened to a Marshallese passport holder late last month who had previously travel
• led in and out of the US without issue.

Most Marshallese passport holders enjoy visa-free travel to the US, though there are different levels of access to the US based on if citizenship was gained through naturalisation or a passport sales programme in the 1980s and 1990s.

US Ambassador to the Marshall Islands Laura Stone said, however, that “the visa-free travel rules have not changed.”

She said she could not speak to any individual traveller’s situation without adequate information to evaluate the situation.

She pointed out that citizenship “acquired through naturalisation, marriage, investment, adoption” have different rules. Stone urged all travellers to examine the rules carefully and determine their eligibility for visa-free travel.

“If they have a question, we would be happy to answer their enquiry at ConsMajuro@state.gov,” she added.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Opposition National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis was among three political leaders who made a surprising commitment at a debate last night to build 1000 state houses in Auckland each year.

Labour Party leader and caretaker prime minister Chris Hipkins and Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson also agreed to do so, with resounding “yes” responses to the direct question from co-convenors Sister Margaret Martin of the Sisters of Mercy Wiri and Nik Naidu of the Whānau Community Centre and Hub.

All three political leaders also pledged to have quarterly consultations with a new community alliance formed to address Auckland’s housing and homeless crisis and other social issues.

The “non-political partisan” public rally at the Lesieli Tonga Auditorium in Favona — which included more than 500 attendees representing 45 community and social issues groups — was hosted by the new alliance Te Ohu Whakawhanaunga.

Filipina lawyer and co-chair of the meeting Nina Santos, of the YWCA, declared: “If we don’t have a seat at the table, it’s because we’re on the menu.”

Later, in an interview with RNZ Morning Report today, Santos said: “It was so great to see [the launch of Te Ohu] after four years in the making”.

‘People power’
“It was so good to see our allies, our villages and our communities — our 45 organisations — show up last night to demonstrate people power

“Te Ohu Whakawhanaunga is a broad-based alliance, the first of its kind in Tāmaki Makauarau. The members include Māori groups, women’s groups, unions and faith-based organisations.

“They have all came together to address issues that the city is facing — housing is a basic human right.”

She chaired the evening with Father Henry Rogo from Fiji, of the Diocese of Polynesia in NZ.

Speakers telling heart-rending stories included Dinah Timu, of E Tū union, about “decent work”, and Tayyaba Khan, Darwit Arshak and Eugene Velasco, who relating their experiences as migrants, former refugees and asylum seekers.

The crowd was also treated to performances by Burundian drummers, Colombian dancers and Te Whānau O Pātiki Kapahaka at Te Kura O Pātiki Rosebank School, all members of the new Te Ohu collective.

Writing in The New Zealand Herald today, journalist Simon Wilson reported:

“Hipkins told the crowd of about 500 . . . that he grew up in a state house built by the Labour government in the 1950s. ‘And I’m very proud that we are building more state houses today than at any time since the 1950s,’ he said.

“’Labour has exceeded the 1000 commitment. We’ve built 12,000 social house units since 2017, and 7000 of them have been in Tāmaki Makaurau. But there is more work to be done.’

“He reminded the audience that the last National government had sold state houses, not built them.

“Davidson said that housing was ‘a human right and a core public good’. The Greens’ commitment was greater than that of the other parties: it wanted to build 35,000 more public houses in the next five years, and resource the construction sector and the government’s state housing provider Kāinga Ora to get it done.

“’We will also put a cap on rent increases and introduce a minimum income guarantee, to lift people out of poverty.’

“Willis told the audience there were 2468 people on the state house waiting list in Auckland when Labour took office in 2017, and now there are 8175.

“’Here’s the thing. If you don’t like the result you’re getting, you don’t keep doing the same thing. We don’t think social housing should just be provided by Kāinga Ora. We want the Salvation Army, and Habitat for Humanity and other community housing providers to be much more involved.’

“Members of that sector were at the meeting and one confirmed the community housing sector is already building a substantial proportion of new social housing.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand’s largest ever crowd in support of migrant rights gathered in Auckland’s Aotea Square at the weekend in triple protests that also marked solidarity for Palestinian justice and the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, China.

More than 1500 people filled the square on Saturday proclaiming “migrant lives matter” with speakers calling on them to stand up for their rights.

New Zealand governments over the past few years were accused of cynically exploiting migrant workers and that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s “nation of 5 million people” excluded about 300,000 migrants.

The protesters then marched down Queen Street calling for changes to the “broken” immigration policies.

Among demands were:

• Visas to be extended to allow for workers who had been trapped overseas, and
• Creation of “genuine pathways” to permanent residence.

Unite union national director Michael Treen said successive governments had built the economy on the back of migrants and then consistently “lied” to them about their prospects.

President of the Migrant Workers Association Anu Kaloti said migrants were suffering at the hands of the “broken immigration system”.

Before the march, Palestinian community leader Maher Nazza declared to the crowd “No one is free until we are all free”, saying that the world community must pressure Israel into honouring the United Nations resolutions and restore justice and hope for Palestinians.

A smaller crowd of Chinese dissidents marked the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, with more than 10,000 deaths, according to a BBC report.

One speaker said: “If I said the truth [about the Chinese Communist Party] as I am saying here today in China, somebody would come within minutes and take me away.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom (AJF) has called on the Malaysian government to desist its current investigation of Al Jazeera English as the current methods of investigation are an attack on free, independent journalism.

If the Malaysian government takes issue with Al Jazeera’s work – or any reporting – there were appropriate complaint mechanisms within a democracy to pursue this, the AJF said in a statement.

The government could complain to the network itself, demand a right of reply, publicly criticise (as had already been done) or go through domestic complaints processes.

READ MORE: Malaysian police raid Al Jazeera’s office, seize computers

To regard this report as an act of sedition or criminal defamation, however, without providing any supporting evidence, and to then send the police in to the AJE offices, was a misguided attack on Malaysia’s democracy, said the statement.

“Investigating the report as an act of sedition is absurd. As far as we can see there was and has been no attempt by these journalists to overthrow the government,” said Professor Peter Greste, AJF spokesperson and director.

“Most viewers saw a report that turned out to be critical of government policy. In a democracy, this can be the outcome of a free press.

