22 November 2008
AUT rookies stun industry top dogs
12 October 2007
By Joseph Barratt
Migrants to New Zealand could be deported on secret evidence – even to countries where they are likely to be tortured or
killed – under proposed new laws, say human rights advocates.
Among other changes proposed in the latest Immigration Bill, currently before Parliament, the chief executive of any Government agency would be able to designate information as classified, making it “secret”.
Currently only high-level security information overseen by the SIS can be classified. Reasons allowing such classification have also been widened, says Ahmed Zaoui’s lawyer, Deborah Manning.
Immigration minister David Cunliffe has told the New Zealand Herald the new law would streamline the process of removing illegal immigrants and make it easier for desirable migrants to enter New Zealand.
It comes hard on the heels of Ahmed Zaoui’s prolonged battle for freedom in the face of secret evidence held by the SIS.
When introducing the bill to Parliament, Cunliffe said he did “not expect the use of classified information to be widespread”.
But Manning told a recent public meeting that under the bill information could be considered for classification if all it did was reveal the operational methods of a relevant government agency, or could reveal the source of the information.
Under the new bill all sorts of information, not just concerning security matters, could be classified, she says.
Manning says in the past she has seen “terrible things [Government departments have] tried to conceal – spite letters, gossip letters – and these will now be able to be classified”.
But Cunliffe asserts the bill does not include gossip and hearsay. “This information is not classified information now, nor will it become classified information under the new legislation.”
The new bill also determines that “classified information must be treated as accurate”, which gives no chance for people detained on classified information to challenge their detention.
“No other country is introducing classified information wholesale in their immigration system,”Manning told the meeting.
The meeting was hosted by the Human Rights Foundation, Amnesty International and the Federation of Islamic
Associations of New Zealand.
It was aimed at showing the public how to make submissions against the bill.
Meanwhile, the bill’s provision for “protected peoples”, which sets out to protect people not classified as refugees but who still face torture or cruel treatment in their country, has been negated, say human rights lawyers.
Lead counsel for the Zaoui case Dr Rodney Harrison says this means migrants who prove they are at risk of torture may still be deported.
“We’ll send you home because we think everyone in your country gets tortured anyway, so what does it matter to us.
“Anyway you’ll have company.
“That’s an extraordinary comment on our values.
“In effect, you need to come up with a case where you will be tortured worse then anyone else back home before you get protected.
It’s head-scratching stuff,” he says.
“It’s the inhuman face of this legislation that we need to highlight,” says Amnesty International’s Margaret Taylor,
who is calling on people to make submissions against the bill.
The bill was introduced in August and was voted for by all parties except the Maori Party and the Greens, and is currently before a select committee.
Submissions are due by today (October 12), but applications for an extension to the deadline have been made.
