Some are struggling to pay for basic social costs due to crippling debt repayment, Caritas says.

Caritas spokesperson Tony Sutorius says worsening cyclones and flooding have created severe financial burdens.

"Climate damage leads to debt and that has the potential to turn into a huge debt spiral that could be really damaging to the integrity and sovereignty of emerging nations" he says.

"In the past, we would think of development aid perhaps in terms of grey aeroplanes arriving and sacks of things being taken out and given to people, but increasingly nowadays you're more likely to get an aeroplane full of bankers who are offering loans rather than actually giving grants."

Basic services impacted

Every country is uniquely impacted by climate change, debt and social needs.

"To use Fiji as an example, it has got to the stage now where the debt is approaching 90 per cent of GDP, which is a very high amount" says Sutorius.

"What that means in practice is that around 15 per cent of the total government spending every year is just paying the interest on the debt, and that's recognized internationally as a real danger threshold."

A concern he has is that some Pacific nations may seek quick fixes to debt at the cost of long-term sustainability.

"One of the risks that Pacific countries face is that they are tempted by this cash crunch of having to pay these big loans into unsustainable mining, for example, or extractive industries where they see a kind of a golden hope of being able to dig their way out, literally."

Debt and climate disaster

Debt and climate disasters are connected and are critical considerations in countries vulnerable to climate change, says Soane Mafi Bishop, president of Caritas Oceania and Cardinal of Tonga and Niue.

"Governments are paying more in interest and other debt servicing obligations than they are on health, education or climate adaptation.

"Action must be taken to forgive debt and prevent it in the future" he stresses.

But Sutorius notes climate grants from rich countries are increasingly turning into climate loans. He also notes that, where debt used to be made on a country-to-country basis and allowed some friendly concessions, today's loans come mostly from the private sector.

Wealthy nations fall short

A report from Caritas Oceania and Australia groups, including the Jubilee Australia Research Centre, criticises wealthier nations for offering poorer Pacific nations loans instead of grants.

It's also critical of members of the (just finished) COP29 UN climate conference which failed to meet its finance goals by a margin of a trillion dollars.

Of that goal, just $300 billion was committed to help vulnerable nations, particularly those in the Pacific.

Source

• Cartias Australia

"We welcome this announcement in that it provides a shelter from the storms of war. It's a way out for vulnerable Ukrainians leaving a war zone and seeking to reunite with family members.

"This expanded category is probably the most effective way to provide asylum quickly to some people fleeing Ukraine who already have family settled in the community here to provide support" says Roger Ellis, Engagement Manager for Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.

On Tuesday, the government announced a Special Ukraine Policy visa aimed at supporting 4000 family members of Ukrainian-born New Zealanders.

"We are pleased with the announcement and supportive of family reunification. It is in keeping with the biblical injunction to love our neighbours as ourselves" says Ellis.

"The government policy is aimed at the 1600 Ukrainians living here and enables them to bring family members here. They have to accommodate those family members who will get a two-year work visa and their children will be able to go to school. It's somewhat different to the UN refugees who are basically homeless with no relatives here and so need more help on arrival."

Ellis says Caritas's understanding is that the Ukrainian policy is a special humanitarian arrangement for family sponsorship which goes beyond the usual family immigration categories.

At present, Caritas Aotearoa NZ is helping its sister agency Caritas Ukraine in its work with displaced people in Ukraine, he says.

So far it has raised $78,000 to help Caritas Ukraine provide urgent food, water, shelter and other emergency supplies which are being offered to the 100,000-plus people it has assisted so far.

Ellis says it's estimated that more than 2.5 million people have fled their homes and are crossing the border to neighbouring countries.

Pros and cons of the new Ukraine policy

One of Caritas's reservations about the new policy is that there are many former refugee families in Aotearoa who have been waiting years for reunification with family members who have fled war, conflict and violence in other parts of the world, especially Africa and the Middle East.

He would like to see their need being met "in a timelier way".

Ellis notes resettlement as refugees through the UN refugee quota or through Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship would take some time (years, rather than months).

On TodayFM, Nai Jit Lam, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Deputy Regional Representative in Canberra says there is no need to temporarily relocate people here just yet.

"It really is difficult to say how this is going to go, in terms of the conflict," he says.

"The situation is very fluid, it's still evolving".

He suggests that supporting European countries who are helping Ukraine could have a flow-on effect. In his view help should focus more on those accepting refugees.

"The most crucial work that we are trying to do is to keep that access open, keeping humanitarian aid and assistance - the logistics of it".

The NZ Green Party immigration spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman sees this very differently however.

"Ukrainians here are saying something quite different to what we just heard from UNHCR which is actually there are quite a few people who do want to re-settle and, of course, go back if the situation allows," she says.

Source

• TodayFM
• Stuff
• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand (supplied)
• Image: RNZ