“It is in the best interests of the entire region to maintain support of institutions fundamental to democracy. A free and independent media is one of these key institutions.

Journalism in public interest
“We see this mistake time and time again. There is a marked difference between acts of sedition and journalistic work in the public interest and that may be critical of government policy. To conflate them is simply dangerous.”

The Auckland-based Pacific Media Centre also condemned the latest raid on Al Jazeera’s Malaysian office, saying it was “unacceptable harassment and a violation of media freedom”.

Malaysian police raided Al Jazeera’s Kuala Lumpur office on Tuesday and seized two computers, the news network said, describing the incident as a “troubling escalation” in the government’s crackdown on press freedoms.

The raid came after authorities in Malaysia announced they were investigating Al Jazeera for sedition, defamation and violation of the country’s Communications and Multimedia Act.

The probe relates to a 101 East programme that aired on July 3 and examined the Malaysian government’s treatment of undocumented migrant workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Giles Trendle, managing director of Al Jazeera English, said the network was “gravely concerned” by the raid and called on the Malaysian government to cease its criminal investigation against the network’s journalists immediately.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Unite Union national director Mike Treen has welcomed the changes made by the New Zealand government in a $50 million reform package to combat migrant worker exploitation.

“It will make it easiest for individual workers to access the support they need to make complaints, get support and change employers if necessary,” Treen said today.

New Zealand had created a system that “creates exploitation again and again” over the years.

READ MORE: New visa will give more protection to migrant workers in NZ

That system had used the “desire of residency” to:

• Bring students and workers to New Zealand and charge them tens of thousands of dollars in fees to subsidise private and public education;
• Allow employers to tie the work visas they get to individual employers so it was im[possible to complain about treatment without risking their chance to get residency; and
• Change the rules on who qualifies for permanent residence after they have come to New Zealand so that they will never qualify and all they can do is keep renewing their visas for as long as possible.

‘De facto New Zealanders’
“These are de facto New Zealanders who have made New Zealand their home for a decade or more. Many have children born here who know no other life,” Treen said.

“They also obviously have jobs that in any reasonable world would be considered “essential workers.

“They are working in health care, on our farms, in our schools. They continue to fill critical roles in our society.

“Employers want these workers to stay.

“Now many of these workers are classified as ‘ordinarily resident’ New Zealanders by the outgoing Minister of Immigration Iain lees-Galloway.”

They were the next category to be allowed back into New Zealand after New Zealand citizens who wanted to return were allowed back.

“In my view, these ‘ordinarily resident’ New Zealanders would have been allowed to become citizens in any fair immigration system and not exploited by the system in the way they have. They deserve to be treated the same as any other citizen,” Treen said.

“Every migrant worker who is currently an ‘ordinarily resident’ New Zealander should be fast-tracked to residency and taken off any visa that ties them to a particular employer.

“The ‘system’ of migrant exploitation and indentured servitude has to be abolished.

“New Zealand will not be able to bring in temporary workers or students in significant numbers for at least four or five years while this pandemic circles the globe.

“We have a chance to get rid of a system that depends on a permanent presence of hundreds of thousands of ‘temporary’ visa holders with no hope of transitioning to residency once and for all.

“This is a chance in a generation to do the right thing to those who have been so cruelly exploited and abused by the state who created this pool of labour in a desperate and vulnerable situation able to taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By RNZ News

An immigration consultant is warning an entrenched underclass of unlawful workers will emerge unless the government provides emergency benefits to unemployed immigrants.

About one in ten of the workforce is an overseas worker on a temporary visa.

The Ministry of Social Development has previously signalled that those who have lost their jobs should approach their embassies for help.

READ MORE: Al Jazeera coronavirus live updates – South Korea reports no new domestic cases

But immigration adviser Alain Koetsier said that was not a realistic option for many nationalities, who would be driven into bad situations.

He called on the Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni to implement a section of the Social Security Act, enacted for epidemic situations, to allow emergency welfare payments to immigrants.

“If they run out of money, then they effectively have very little recourse other than potentially turning to the unlawful job market, and working under the table,” he said.

“If they do that, not only do they expose themselves to slave-like work conditions, but they drive down wages for New Zealand workers, and New Zealand businesses can expect to be undercut by competitors who use cheap or free migrant labour, so it has very negative consequences for the entire New Zealand economy.

Facing extreme poverty
“Hardworking and taxpaying migrant workers will face the worst consequences – if they refuse to work unlawfully, they face extreme poverty, if they choose to breach their visa conditions out of desperation, they face deportation or exploitation.”

Many immigrants had no way of going home because borders were closed or no flights were available, he said.

“These workers may remain unlawfully employed for many years, fearful of approaching authorities lest they be punished. We could see a large underclass of illegal workers become entrenched in the New Zealand economy in the long term.

“The government will not receive any tax from the illegal labour but will need to spend more to fix the problems that result. The economic recovery from Covid-19 will be much harder in such a situation.”

Immigrants needed help after paying taxes and establishing a life in New Zealand, he said.

“There is a strong humanitarian component as well, that these migrants many of them have poured a lot of money, life savings into the New Zealand economy, and that they now need our help,” he added.

“I think that all these taxpaying migrants who have contributed so much to our country also deserve a helping hand at this time of crisis.”

INZ directs workers to embassies
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) continues to advise expats, who are not currently employed, and are experiencing financial difficulty during the pandemic to talk to their embassy or consulate for assistance.

“The government has agreed to relax visa conditions for a short period to allow temporary migrant workers and international students to further assist with our essential services during the Covid-19 response,” an INZ spokesperson said.

“Work visa holders with employer-specific work visas already employed in essential services will be able to vary their hours and be redeployed to do other roles within their current workplace.

“They can also perform their current role in a different workplace in the same region to help essential businesses keep operating while New Zealand remains at alert level 3 and for six weeks after that.

They said the government was also looking at a range of other options for temporary work visa holders and would make decisions as soon as possible.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The “problem” Michael de Adder cartoon … too close to the truth?

By CAFE PACIFIC
CANADA’S “most read” cartoonist has been “let go” from all newspapers in New Brunswick, apparently over a Trump and migrants cartoon that went viral.

