The history of refugees in New Zealand

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

 www.otago.ac.nz/press