The other organisations taking part are: Gleniti Baptist Church (Timaru), South West Baptist Church (Christchurch) and the Society of St Vincent de Paul (Nelson)

The pilot intake will consist of up to 30 refugees now living in Jordan or Lebanon.

The CORS is designed to:

• Provide an alternative and additional form of admission for refugees to New Zealand, to complement the annual quota.
• Provide an additional opportunity for community organisations to actively engage in refugee resettlement, and to build local communities that welcome refugees.
• Enable sponsored refugees to quickly become independent and self-sufficient in New Zealand.

"We believe this programme will have many benefits for the refugees, the community organisations, and New Zealand communities," says Caritas Director Julianne Hickey.

The Catholic partnership was created by Suzie and Pat McCarthy who took pilgrims to meet refugees who had fled from ISIS militants.

Upon their return, they established a partnership between the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (their religious community) and other Catholic organisations in Auckland.

The Catholic Diocese of Hamilton joined the partnership because of a government requirement that refugees must be settled outside of Auckland.

The partnership was formalised by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, which endorsed Caritas as the lead organisation.

"Each organisation has a skill or area of expertise they can contribute to the resettlement process," states Mrs Hickey. "By working alongside other organisations, we demonstrate what it means to be a community."

For the first two years, sponsoring organisations undertake to provide rental accommodation, core furniture and household goods for the refugees they sponsor, plus community orientation and services, and help to find sustainable employment.

Source

• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• NZ Catholic
• Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment
• New Zealand Herald
• Image: goabroad.com

One of the very few people to publicly oppose an increase in New Zealand's refugee quota is broadcaster Mike Hosking.

In one episode of Mike's Minute Hosking has admitted our quota is small, but says we cannot increase it because there is no firm figure that can be justified. Instead of asking where we could start, he asked "where would you stop?"

For more than two years I've been making the case for New Zealand doubling our refugee resettlement quota.

I'd like to walk Hosking through the numbers, in the hope that his inability to justify a figure was more a result of his prodigious workload rather than antipathy towards those in desperate need.

The numbers are quite simple: our population has grown 40 per cent since 1987, yet our quota has actually dropped 50 places since then.

Even ACT agrees that the quota should keep pace with our population. This would increase our quota to 1120 places.

But on top of the quota we also take 300 people through family reunification and about 120 people as asylum seekers (once appeals have been counted).

Fifteen years ago we averaged 500 accepted asylum seekers per year. The significant decrease since then was due to aggressive pre-screening of people before they could get to New Zealand to claim asylum.

Since we've closed that window, we should open a door: 380 more places in the quota to make up for the number we used to take.

Add this to the population increase and the quota should be 1500 places.

We would be doubling the quota in nominal terms, but in real terms we'd be doing only what we've done in the past. The average Kiwi will not notice, but the 750 extra people - roughly 200 families - certainly will. Continue reading

• Murdoch Stephens is the spokesperson and lead researcher for Doing Our Bit - Double New Zealand's Refugee Quota. The article above is from The Dominion Post.

"We can help our own people and we can also save some of the world's most vulnerable people. It doesn't have to be one or the other," said Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy.

"This isn't just about politics: this is about humanity. It isn't just about doing the right thing: it's about doing the humane thing."

"We have failed. On our first World Refugee Day in 2001 there were around 12 million refugees: there are now 73 million people, most of them children, escaping violence and persecution," said Dame Susan.

"According to this week's Global Peace Index, New Zealand is one of the most peaceful places on the planet."

"Fourth in the world to be exact."

"Nor surprisingly Syria - with more than half its own people refugees or displaced - came last in the Global peace Index," said Dame Susan.

Last week Pope Francis made an appeal: Don't close the door to those seeking a better life.

Francis made the comments during his weekly general audience Wednesday. He thanked those who care for refugees and urged governments to act together to prevent forced migration.

Speaking off-the-cuff, he said: "I invite all of you to ask forgiveness for those who close the door on these people who are looking for life, for a family, and to be cared for."

National Director of Christian World Service Pauline Mckay said the global community cannot ignore the drivers of this dislocation or afford to meet the escalating demands for humanitarian assistance.

In July New Zealand will take on the presidency of the United Nations Security Council. It is a unique opportunity to change the game plan to one where countries work together to stop the wars that create refugees.

"We are facing one of the biggest refugee crises in history. It is not business as usual. There are many more people in desperate need than humanitarian agencies like Christian World Service and the global ACT Alliance (Action by Churches Together) of which it is a member can help.

"Much more must be done at the national and international level to stop wars and help refugees," says McKay.

Source

• hrc.co.nz
• scoop.co.nz
• newsadvance.com
• Image: tepapa.govt.nz