Abstract
New Zealand is a small country that often frames itself as making a big contribution regarding refugee protection and settlement. This chapter highlights where New Zealand is world leading but also where scholars believe it does not meet international obligations, with particular focus on how refugees selected via an annual quota are prioritized over other refugees when it comes to initial orientation and settlement, family reunification, and access to social services. This form of institutional discrimination is exemplified by the 2012 New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Strategy which focuses only on Quota refugees. A new coalition government formed in 2017 promised significant change in refugee policy, including an extension of the refugee quota, a new humanitarian visa for those displaced by climate change, and further investment in many under-resourced public services. But an overall context where economic and political factors shape policy as much as humanitarian needs remains the biggest obstacle to radically improving the lives of refugees settled in New Zealand.
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Humpage, L. (2019). Refugee Protection and Settlement Policy in New Zealand. In: Ratuva, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0242-8_125-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0242-8_125-1
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