The Nauruan Government’s decision to ask Doctors Without Borders to immediately leave shows continued callousness towards asylum seekers desperately seeking a safe place to call home, Green MP Golriz Ghahraman said today.

The Green Party have welcomed the Government’s decision to increase the refugee quota to 1500 annually, meaning more families, women and children fleeing war and persecution will have a safe place to call home. Green Co-leader Marama Davidson, said: “To those who have fled persecution and need a safe place to call home, we want you to know New Zealand welcomes you. “We are a kind, compassionate and safe country. New Zealanders want to help and we can. Green spokesperson...

The decision by Cabinet to continue to deploy troops to Iraq and Afghanistan is strongly opposed by the Green Party, who believe the money would be better spent on humanitarian aid in the regions.

The treatment of migrant children and families at the United States border is heart-breaking and intolerable. The Green Party calls on the New Zealand Government to condemn this egregious breach of human rights. “The mass detention of children and separation from their families as a part of immigration policy is unacceptable,” says Golriz Ghahraman, Green Party human rights spokesperson. “It is abhorrent to do it as a way to ‘deter’ their parents from seeking asylum or migrating to the United...

The Green Party is strongly condemning the slaughter perpetrated by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza overnight following the opening of the new United States Embassy in Jerusalem, which has resulted in the murder of at least 52 civilians and over 2400 injured.  This is the second deadly massacre of protestors perpetrated by the Israeli armed forces this year and is the deadliest onslaught in Gaza since 2014.  “As predicted the opening of Donald Trump’s confrontational Embassy in Jerusalem has...

John Key needs to do the right thing and offer to resettle refugees and asylum seekers from Australian detention centres, the Green Party said today. Australia and Papua New Guinea confirmed yesterday that the Manus Island detention centre will close but offered no details on when, or what will happen to the people currently detained there. “Every day that these camps remain open is another day that people are living in limbo, facing abuse by guards and inhumane living conditions,”...

National needs to show some moral backbone and speak out on the abuse of children held by the Australian Government in Nauru detention centres, the Green Party said today. Documents published yesterday by the Guardian show the horrific scale of abuse in offshore detention centres on Nauru, where asylum seekers trying to reach Australia are being detained. “It’s appalling that the National Government refuses to condemn the suffering that children fleeing war and persecution are experiencing under the Australian Government’s watch,”...

John Key should use his trip to Australia and Sri Lanka as an opportunity to restore New Zealand’s strong reputation of promoting human rights and standing up for our unique values, said the Green Party today.

The latest critique of the TPPA, as an old fashioned agreement inconsistent with human rights, is a timely warning that the signing of the deal in Auckland today is not in the interests of New Zealanders, the Green Party said. United Nations Human Rights Council Independent Expert Professor Alfred de Sayas has issued a statement explaining how the ‘outdated’ TPPA is ‘fundamentally flawed and should not be signed or ratified unless provision is made to guarantee the regulatory space of...

Minister of Justice Amy Adams should not extradite a New Zealand resident to China because she can’t rely on that Government’s assurances that it will not subject him to torture or the death penalty, the Green Party says.