Refugees and migrants

Caritas builds awareness of issues affecting refugees and migrants. In 2016 the Social Justice Week focus is on migration.

Our hope is that here in New Zealand people will know that they are welcome and that they have come to a place of justice, solidarity and hospitality.
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, 2002

Caritas advocates on issues affecting refugees and migrants, both in New Zealand and internationally. We work to build awareness of refugee issues, through building local relationships with refugee and migrant groups, and through our international partnerships responding to the needs of displaced people. In 2016, our Social Justice Week focus was on migration with the theme, We all have a migration story: Foster a culture of encounter.

The Catholic Church’s Day of Prayer for Refugees and Migrants, which usually falls during Refugee Week, provides a local focus for many groups to consider refugee issues.

Advocacy to government has included submissions on immigration changes and policy around DNA testing of refugees. Caritas does not undertake individual refugee cases.

In 2012, Caritas opposed changes to the Immigration Act that sought to detain large group arrivals of refugees.