“I’m a proud New Brunswicker. I’ll miss drawing cartoons for my home province,” cartoonist Michael de Adder was quoted by The Daily Cartoonist as saying.

The above cartoon was the one that apparently caused the fuss.

“The highs and lows of cartooning. Today I was just let go from all newspapers in New Brunswick.”

Michael de Adder was born, raised, and educated in New Brunswick province and was a regular presence in its newspapers.

Brunswick News Inc., which owns the Saint John Telegraph-Journal, the Moncton Times & Transcript, and the Fredericton Daily Gleaner, has now disassociated itself from de Adder.

De Adder told The Daily Cartoonist: “What’s crazier, a cartoonist getting fired from a newspaper for a cartoon he didn’t draw [@chappatte] or a cartoonist being fired from a newspaper for a cartoon they didn’t run?

“Technically I wasn’t fired. I was under contract not employed,” he added.

But he isn’t too fazed – “it’s a setback not a deathblow”. He has a new book coming out with a collection of his cartoons, You Might Be From New Brunswick If …

Trump ‘taboo’
His 2016 book Drawing Conclusions: The political art of Michael de Adder, was also popular.

According to Wikipedia, de Adder “draws approximately 10 cartoons weekly and, at over a million readers per day, he is considered the most read cartoonist in Canada.”

Wes Tyrell, president of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists, said in a statement:

“Cartoonist Michael de Adder was let go from his job drawing editorial cartoons for all the major New Brunswick newspapers 24 hours after his Donald Trump cartoon went viral on social media, a job he held for 17 years.

“Although he has stated there was no reason given for his firing, the timing was no coincidence.

“Michael told me once that not only were the J.D. Irving owned New Brunswick newspapers challenging to work for, but there were a series of taboo subjects he could not touch. One of these taboo subjects was Donald Trump.”

This article was first published on Café Pacific.

]]> https://eveningreport.nz/2019/03/19/christchurch-terror-attaches-new-zealands-darkest-hour-friday-15th-2019/ https://eveningreport.nz/2019/03/19/christchurch-terror-attaches-new-zealands-darkest-hour-friday-15th-2019/#respond Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:11:20 +0000 https://eveningreport.nz/?p=21348 by Selwyn Manning

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was written for, and first published by, German magazine Cicero.de (ref. Attentat in Christchurch – Willkommen in der Hölle). Thanks also to Prof David Robie, Pacific Media Centre AsiaPacificReport.nz for providing the featured image for this article.

 

OUT OF THE BLUE:

It was 1:39pm, Friday March 15. As was usual for a Friday hundreds of people had turned up to pray at the Al Noor Mosque in Riccarton, Christchurch. All was peaceful, women, children, men, people of all ages young and old, both Sunni and Shia, were in contemplative repose free of worry. It was a mild, late summer, 20 degrees celsius day. Earlier, the touring Bangladesh Cricket Team had briefly visited the mosque, but left early to attend a press conference. By 1:39pm, they had returned and were outside exiting a bus, intending to continue with their prayers inside the mosque.

At 1:40pm, ahead of the team, a man entered the mosque walking quickly up the front steps. He was carrying an assault rifle and dressed in combat uniform. He immediately began shooting people who were kneeling in prayer. The shots rang out and the Bangladesh team members realising they were witnesses to an attack, retreated, and fled on foot to nearby Hagley Park.

Back inside the Al Noor Mosque scores of worshipers were being gunned down, some killed instantly, others bleeding to death. The victims included little Mucaad Ibrahim who was three years of age.

Mucaad was known by his loved ones as a wise “old soul” and possessed an “intelligence beyond his years”.

Eye witnesses said that once the killer began shooting people, little Mucaad became separated from his family. In the chaos, his family could not find him. The next day Police confirmed he too had been shot dead by the killer.

The murders continued at the Al Noor Mosque until the killer’s firearms ran out of bullets. Then, he simply walked out of the mosque, got in his car, and drove six kilometres to the Linwood Mosque. There too were people who had gathered for their regular Friday afternoon prayers.

Mr Aziz picked up an EFTPOS (electronic funds transaction) machine from a table inside the mosque. He ran outside. He saw a man he describes as looking like a soldier. He said to the man: “Who are you”. Mr Aziz then saw three people lying on the ground dead from shotgun blasts. He realised the man was the killer. He approached the attacker, threw the EFTPOS machine hitting the killer, who in turn took from his vehicle a second firearm (a military style semi-automatic assault rifle) and fired four to five shots at Abdul Aziz, missing him. Then, in an attempt to lure the killer away from other people, Mr Aziz shouted at the killer from behind a car: “Come, I’m here. Come I’m here!”

Mr Aziz said he didn’t want the killer to go inside the mosque and kill more people. But the killer remained focussed. He walked directly to the entrance, once inside the mosque he continued his killing spree. Survivors speak of the killer wearing “army clothes”, dressed in “SWAT combat clothing”, helmeted, wearing a vest and a balaclava.

Inside the Linwood Mosque, another witness, Shoaib Gani, was kneeling in prayer. He heard a noise like fireworks but he and others weren’t too concerned and continued with their prayers. Then, as he and his fellow worshipers were kneeling speaking verses from the Koran, the man next to him fell forward with blood pouring from his head. He had been shot and killed instantly, Mr Gani said. Then others too began falling to the floor dead.

Mr Gani crawled under a table. He saw the killer and his firearm. “Written on the rifle were the words, ‘Welcome to hell’,” he said.

Victims, who were wounded and bleeding, were pleading with Mr Gani to help them. But he was frozen to a spot under a table knowing that the killer was walking around the mosque killing as many people as he could. Mr Gani believed he too would also soon be dead, so he reached for his cellphone, he called his parent’s back home in India. But no one answered. He tried to call his father’s number, but the phone kept ringing. He saw people around him bleeding to death. Others with fatal head-wounds “their brains were hanging out. I just couldn’t do anything. I didn’t know what to do.” Mr Gani phoned 111 (the New Zealand emergency number) and told the authorities people were dead and injured: “The lady on the phone asked me to stay on the line as long as I could.”

