John Key’s Refugee Quota Comments in Turkey Tone Deaf

When John Key was asked if New Zealand would increase its refugee quota in Turkey this week, a country staggering to support what is now the world’s biggest population of refugees, the Prime Minister said only, it was “not likely.”

Turkey has appealed worldwide for help to support over two million Syrians who have fled from war. New Zealand’s Prime Minister then added that its annual refugee quota of 750 was “about right.”

“Our Prime Minister’s response was embarrassingly tone deaf,” said Tracey Barnett, founder of #WagePeaceNZ, a refugee initiative that is currently calling on the New Zealand government to double its annual UNHCR quota.

“I fear that our Prime Minister didn’t consider how brazen his response would fly with the Turkish public, or government. It showed an impolitic disregard to Turkey’s efforts to deal with what is now being considered the biggest refugee crisis since WWII.”

“He was being hosted by a country that is staggering under this tremendous humanitarian load—and this was his response on the world stage?” Barnett said. “In this 100th anniversary of ANZAC, when it is more poignant than ever to question waging war, shouldn’t we look just as hard at how New Zealand can build the lives that war destroys—and wage peace instead?”

New Zealand’s refugee quota has not been raised in 28 years. It remains 87th per capita in the world in the total number of refugees and asylum seekers it hosts, 113th if measured by GDP. The quota will be reviewed by government early next year.

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