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Nations Human Rights Council Independent Expert Professor Alfred de Sayas has issued a statement explaining how the ‘outdated’ TPPA is ‘fundamentally flawed and should not be signed or ratified unless provision is made to guarantee the regulatory space of...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.

The newest form that New Zealand detainees are being asked to sign makes them liable for removal costs despite assurances to the contrary by both the New Zealand and Australian Government, the Green Party says.

  An Australian Immigration Service form, released this morning by the Green Party’s lawyer Greg Barns, shows that John Key misled New Zealanders about the ability of Kiwi detainees to apply for Australian citizenship from New Zealand. Mr Barns drafted a claim to the Australian Human Rights Commission on behalf of the Australian and New Zealand Green parties regarding New Zealanders placed in offshore detention centres. The form shows that if New Zealanders return here from a detention centre their...

The Green parties of New Zealand and Australia have lodged a submission with the Australian Human Rights Commission asking it to establish an inquiry into the treatment of New Zealand citizens who are detained in immigration detention centres. Green Party human rights spokesperson Marama Davidson has written to the Commission on behalf of the New Zealand and Australian Green Parties, saying people from both countries were deeply concerned about the human rights abuses occurring in Australian facilities and the impact...

The Green Party wants to know how the Government can be completely sure a New Zealander being extradited to China will not be tortured or face the death penalty when the New Zealander faces murder charges.

The Green Party is calling on the Justice Minister to release the full list of the reasons New Zealanders are imprisoned on Christmas Island, and for the Prime Minister to correct his statement that the detainees were “rapists and murderers”. Justice Minister Amy Adams has given media an edited summary of offences committed by some of the New Zealanders on Christmas Island, but has refused to release details about those detainees who have not committed any offences, or who were...

It’s time for John Key to stop putting his mateship with Malcom Turnbull above the need to call Australia out for its appalling human rights abuses, the Green Party said today. “John Key’s more interested in making silly bets over the rugby with his new BFF Malcolm Turnbull than getting New Zealanders off Christmas Island,” said Green Party human rights spokesperson Marama Davidson. “Overnight, Australia faced a grilling at the United Nations over their treatment of people in their detention...