Outside, Abdul Aziz picked up one of the killer’s discarded shotguns. Inside the mosque, the killer’s assault rifle ran out of bullets. The killer then “dropped his firearm” and ran back to his vehicle. He got in the driver’s seat. Mr Aziz then ran toward the car. He threw a discarded shotgun at the killer’s vehicle: “I threw it like an arrow. It shattered his window.” Mr Aziz thinks the killer thought someone had shot at him with a loaded gun. The killer turned. He swore at Mr Aziz. When the window burst it covered the inside of the car with glass. Mr Aziz said the killer “then took off” driving in his car. He then turn right away from the mosque driving through a red traffic light and out into Christchurch suburban streets.

Some minutes later, Police and ambulance officers arrived at Linwood Mosque. Anti-Terrorist armed Police entered the mosque. Inside, Mr Gani said the survivors were ordered to put their hands up above their heads. The mass murder scene was covered in blood. The Police then secured the area. Some victims survived because they were under the bodies of the dead. Police told survivors to gather near a grassed area outside. There, people began weeping for their husbands, wives, parents, children, friends.

THE ARREST:

 

Seventeen minutes later, two Police officers identified the killer, apparently driving his car. They drove the police car into the killer’s vehicle, ramming it against a curb. Immediately, they disarmed the killer, cuffed him, noticed home made bombs in the vehicle – IEDs (improvised explosive devices). They arrested the man and secured the scene.

The rest of Christchurch was in lock-down, children were kept safe inside their classrooms, hospitals began to prepare for casualties, the city’s streets became eerily quiet, people were locked in to libraries, shops, their homes. Police and armed forces helicopters networked the skies. No one knew if the terrorist attacks were committed by a group of people or a lone gunman.

But back inside and entrances to the two mosques, 50 people were dead – one of the dead was discovered the next day by Police, the body was laying beneath others who had been killed. Scores of others were in hospital fighting for their lives, at least another ten were in a critical condition in intensive care. Pathologists from all over New Zealand and Australia were heading to Christchurch to help with documenting the method of murder of the dead.

Within hours of the killings, Australian media named the alleged killer as an Australian born citizen named Brenton Tarrant, 28 years of age. On Saturday morning The Australian newspaper’s front page read “Australia’s evil export”.

Other media in New Zealand followed with details of the man’s background. Brenton Harrison Tarrant appeared in court the next day charged with one single count of murder. Other charges will follow. His duty lawyer did not seek name suppression nor bail, the lawyer told the judge: “I’m simply seeking remand and a high court next-available-hearing date.” Tarrant stood cuffed, smiling at those in the courtroom, at one point signaling with his fingers a ‘white supremacist’ sign. He will next appear in the Christchurch High Court on April 5.

THE AFTERMATH:

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern later told media: “It was absolutely his [the offender’s) intention to continue with his attack.” PM Ardern said: “Police are working to build a picture of this tragic event. A complex and comprehensive investigation is (now) underway.” To balance the requirement of investigation with the customs of Muslim burials, PM Ardern said liaison officers are with the victims’ loved ones to help “in a way that is consistent with Muslim faith while taking into account these unprecedented circumstances and the obligations to the coroner.”

PM Ardern said, survivors of the massacre had indicated that this attack was not “of the New Zealand that they know”.

One day later, Survivor Shoaib Gani (mentioned above) told media he still could not sleep or eat. The sounds and sights were still vivid in his head: “I still can feel myself lying on the floor waiting for the bullets to hit me.” He said, he will travel back to India to visit family, but he will return to Christchurch: “It’s just a few people, you know. You can’t blame the whole of New Zealand for this… It’s a good country, people are peaceful. Everybody has helped me here. One right wing (person) doesn’t mean everyone is bad. So I can come back here and live and hope nothing like this happens in the future.”

In the hours after the attacks, all around New Zealand, in the cities and in small country areas, Police were stationed and were ready in case others were involved and were preparing further crimes.

Beside the Police officers, people, of all races and religions, began laying flowers at the steps to their local mosques. Messages included read: “Salam Alaikum, Peace be unto you”, and, Aroha nui”, “Peace and love”, “You are one of us”. The outpouring of grief swept the South Pacific nation, and as this piece was written, a mood of support, comfort, reassurance and solidarity with those of Muslim faith was in evidence.

In Australia, Sydney’s landmark Opera House was like a beacon in the night; coloured blue, red, and white – the colours of the New Zealand flag embossed with the silver fern (Ponga) an emblem of Aotearoa New Zealand. Australia’s peoples, like in New Zealand, began laying flowers at the steps of its mosques in a gesture of inclusiveness.

In the aftermath, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has committed to ongoing financial assistance to dependents of those who have died or are injured, and assistance, she said, will be ongoing.

Questions are being leveled as to how a person with hate can enter, live, and purchase weapons in New Zealand while expressing hate toward other cultures and harbouring an intent to kill others.

PM Ardern said: “The guns used in this case appear to have been modified. That is a challenge Police have been facing, and that is a challenge that we will look to address in changing our laws… We need to include the fact that modification of guns which can lead them to become essentially the kinds of weapons we have seen used in this terrorist act.”

When asked how she was coping personally with the tragedy, she said: “I am feeling the exact same emotions that every New Zealander is facing. Yes, I have the additional responsibility and weight of expressing the grief of all New Zealanders and I certainly feel that.”

That responsibility includes ensuring New Zealand’s Police, the nation’s intelligence and security services and “the process around watch-lists, including whether or not our border protections are currently in a status that they should be, and, including our gun laws.”

THE BACKSTORY:

Indeed, New Zealand is part of the so-called ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence network that includes the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Global surveillance is coordinated and prioritised among the Five Eyes member states. While significant resource, technology and sophistication is committed to the Five Eyes intelligence agencies, New Zealanders fear that those who find themselves as targets, or within the scope of intelligence officers, are predominantly of the Muslim faith.

In contrast, the accused killer who allegedly committed the horrific Christchurch mosque attacks, has been active both on social media and the dark web expressing, with an intensifying degree, his ideology of hate and intolerance. It does appear of the highest public interest, certainly from an open source intelligence point of view, to ask questions of why New Zealand’s (and indeed the Five Eyes intelligence network’s) surveillance experts did not detect the expressed evil that had radicalised the heart and mind of the perpetrator of this massacre.

