Kiwis extend hands of welcome to refugees and asylum seekers

Auckland 13 July 2017 – Thousands of Kiwis are extending a hand of welcome to refugees and asylum seekers. They’re asking politicians of all parties standing for election this year to commit to taking an additional 500 refugees immediately.

#500Now, a campaign launched today on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, is encouraging Kiwis to show their support for refugees by posting selfies of themselves with the #500Now tagline written on their palms.

Campaign founder, Tracey Barnett says: “When it comes to taking in refugees and asylum seekers, New Zealand scores very poorly. We rank 95th in the world in terms of refugees taken per capita and 122nd in refugees taken relative to our GDP. That’s simply not good enough. It reflects poorly on us as a nation and undermines our credibility.

“It‘s about what sort of country we are. If you think we could and should do better, this year’s election is an opportunity to be heard. Ask politicians to commit to taking 500 now. Tell your friends how poorly we rate and why it matters.”

To show support for the campaign now, follow these simple steps:

1. Write #500Now on your palm.
2. Hold out your hand and take a selfie. Include your friends, colleagues, family, workmates, teammates, church group or choir.
3. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram with the hashtag #500Now.

It’s that simple: take a photo, send a message.

Then ask and ask and keep on asking politicians to commit to supporting the campaign.

ENDS

About #500Now

#500now is a campaign aimed at persuading candidates across all parties at this year’s election to commit to taking in 500 more refugees each year. The campaign looks to do something about New Zealand’s miserably low rate of hosting refugees and asylum seekers, to counter popular misconceptions about refugees and to demonstrate clearly that refugees enrich New Zealand.

Check us out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wagepeacenz, or visit our website: https://wagepeacenz.org/500now/

You‘ll find some suitable #500Now images on Dropbox

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