World Vision calls on PM to get the Kids off Nauru

Monday 20 August 2018

World Vision calls on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to get the Kids off Nauru

World Vision New Zealand is calling on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to offer to immediately resettle all 119 children and their families who are detained on Nauru.

The New Zealand Government will attend the Pacific Island Forum on 3 September. The Forum will be held on Nauru, where 119 children are being held indefinitely, unable to leave the island. They are there with their families as asylum seekers who were turned away and forcibly sent to Nauru after seeking protection in Australia.

World Vision is asking Kiwis to stand up for the children detained on Nauru and ask Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to get the #KidsOffNauru by messaging her directly on Facebook.

World Vision National Director Grant Bayldon says the children and their families should be brought to safety in New Zealand before Universal Children’s Day on 20 November.

“These vulnerable people seeking refuge and asylum should be resettled in New Zealand as part of an emergency intake over and above our refugee quota,” he says.

Bayldon says the children and their families need to be moved urgently so they can access support and rebuild their lives in dignity.

“They are being forced to live in sub-standard conditions which violate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. They lack adequate healthcare, education, and protection from sexual and physical abuse,” he says.

The US agreed to resettle people from Nauru however the US Government’s new restrictions on which nationalities it will accept as refugees means many of the 119 children and their families have no hope to move there.

Bayldon says children should never be traumatised like this.

“We at World Vision believe children have a right to a safe and secure future where they can be cared for, protected, and are free to live life in all its fullness.”

“New Zealand has the capacity and heart to take these kids off Nauru,” he says.

Kiwis can visit www.worldvision.org.nz/kidsoffnauru to find out more.

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