It is also fact, that New Zealand is a comparatively safe and peaceful nation. But within its midst are people and groups fermenting on racially-based hate ideas. Whether it be in isolation or among organised groupings, the threat of racially driven terror crimes exists.

The alleged killer, Brenton Tarrant, has lived among those of New Zealand’s southern city Dunedin for at least two years. It appears he was radicalised around 2010 after his father died and he toured Europe. He wrote about becoming “increasingly disgusted” at immigrant communities. In early 2018, Tarrant joined a Dunedin gun club and began practicing his shooting skills and allegedly planned his attacks.

Regarding Christchurch, while it has a history of overt white racist gangs, at this juncture, it does not appear they were directly involved in this series of crimes.

But this leads to many unanswered questions, including:

• Was the killer a lone mass murderer, a sleeper in a cell of one?
• Were those with whom he communicated and engaged with on the web in extreme white racist ideologies aware of his plans?
• Was Christchurch chosen by the killer for logistical reasons?
• Was it because the city is easier to drive around than Dunedin, Wellington or Auckland?
• Was it because Christchurch has at least two mosques within easy driving distance?
• Were the Bangladesh Cricket team in his scope of attacks?
• Was the killer attempting to incite a violent response from Christchurch’s burgeoning Muslim community, or, expecting a response from the Alt-Right, from white racist groups such as the Right Wing Resistance (RWR), the Fourth Reich, and Christchurch’s skinhead community?

 

THE FUTURE:

Survivors of Friday 15th’s terrorist attack say they have complained of an increase in racism and expressed hate in recent times. They say, their concerns have not been taken seriously. These are the concerns that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has committed to listen to, has committed to represent, and, as the prime advocate for her country’s peoples, to act on to ensure cracks in New Zealand’s border, security and intelligence apparatus are corrected.

And, what of New Zealand’s social culture? How will it be affected? That will be determined by the actions of each individual person, each community, town and city and how as a nation New Zealand redefines “The Kiwi Way”.

Members of New Zealand’s media will also need to act responsibly. It is fair to say some have a reputation for argument that verges on alt-right intolerance, for example, on Twitter only two days after the mass murders, a prominent radio journalist, who is employed by one of New Zealand’s largest networks, tweeted: “28 years on an [sic] we still haven’t stopped madmen getting guns. #ChChMosque… [Replying to @Politikwebsite] And the neo nationalist right are the result of the virtue signaling exclusionary left.”

Perhaps such examples are out of step with New Zealand’s population. But such attitudes do create a dialogue of justification for those who harbour intolerance. However, if the outpouring of love and compassion continues to bind rather than divide, then perhaps New Zealand has received, as they say, ‘a wake-up call’, where racial intolerance and extreme ideologies have no place among peoples of all kinds, Maori and Pakeha, of all religions, political persuasions and creeds.

 

One thing is certain; to stamp out the evil of hate extremism, New Zealanders will pay a price that will be charged against the Kiwi lifestyle. Personal liberties of freedom, of expression and privacy will certainly be eroded further as this nation of the South Pacific grapples with how to keep its peoples safe. The means of how to achieve relative safety will be hotly debated, but it is a necessary juncture in this nation’s history, a moment when we all must confront and challenge ourselves so that people of innocence, people like little three year old Mucaad Ibrahim, can go about their days in trust, in peace, in joyful purpose and achieve their deserved potential. Anything less is a second killing for the victims of Friday 15, New Zealand’s darkest hour.

]]> https://eveningreport.nz/2019/03/19/christchurch-terror-attaches-new-zealands-darkest-hour-friday-15th-2019/feed/ 0 https://eveningreport.nz/2018/11/19/telling-the-real-stories-behind-plastic-pacific-islanders-and-stereotypes/ Mon, 19 Nov 2018 08:01:21 +0000 https://eveningreport.nz/2018/11/19/telling-the-real-stories-behind-plastic-pacific-islanders-and-stereotypes/ A look at the lives of Pacific islanders who choose to ignore or struggle to embrace their heritage. Video: Plastic Polynesia trailer

By Leilani Sitagata

Two final-year communication studies students at Auckland University of Technology decided for their end-of-year project to film a mini documentary about what it means to be a “plastic” islander.

The television majors Elijah Fa’afiu and Jamey Bailey brought it all to life to create Plastic Polynesia.

The nickname “plastic” refers to a person who is out of touch with their culture and perhaps cannot understand or speak their language.

READ MORE Dear Heather, we’re really talented, empowered – and we’re not leeches!

The film looks at the lives of Pacific Islanders who choose to ignore or struggle to embrace their heritage and follows a student learning Samoan for the first time.

-Partners-

Fa’afiu says he was passionate to pursue this concept because he can relate to being “plastic”.

AUT filmmakers Jamey Bailey (producer) and Elijah Fa’afiu (director). Image: Leilani Sitagata/PMC

Plastic identity
“I identify with the term ‘plastic’ and it turns out that I’m not the only one who does,” he says.

“I wanted to explain this word and how it differentiates Pacific Islanders from each other.”

He says that over the years he has not been in touch with his Samoan and Māori heritage, and this is the case for a lot of Kiwis.

‘Disconnected from roots’
“I feel I’ve been disconnected from my roots, that wasn’t intentional – it was just how things ended up.”

Alongside Fa’afiu was producer Bailey, who was in a similar boat to him when it comes to being connected to his culture.

“I label myself as ‘plastic’ because it’s an easy scapegoat.

“I don’t speak the language, I don’t do church, I don’t do all the things I’m supposed to do.”

He says that this film was an opportunity to challenge and explore what exactly “we are meant to do”.

Part of the documentary follows university student Rashad Stanley as he undertakes the journey to learning the Samoan language.

Not knowing
This was important to Fa’afiu as he says he can relate to the experience of not knowing such a big part of his culture.

“Being born in New Zealand, my parents did take me to church and speak Samoan to me, but I never really absorbed the language.”

Plastic Polynesia also touches on the idea of how Pacific Islanders are stereotyped.

