In her new
book, Refuge New Zealand, author Ann
Beaglehole examines New Zealand’s response to refugees and asylum seekers. This
is the first critical, in-depth account of the history of New Zealand’s
approach to refugees, as a way to shed light on current policy.
Unlike
people who choose to migrate in search of new opportunities, refugees are
compelled to leave their homeland. Since 1944 New Zealand has accepted more
than 30,000 refugees. Although this number is not large, given the many
millions of people in flight from war or displaced through persecution, it is
high for a country of our size.
‘New
Zealand is ranked fifth in the world in terms of the numbers of refugees
accepted and settled since World War II,’ says Ann Beaglehole. ‘But from the
perspective of some refugees our policies have been harsh.’
Which
groups have been chosen and why? Who has been kept out and why? Refuge New Zealand examines these
questions.
The book
tells the story not only of the state’s involvement but also ordinary people in
communities throughout the country who have helped victims of war and
persecution start a new life in New Zealand.
‘No other study
of refugees has considered both broad public policy as well as the individual
refugee experience,’ says Ann Beaglehole.
For the
first time Maori experience in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is
considered in the light of refugee trauma: the effect of the ongoing impact of
war, displacement, land loss and European settlement manifest in the social and
economic deprivation of today. Beaglehole concludes that Maori were in fact New
Zealand’s first refugees.
Refuge New Zealand: A nation’s response to
refugees and asylum seekers
will be of interest to academics and general readers alike.
Refuge New Zealand
A nation’s response to asylum seekers
By
Ann Beaglehole
ISBN
978 1 877578-50-2, $40
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