16 October 2015

NZ Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights says deportee human rights breaches must stop

The Parliamentary Human Rights Committee is calling for action on the reported breaches of human rights affecting New Zealanders and other detained people by the Australian Government.

Co-Chairs of the Committee Chester Borrows, Catherine Delahunty, Marama Fox and Sue Moroney are calling for immediate Government action in support of the New Zealand-born Australians who have been detained, especially those who have been sent to Christmas Island Detention centre.

The Co-Chairs say that the human rights reported to have been being breached include the right to legal assistance, the right to contact with family and the right to protection from arbitrary detention. These MPs say that there is a breach of natural justice when people who have completed prison sentences are being detained as criminals and threatened with deportation to a country they may well have little connection with.

The Committee is concerned for all the affected whānau and families of New Zealanders being impacted by this policy and also all the people who are being detained in unacceptable conditions in detention camps.

The Committee urges the New Zealand Government to proactively advocate for the affected New Zealanders to achieve the same rights that foreign citizens would be extended in New Zealand if they were facing deportation.

The Co-Chairs believe the matter is of the utmost urgency and expect the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia to immediately work to find a just solution to this intolerable situation.

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