Bailey says he strongly believes this generation is the one that’s working hard to break the misconceptions surrounding all types of people.

“Growing up, the common stereotypes are that we’re only at school for the sports and music, and mainstream media has been a big part of the way Pacific Islanders are perceived.

“With Plastic Polynesia, we’re trying to break those stereotypes and show that there are Polynesians out there who are different.”

The film also includes an interview with Hibiscus and Ruthless’ Nafanuatele Lafitaga Mafaufau Peter as well as many students.

Bailey says the message is key and he hopes the audience will catch on to the importance behind the story they share.

“In terms of face value, a lot of people just see brown skin and we want to tell that stories don’t get heard.

“Our goal by the end of this is to bring awareness that we can’t get grouping people, we’re all individual.”

Leilani Sitagata is a reporter on the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project.

• Plastic Polynesia will be screened during the AUT Shorts film festival being held at The Vic in Devonport on November 22

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

]]> https://eveningreport.nz/2018/11/14/refugee-migrant-culinary-delights-boost-new-diversity-cookbook/ Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:01:22 +0000 https://eveningreport.nz/2018/11/14/refugee-migrant-culinary-delights-boost-new-diversity-cookbook/ ]]> Students who volunteered for the AUT migrant cookbook include Leilani Sitagata (from left), Amina Mohamed and Tiana Lambert, who spoke of their experience last night. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

By Rahul Bhattarai

Students and staff gathered in Auckland last night to launch a cookbook with a difference celebrating culinary delights from refugee or immigrant families – and to taste some of the special 15 recipes.

The recipes in Tastes of Home, published by Auckland University of Technology to support an educational scholarship for refugees, were an instant success.

Chapters and the recipes have been provided by volunteer student contributors drawing on their family culinary secrets.

READ MORE: Diversity at Auckland University of Technology

“These recipes have been tested and standardised by the culinary art students for the cook book,” says Lian-Hong Brebner, a diversity manager at AUT and one of the co-editors with Professor Alison McIntosh.

“This is more then a cookbook, it’s about celebration of AUT’s diversity that refugee and migrant background students bring to us, and their their tradition of hospitality,” says Brebner.

Foods made from the recipe of the cookbook out on display for customers to taste. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

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Encouraging diversity
AUT as a university encourages diversity and was also the first university in New Zealand to appoint a professor of diversity – Professor Edwina Pio.

“We are also proud to be the first and only New Zealand university to appoint a professor of diversity,” says Dr Andrew Codling, who is the head of the vice-chancellors office.

“We are proud that our students and staff are from over 100 nationalities on our campuses, and in fact over 52 percent of our staff were born overseas – and I am one of them,” says Dr Codling.

Seven percent of the staff are from the Pacific, 6 percent are Maori and 64 percent of the professional staff are female.

AUT scholarship program
Proceeds from the book sales will go towards a scholarship programme for future refugee students.

Part of a chapter in the cookbook that was contributed by AUT student journalist Leilani Sitagata. Image Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

About 50 volunteers from diverse backgrounds worked around the clock to make the book possible.

“I volunteered to be part of the project because I loved that the proceeds would be going towards a scholarship for refugees,” says Leilani Sitagata, who is a final year AUT student journalist.

“As I’m a journalism major, I knew how to write, and I love my food – so I thought why not combine the two and help write a cookbook.”

Homemade cuisines from around the world featured in the book include Afgan, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Maori and Samoan and many other dishes.

On launch day, 38 copies were sold with a further 100 copies already being pre-ordered online.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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]]> https://eveningreport.nz/2018/10/03/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-nz-firsts-virtue-signalling-against-immigrants/ Tue, 02 Oct 2018 20:04:32 +0000 https://eveningreport.nz/?p=17887 ]]> Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: NZ First’s “virtue signalling” against immigrants

