Voices of New Zealand Asylum Seekers are seldom heard
Voices of New Zealand Asylum Seekers are seldom
heard
‘When I was at the airport I said
to Immigration I was looking to claim asylum, they should
have given me information, even told me what my rights
were.’
‘They told me to go out of the
airport and look at all the taxi drivers until I found one
that looked like they were from my country.’
‘The police provided an interpreter. After the
interview, he told me, ‘You will leave the airport.’ I
asked, ‘Where to go? Who to approach?’ I was given a
list of places that I couldn’t read – I ended with a
group of people that used and abused me, I was abused very
badly.’
‘All they helped you with
is just to fill a form, not much else. Very weak help. One
of the ladies there used tissue paper to hold my pen because
she didn’t want to touch my pen because I had touched
it.’
‘If you are employer, would
you employ me with the three or four months visa status? No
one wanted to.’
‘You start to feel
like rubbish about yourself... but you need to front and
face all this by yourself.’
For the tiny amount of asylum seekers that arrive to this country annually, (only about 300) each should be entitled to a minimum of support and guidance. In reality, it doesn’t work that way. New arrivals are frightened, often traumatized from the life-threatening situation that has driven them here—confused, unsure—they have to navigate an entirely foreign new Kiwi world.
Come hear the sound of these unheard voices and their call to get equal treatment and resources that UNHCR Quota refugees receive:
When: Tuesday, 4:00-5:30pm, December
10th.
[International Human
Rights Day].
Where: Grey Lynn Community Centre, 510
Richmond Road, Auckland.
What: The release
of ‘Marking Time’ a ChangeMakers and National
Refugee Network
research project that
profiles 18 voices of asylum seekers speaking
about the challenges New Zealand’s asylum
seekers have to
overcome.
ends