Immigration has become one of the UK’s most contentious subjects. This year, we saw thousands march in vicious anti-immigration rallies and protests.
Human rights lawyer and activist, Rêz Gardî, is a co-director and co-founder of the University of Auckland’s Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies - Tāwharau Whakaumu.
She told The Front Page that, as someone who was born as a refugee, the right to seek asylum is a matter of survival.
“So, when I see politicians and news articles like this, it’s really concerning because it feels like the issue that should be a matter of human rights and protection is being manipulated and used in these politicised ways.
“Some of these reforms that they’re proposing are really inconsistent with the protections that both the UK and New Zealand have signed up to.
“They’re inconsistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They’re inconsistent with the refugee convention. Both of these clearly set out the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution,” she said.
The idea of a “war on illegal migration” has come at a time when the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) predicts that, as of the end of June, there were 117.3 million people who had been forced to flee their homes globally due to persecution, conflict, violence, and human rights violations.
Among them were nearly 42.5 million refugees and 8.42 million asylum seekers. An asylum seeker is someone who has fled their country but has not yet been officially recognised as a refugee under international law.
While the world is seeing animosity towards displaced persons seeking refuge, we are also seeing a huge decline in humanitarian aid.
The OECD projects a 9 to 17% drop in official development assistance (ODA) this year, on top of the 9% drop seen last year. It’s while for the first time in decades, France, Germany, the UK, and the US all cut their ODA in 2024.
“I was in Geneva recently at a UNHCR event, and the High Commissioner for Refugees was talking about the dire need for funding because they were ending this year with a $1.3 billion shortfall compared to last year, a 30% workforce reduction, and 185 offices consolidated or closed,” Gardî said.
“What we see is that in the last two years, global humanitarian funding has collapsed more than 53% and alone just from the US’ commitments from $14b to somewhere around $3b.
“What we’ve seen over many years is that stopping people from accessing safety or accessing borders to seek asylum does not stop people from moving.
“It just means that they end up in more dangerous routes, or taking more dangerous risks to try to seek safety. It doesn’t stop people from trying, it just means that more people die in their attempt.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- UK reforms
- Legal and ethical concerns
- Differences in New Zealand
- Humanitarian funding crisis
- Rêz Gardî’s personal experience as a refugee.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