[caption id="attachment_13635" align="alignright" width="150"] Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption] When we think about “culture wars” and “identity politics” what most readily comes to mind are leftwing-liberal fights over what is commonly referred to as “political correctness” and allegations of “virtue signalling” and being “woke”. But the other side of the culture wars is a rightwing-conservative agenda around authoritarianism and tradition, especially relating to nationalism (bound up with aspects of ethnicity, race, and immigration).  [caption id="attachment_2959" align="aligncenter" width="637"] New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister, foreign affairs minister, and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.[/caption] Conservatives have become more focused in recent years on issues of immigration, and at last year’s election there were plenty of politicians essentially campaigning against foreigners. The New Zealand First party was at the forefront of this, promising to turn off the immigration tap. This has been their own way of expressing unease about the changing culture in New Zealand society. In Government, however, New Zealand First has done little about immigration rules, despite a willingness from Labour to cut back numbers. Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that the biggest policy news to come out of the party’s weekend AGM, was a proposal showing the party is still anti-immigration. The policy, passed by delegates at the conference comes in the form of the “Respecting New Zealand Values Bill” – a piece of legislation to be put forward in Parliament which would require new migrants to sign up to and abide by a list of “New Zealand values”, or face potential deportation. The policy and New Zealand First’s internal debate over it is best covered in Henry Cooke’s article, NZ First members push ‘values bill’ which could expel migrants. He reports that NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell is behind the policy, and he “suggested a tribunal or the courts could rule on whether the migrants should be sent ‘back where they came from’ or not”. According to Mitchell, the policy is “about being intolerant of intolerance”. And many conference delegates are reported as speaking strongly in favour it. For example, Roger Melville from Wairarapa says “There are people coming in here to be New Zealanders but they are not really New Zealanders at all, and they are actually forcing their ideologies onto you”. As to where these migrants are from, Melville stated: “I find especially from – and I’m not trying to be racist – Pakistan, Indians, and some Asian-type nations.” The same conference attendee elaborated on the perceived culture problem to another reporter, saying “There’s nothing more embarrassing to a Kiwi, a genuine Kiwi, to walk into a shop and go and buy something behind the counter and all you get is foreign language” – see Adam Hollingworth’s Winston Peters slams ‘leaderless’ National, says Simon Bridges will be gone by next election. The same report quotes another delegate summing up the policy with the aphorism “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, and saying “There was too much challenge to our way of life, and anyone who comes into the country needs to absorb what we have”. This conservative focus on identity and culture has led Morgan Godfery to argue that those pushing this policy are white “identitarians”: “the Bill is identity politics for white people. Identitarians fixate on immigration. It drives ‘crime’. It transforms deeply-rooted communities. It undermines our ‘values'” – see: New Zealand values bill – Identity politics for white people. Danyl Mclauchlan sees the policy as conservative virtue signalling – essentially an empty policy that seeks to show to New Zealand First supporters and potential supporters that the party is still the main reactionary force in politics. He explains that “It is useful for NZ First to race-bait by grandstanding about immigration but never useful to ever do anything about the issue” – see: Whistling on migration yet leaving migration high: what’s Winston playing at? Mclauchlan argues there is something of a paradox in having anti-immigration parties in government who maintain high levels of immigration to New Zealand. He even argues that, despite all of Winston Peters’ rhetoric, he just doesn’t care that much about immigration. For example, Peters could push Labour and Greens to cut non-white immigration if he really wanted to: “He could probably make the government reduce its intake of non-white migrants, if he was so inclined: we’ve just seen the passage of the waka-jumping bill; it appears that Peters can get Labour and the Greens to do pretty much anything.” So why doesn’t this government clamp down on immigration? Mclauchlan says it’s about economic growth: “You can grow your economy either by increasing the skill of your workers, the worth of your companies, the value of the products they produce, or by simply letting lots of people into the country; New Zealand’s political class has bet its chips on the second option. If a government reduces migration and the economy stops growing, or shrinks, that government will take a huge hit to its credibility as an economic manager and almost certainly be voted out. So that’s why we have a have an anti-immigration demagogue at the heart of government while the country simultaneously enjoys high levels of net migration.” Hence, New Zealand First has to find another way to signal its opposition to immigration. And in parallel, the party also has to find a way to foment populist support, which is what Henry Cooke wrote about prior to the NZ First conference, suggesting some “culture wars” element would be seized upon: “Traditionalist identity politics are seen as fertile ground for NZ First to grow its support by some MPs” – see: NZ First’s 25th birthday bash a chance to push right into the culture wars. Cooke details other “symbolic fights” – such as over Maori, the Treaty, public transport, and law and order – that might give New Zealand First the chance to “to stick it to the urban liberals”. To the New Zealand Herald, it’s no surprise that New Zealand First has chosen immigrants to target, writing in its editorial today: “It is true that as the world has opened up to greater levels of migration the complexity around national identity and cultural values has increased. How far does tolerance stretch in a multi-cultural society?” – see: Legislating the nation’s values a dangerous path. The newspaper says that such a culture war strategy “is a dangerous path to go down”, and it points to this happening elsewhere: “As we watch the US struggle through an era of intense and often bitter cultural conflict we should be looking for more measured paths through the moral maze.” Today’s editorial in The Press is also condemning of this new policy, calling it “unnecessary and potentially divisive” – see: New Zealand laws already cover this. The irony of New Zealand First campaigning against intolerance is also noted. Perhaps the biggest problem is in determining what New Zealand values are, and who the list should apply to: “Assuming such a list can be compiled to the satisfaction of all New Zealanders, who should it apply to? Only new migrants and refugees? If not, how many generations back should we go? All the way? Ultimately, shouldn’t we all be judged against this list?” The fact that New Zealand First wants immigrants to agree not to campaign against alcohol consumption is queried: “If this clause is a recognition of the possibility that those from a particular religious background – Islam – might oppose alcohol on religious grounds, it should be remembered there is a strong anti-alcohol lobby within Christian churches.” A further irony is pointed out: “Remember that Kate Sheppard, whose lead role in the fight for women’s suffrage we have just celebrated, was born in England and the co-founder of this country’s Women’s Christian Temperance Movement, a movement that opposed alcohol at least in part because of the harm it caused families.” Another irony is that New Zealand First isn’t exactly renowned for its own tolerance. And the No Right Turn blogger points out that the party leader simply doesn’t have a strong track record to match the proposed values put forward: “Winston Peters voted against the Bill of Rights Act (which enshrined freedom of religion and forbade the government from discriminating on the basis of gender), against homosexual law reform, civil unions and marriage equality, against easter Sunday trading, and for raising the drinking age. These positions are generally shared by his party. So, those values NZ First wants to force migrants to “respect” are not values they respect themselves” – see: NZ First vs NZ values. He concludes that the whole policy is just about race and discrimination. And similarly, Gordon Campbell says the policy is just a modern version of old-fashioned assimilation: “What NZF is trying to do is use the law as a blunt tool to force assimilation upon people, and render them subservient to an idealised form of the white monoculture. It won’t succeed. This isn’t the 1950s anymore, when foreigners were so rare as to be widely seen as alien and threatening. Long ago though, New Zealand embraced diversity” – see: On why we shouldn’t buy into NZF’s pledge list of values. Finally, for a critique of the New Zealand First policy from a “brown Muslim migrant woman”, see Saziah Bashir’s argument that it’s simply “the death throes of xenophobia disguised as populist policy” – see: NZ First remit about ‘borders’ and ‘power’ not ‘values’.]]>

]]> https://eveningreport.nz/2018/04/12/erin-harris-nauru-appeal-court-move-denies-justice-for-refugees/ Thu, 12 Apr 2018 06:01:34 +0000 https://eveningreport.nz/2018/04/12/erin-harris-nauru-appeal-court-move-denies-justice-for-refugees/ ]]> The Australian High Court building in Canberra. Image: Bentley Smith/Flickr/The Interpreter

BRIEFING: By Erin Harris

The decision to terminate a long-standing arrangement that saw the Australian High Court act as a partial appellate court for Nauru, as reported last week, has heightened concerns about Nauru’s appropriateness as a venue for an Australian immigration detention centre.

The timing of the decision – 90 days’ notice of the termination was quietly given to the Australian Government on 13 December – appears to have been designed to block the avenue of appeal for 19 citizens (several former Nauruan MPs among them) charged over a 2015 protest outside the Parliament of Nauru.

However, it has also served to further erode the rights of hundreds of asylum seekers, including dozens of children, currently in Nauru.

