International
New Zealand grants asylum to Tampa refugees
By Amit Baruah
SINGAPORE, JAN. 6. Not all countries turn away the persecuted. If Australia refused to take in asylum-seekers by turning away the Norwegian ship, the Tampa, which rescued them from certain death in August 2001, New Zealand has displayed that some nations still have a heart.
Of the 131 boat people accepted by New Zealand for processing, as many as 124 have been granted refugee status. Six persons yet to get approval are from family groups while a seventh is an unaccompanied minor.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that New Zealand's immigration service did a thorough job of checking the background of the asylum-seekers by sending audio tapes to Sweden to make sure that they were from Afghanistan.
``Many of the accepted families have already left the refugee centre and have been split between Auckland and Christchurch. They have been provided with Government housing. Bedding, furniture and other goods donated by local communities as each family was given New Zealand $1,200 to set up home,'' the report said.
``Of the 131 refugees accepted by New Zealand from Tampa's 438 boat people, the majority were part of 21 family groups of parents and children. There were also 37 unaccompanied boys aged between 14 and 17. Once accepted, they will be found foster homes and can bring over their family,'' the paper added.
The rigorous verification procedure used by New Zealand to ensure that frauds were disqualified from obtaining refugee status only goes to show that desperate people resorted to using leaky boats to get to Australia. They often took huge loans to book a passage on Indonesian boats.
Last year, the Australian Government made an ``example'' of the refugees rescued by the Tampa, refusing to let them land on Australian territory. Now, New Zealand has proved that a sizable number of those who languished for weeks on the Tampa were genuine asylum-seekers.
They were classified as ``queue jumpers'' - not quite appreciating the fact that the persecuted don't quite have the ability to wait for a place in the ``queue'' - and only then be able to process their claims for refugee status.
Here, it may be recalled, that the Tampa rescued the hapless refugees from the sea following a distress call and then the Howard Government said it would not let them land on Australian soil. The ship remained off Christmas Island for several days.
Unfortunately for those on board the Tampa, the ruling Australian coalition used the refugees as what turned out to be an election winning issue by taking a hard-line and refusing them permission to land.
Since then, some of the Tampa refugees have been taken to the Pacific island of Nauru as have some others who, too, were turned away by the Australian Government.
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