Kiwi's May Intervene In Nauru Crisis
from Sydney Morning Herald

New Zealand and the United Nations refugee agency were negotiating over the future of some of the women asylum seekers being held on Nauru, the Federal Government said last night.

As a number of the mostly Afghan asylum seekers on the island entered the 20th day of a hunger strike, a spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone, said the New Zealand Government was talking to the UN about the women.

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NZ May Help Decide Nauru Detainees' Fate

BYLINE: Cynthia Banham

BODY:

New Zealand and the United Nations refugee agency were negotiating over the
future of some of the women asylum seekers being held on Nauru, the Federal
Government said last night.

As a number of the mostly Afghan asylum seekers on the island entered the
20th day of a hunger strike, a spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Amanda
Vanstone, said the New Zealand Government was talking to the UN about the women.

However, a spokeswoman for New Zealand's Immigration Minister, Lianne
Dalziel, could not confirm the negotiations. She said it was "not unusual for
New Zealand Immigration to work closely with [Australian Immigration], the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation
for Migration in terms of the processing and resettlement of claims that are
validated".

The spokeswoman said that as of Christmas Eve, New Zealand had received no
formal request from the UNHCR or Australia to intervene over Nauru. The New
Zealand Government was "receptive to consider any request".

The ACTU president, Sharan Burrow, has written to New Zealand's Prime
Minister, Helen Clark, asking her to get involved.

There are 280 boat people including 93 children in Nauru. Their claims for
refugee status have been rejected and they have been in detention since late
2001.

The UNHCR has agreed to reconsider the claims of 22 of the people in the
light of what it called Afghanistan's deteriorating security situation, but the
remaining asylum seekers remain Australia's responsibility. So far, the
Government has refused to reconsider their claims, despite calls from the UNHCR
and the Federal Opposition.

The Immigration Department said 45 adult males were now refusing food and
water, and 18 were in hospital. It said none of the people in hospital was
"seriously ill".

Meanwhile Afghanistan's ambassador to Australia, Mahmoud Saikal, rejected
claims it was unsafe for Afghan asylum seekers to return home, and threatened to
"initiate appropriate judicial processes" against any false claims about the
treatment of returning citizens.

posted by prof_booty | 09:59 AM