Global trends and refugee settlement in New Zealand

Abstract

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR 2014) there were approximately 51.2 million forcibly displaced individuals worldwide by the end of 2013—the highest number on record since monitoring of these global trends began in 1993. Of this total number, approximately 16.7 million people were refugees and nearly 1.2 million were asylum seekers. A total of 98,400 refugees were offered resettlement places from 21 countries last year (UNHCR 2014, p. 2). Obtaining refugee status can be critical for people living in protracted and tenuous situations where their safety and security is seriously compromised, as it affords access to critical support and resources from the 142 states signatory to the 1951 Convention and the associated 1967 Protocol (UNHCR 2014). The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees formally defined a refugee as: