Hungarian Bishop, Laszlo Kiss-Rigo is warning that Pope Francis has gotten the refugee situation wrong. “They are not refugees. This is an invasion,” Kiss-Rigo told the Washington Post. The bishop says he is in total agreement with the Prime Minister. The pope “does not know the situation”, says the bishop of a predominantly Catholic country. “They Read more
The Government would do well to rethink how it selects refugees coming to New Zealand says Pastor Michael Hewat While he agrees impartiality is regarded as one of the fundamental principles of humanitarian action, he believes that in the current situation in the Middle East and North Africa, need and religious belief are inextricably linked. Continue Read more
Twenty-three-year-old Rez Ricardo was born a refugee. Her Kurdish family had fled Iraq for Pakistan in the hope of receiving aid from the United Nations. Ms Ricardo was born three years after her family left Iraq and spent most of her life, until the age of 6, living in Pakistani refugee camps. The law student Read more
At his post-Cabinet news conference, on Monday John Key said he had been wrong and the numbers were much lower. Mr Key had repeated the claim several times that thousands and thousands of refugees make it into the country, despite the annual refugee quota being just 750. He said many more came in under the Read more
The full text of the Holy Father’s Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2015 was published on 23 September: Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus is ‘the evangeliser par excellence and the Gospel in person’. His solicitude, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalised, invites all of us to care for the frailest and Read more
Recently I had a great opportunity to know the reality of migrants from Myanmar living on the Myanmar-Thai border. In Ranong, I taught English in a learning centre and I was amazed by the children’s interest in learning and by their respect for their teachers. I also realized that learning English and Thai can make Read more
It was a shipwreck of African migrants off the coast of Lampedusa, a small island in the Mediterranean, that spurred Pope Francis into action. In the past 18 months more than 500 people have died, or gone missing at sea, trying to escape Africa. The world barely noticed. Standing on Lampedusa on Monday, Francis prayed Read more
“Deeply touched” by the recent sinking of a boat carrying migrants from Africa, Pope Francis will visit the Italian island of Lampedusa — a frequent destination for refugees — on July 8. Officially part of Sicilian territory, the isolated island of 5000 inhabitants is less than 115 kilometres from the coast of Tunisia, making it Read more
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand is calling for the New Zealand Government to establish relocation strategies with the governments of Pacific island nations in danger of disappearing as a result of climate change. A recommendation for the Church to advocate for climate change refugees was accepted with unanimous support at the Church’s biennial Read more
The government of Nauru has indicated there will be no change in its support of the Coalition’s plan to reopen the Howard-era refugee processing centre, despite the sudden resignation of President Marcus Stephen. Nauru’s new President, Frederick Pitcher, told Nauru media there would be no change in the government’s course, despite the departure of his Read more