Govt has duty with refugees who are genuine

If a boat of asylum-seekers reached New Zealand shores, the Government has a legal obligation to allow genuine refugees to stay here, experts say.

But where they would stay while being processed and what would happen to the cases that were not authentic is known only to the Government - and it is keeping quiet.

Under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, any self-titled refugee arriving in a new country has the right to be processed, says Amnesty International and the Auckland Refugee Council.

Council executive officer Elizabeth Walker said New Zealand had to accept those cases found to be genuine, but there were other factors, such as whether sending them home would endanger their lives.

"What concerns me is, is John Key thinking of detaining people [while they are being processed] in special detention centres, or building a detention centre?"

There is a refugee centre in Mangere, but Ms Walker was unsure if it could host the hundreds of people who might arrive in a boat.

Mr Key said the Government has developed a plan to deal with a boatload of asylum- seekers.

"We understand what we need to do." He said the relevant legislation had recently been reviewed.

New Zealand has a quota of 750 refugees that it receives every year. Asylum-seekers are not counted under the quota system. In 2010-11 236 asylum-seekers were processed, of which 21 were accepted.

The previous year 287 applied and 91 were accepted and in 2008-09, 208 applied and 72 were accepted.

- Additional reporting: NZPA