The cancelled court arrangement had been in place since 1976, yet determined only 16 cases in total. Thirteen of those cases were heard in 2017, with 11 brought by asylum seekers disputing the refusal of refugee status.

Of those 11 cases, only one was dismissed. Eight were successful, and two were dropped due to refugee status being granted in the interim.

Nauru has declared it will set up its own court of appeal, but in the meantime asylum seekers are denied the basic legal right of appeal.

-Partners-

In response to the termination becoming public, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop declared:

Australia supports Nauru’s sovereignty and its December 2017 decision to terminate the treaty in advance of the nation’s 50th anniversary of independence.

Secretive nature
Australia is right to support Nauru’s assertion of sovereignty, and the removal of this somewhat awkward arrangement – an oddity the Australian Law Reform Commission recommended terminating in 2001.

But Australia also needs to question the secretive nature of the announcement, its politically motivated timing, and the fact that the termination took effect before an alternative appeals court could be established.

Several legal rulings and a Senate inquiry have determined that Australia has a duty of care in relation to the asylum seekers in our facilities, regardless of their location, and this development indicates a further blow to the rights of an already vulnerable population.

This shutdown of a legal avenue of appeal is not the only reason to question the ongoing appropriateness of Nauru as a site for Australia’s immigration detention centre.

In the past few months, a steady stream of cases have demonstrated Nauru’s lack of capacity to deal with the mounting number of health issues among asylum seekers held on the island.

Despite Australia’s claim that “healthcare in Nauru is the responsibility of the government of Nauru”, in reality, Nauru is unable to meet asylum seekers’ needs.

The Australian government’s own health contractor on the island has declared the hospital in Nauru to be unsafe for surgery, and Nauru has no permanent specialist child psychiatrists.

Suicide risk
In 2018 alone, there have been two cases (here and here) of juveniles at acute risk of suicide on Nauru being ordered by Australian courts to be transferred to Australia for treatment.

Taiwan has also been used as an alternative venue for surgical treatment not available in Nauru. Because Taiwan is not a UN member state, and therefore not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees transferred there cannot claim protection on their arrival.

A consideration of Australia’s duty of care in relation to the asylum seekers housed on Nauru begs the question of why Australia continues to doggedly prioritise the US resettlement deal to the exclusion of all other options?

This is particularly pertinent in light of President Donald Trump’s recent escalation of negativity towards immigrants and refugees, and the slow pace at which the US deal is unfolding.

UNHCR Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific in Geneva, Indrika Ratwatte, recently urged the Australian government to reconsider the offer by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made in November, and reaffirmed this week.

By doing so, Australia could quickly bring an end to the suffering of many of the detainees who remain on Nauru.

Ultimately, Australia needs to recognise that the asylum seekers on Nauru are its responsibility, and that Nauru’s declining ability to provide them with adequate care and basic rights is a problem that must be solved.

Erin Harris is a research associate at the Lowy Institute, where she works with both the Diplomacy and Public Opinion Programme and the Digital Program. Her research interests include gender, development and the Pacific. This article originally appeared on The Interpreter, published by the Lowy Institute and is republished with the permission of the author.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Dr. Shamshad Akhtar –

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

In 2017, Asia and the Pacific will be home to 62 million international migrants. That’s a population larger than the Republic of Korea’s. Even more people from our region – over 100 million – live outside their countries of birth. At the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) we see this as an opportunity. One we should seize to shape a better future for our region.

There are many reasons for which people migrate. Students do so looking for an education unavailable in their own county, to broaden their horizons and improve their prospects. Some migrants are refugees, fleeing violence and persecution. In our region, we have tragically seen hundreds of thousands of civilians, the clear majority Rohingya, flee their homes in Myanmar to seek safety in Bangladesh in what the UN Secretary General has rightly described as a refugee emergency: an unacceptable humanitarian and human rights nightmare that must be brought to end.

But most migrants move in search of jobs, higher wages and a better life for themselves and their families. Their remittances – $276 million dollars in Asia-Pacific in 2017 alone – provide welcome support to communities in their countries of origin. Put simply, remittances feed children, pay for education and healthcare and lift people out of poverty. But if migrants move for their own benefit, they also do in response to the needs of the countries to which they travel. By moving where the jobs are, migrants support innovation, productivity and growth.

Migrants’ contribution is all the more remarkable considering the challenges they face on arrival, after long, expensive and perilous journeys. Migrants are often poorly paid and have limited access to public services. They tend to work in low skill jobs in the informal sector. Debts taken out to pay illegal fees to secure employment mean they can have little choice but to accept dangerous physical labour. Female migrants are particularly vulnerable. Often employed as domestic workers, they can suffer exploitation and abuse. To compound matters, migrants are frequently turned into scapegoats, their contribution downplayed by inaccurate, prejudice fuelled narratives.

Addressing these challenges could help unleash migrants’ potential as a force for positive change. The economic dynamism of the Asia-Pacific region and its ageing population means migrants could play an even bigger role in our economies and societies, plugging labour and skill shortages. But for them to do so, clear policies are needed to protect migrants’ rights in the workplace, improve their access to essential services and make it easier for them to help families they have had to leave behind.

This was recognised by Member States of the United Nations in the wake of the European refugee crisis when a bold initiative was launched to negotiate a global compact for safe, orderly, and regular migration by 2018. At its heart lies a simple ambition: to protect migrants’ human rights. Grounded in existing laws and practices, and with full respect for Member States’ sovereignty, this compact should lay the foundations for international cooperation for the benefit of countries of origin, destination, and the migrants themselves.

To help shape this agenda, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific held a regional consultation in November. Governments, civil society and the private sector met to identify regional trends, share best practice and agree on priorities to feed into global negotiations. Several key priorities emerged: protecting migrants against exploitation by unscrupulous employers by facilitating legal migration; ensuring migrants can transfer money quickly, securely and at low cost; cracking down on human trafficking; and helping those who may be forced to move because of natural disasters exacerbated by climate change.

There was strong commitment on all sides to cooperate to drive this agenda forward. I hope International Migrants Day can help keep up the momentum, promote the positive contribution migrants make in our region and help achieve safe, orderly and regular migration across Asia and the Pacific.

Shamshad Akhtar is the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)