New Zealand should consider whether the wealthy are paying their fair share of tax if the Government claims it can’t afford to take more responsibility for Pacific people displaced by climate change.
That’s the message from Amnesty International secretary-general Agnes Callamard, who flew in to Auckland yesterday.
Callamard has spent the past few days in Fiji and Tuvalu presenting a scathing investigation into what Amnesty describes as discriminatory migration policies that are tearing families apart.
The report, Navigating Injustice, calls for New Zealand to create a humanitarian visa for Pacific Islanders impacted by climate change, as well as increased funding for nations to mitigate and adapt to sea-level rise.
It also asks the Government to suspend all deportations back to Kiribati and Tuvalu, claiming a forced return that exposes people to the risks of climate-related harm is a serious human rights violation under international law.
Among those interviewed in the Amnesty report is a teacher from Tuvalu who has a visual impairment and had to withdraw from her family’s visa application because people with medical conditions or disabilities are excluded.
Her 6-year-old daughter and husband migrated to New Zealand in 2016 and she has been separated from them ever since.
Callamard told the Herald the most-affected Pacific nations are low carbon emitters and have done very little to deserve what’s happening to them.
“The moral compass is off,” she said. “Don’t go after those fleeing their lands.
“Who continues to offer subsidies to the fossil-fuel industry? Who has not done what is required to keep the temperature below 1.5 degrees? That is what New Zealand should focus on,” Callamard said.
“Of course there are limitations [on New Zealand’s response to climate displacement], but right now, they are the product of political choices that have been made.”
Callamard, who is responsible for Amnesty International’s global strategy and leads its human rights work, is visiting New Zealand for the first time since taking up the role in 2021.
Last night, she gave a free public lecture on a wide range of issues at the University of Auckland and will speak at Victoria University in Wellington on Thursday.
In 2017, the Minister for Climate Change at the time, James Shaw, announced an “experimental humanitarian visa” was being considered that would bring around 100 displaced Pacific Islanders to New Zealand each year. Six months later, the plan was dropped.
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford told Amnesty International last year the Government had no current plans to introduce specific climate-related immigration policies.
When approached by the Herald, the minister’s office said she had only just received the report and had no comment to make at this time.
While New Zealand’s ties with the Pacific make it more likely that people will seek refuge here, Callamard said their plight was clearly not New Zealand’s sole responsibility.
“It is every country’s obligation to provide those on the front line of climate change with the means to fight back.”
Jacqui Dillon, executive director of Amnesty International Aotearoa, believes the Navigating Injustice report has created a template for other regions confronting the impact of climate change.
Australia already offers permanent residency to up to 280 Tuvalu citizens each year under the Falepili Union Treaty, signed in 2023.
Both Tuvalu and Kiribati are on average only 2m above sea level and some coastal areas have become uninhabitable.
In Funafuti, the capital of Tuvalu, obtaining clean drinking water has become difficult. In Kiribati, soil contamination from salty water means crops cannot be grown on much of the island, leaving locals almost entirely dependent on imported food.
“These are real human beings who are facing diminishing choices through no fault of their own,” Dillon said.
“They are literally the smallest emitters and contributors to climate change [yet] facing the most significant impact. That’s neither human nor right and it shouldn’t be okay.”
Climate impacts have been linked to a rise in domestic violence and women have also been disproportionately impacted as they are often left behind when male family members go offshore.
New Zealand’s Pacific Access Category Resident Visa (PAC) is available to people aged between 18 and 45 who can secure a job offer and have an “acceptable standard of health”. The Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) visa is aimed at short-term seasonal work.
Both schemes, which operate through a random electronic ballot system, are labelled a “discriminatory lottery” in the Amnesty International report.
Dillon, who travelled with Callamard to Fiji and Tuvalu, said that while many Pacific people are looking to emigrate, others don’t want to leave their home.
She believed New Zealand not only owes a debt of gratitude for the contribution Pacific Islanders have made to building our nation – from manufacturing and horticulture to sports and culture – but also a duty of care.
“This isn’t just about it being a climate disaster,” Dillon said. “It’s a human rights emergency that is occurring on our watch, in our backyard.”
Joanna Wane is an award-winning senior writer who’s been with the Herald since 2020.