Reprinted from The Common Good, No 9, Spring 1998
Migrants and Refugees Ð A Christian Response?
Patrick OÕConnor
Aotearoa is currently undergoing enormous societal change and has been for many years. The trend will continue. Poverty levels are at an unprecedented high. Food banks are opening as fast as money banks are closing. Family break-ups are at record level and the family unit is in danger of becoming a feature of scholarly historical university theses. Youth suicide is endemic and we are leading the world in this tragic area. The gap between rich and poor is now large enough for a United Nations socio-economic team to drive a research unit through analysing and churning out reports. No doubt the team would include members of our own government and Church leadership.
Where is the public Christian response to the theological spiritual imperative that followers/leaders of that faith must challenge injustice and inequality wherever, whenever, it is evident?
Good health and quality education (any education at tertiary level) are becoming the preserve of those with financial resources. Street violence is on the increase; manipulative advertising is creating household tension; mind-polluting mono-cultural television is racing out of control unchecked. Are we happy and healthy as a society? Are we content to imprison more people per capita than any other comparable small nation? Are we dignified in a collective community sense in sending our children to school without breakfast? What are the answers? Where is the discussion? Our political leadership seems impotent and preoccupied with survival politics Ñ personal survival now, not even blind party survival Ñ as individual politicians unethically abandon the manifestos upon which they were handed a mandate by voters to unilaterally declare that somehow they still do represent somebody or something.
Another institution, the Christian Church, is also unacceptably silent as we reach out for guidance and direction. It is consistently silent in public and consequently does not always give currency to the weekly gospels. They are so powerful, yet rendered irrelevant in tangible terms without a context within which they may have real application to the person in the street.
Where is the public Christian response to the theological spiritual imperative that followers/leaders of that faith must challenge injustice and inequality wherever, whenever, it is evident?
In my work in the Resettlement and Education of Refugees and Migrants, the casualness of Government and Church is indefensible.
FACTS
New Zealand is a signatory to the 195I United Nations Convention on Refugees. The country is in direct breach of several of the obligations going with to that status.á
New Zealand accepts the highest number (first equal) of refugees per capita in the world but we slump to about tenth best nation in post arrival support. The easy part is saying Ôcome.Õ The hard part is doing the resettlement.
The message we give via the U.N is Ôfree health careÕ (refugees on benefits are being asked upon arrival for thousands of dollars for urgent dentistry) Ôfree educationÕ (for one recent group of illiterate refugees who had never been to school this translated to one 10- week part time course in English!!)
Some refugees, whilst grateful for resettlement, are saying they sometimes think their homeland or second country disenfranchisement is preferable to the exaggerated hospitality and undignified degree of marginalisation they are forced into here. They donÕt like fighting and begging after having been offered a new start.
Many refugees and migrants are victims of scorn for being a drain on our society. Refugees in fact have been invited here. General points system migrants have been seduced here. There have been false promises all round.
If we (reluctantly) accept that the current political culture is egocentrically into promoting itÕs own needs and philosophies, are we not entitled to expect a much more committed response to disenfranchisement from our Church leadership and membership? Or are we ethnocentric in our application of the gospel? Do we seek a weekly Ôtop upÕ in private sessions behind closed church doors, or should the face of Christian guidance be public? In a promotion sense, the Church has to compete with McDonalds to reach the public.
Christchurch has experienced a huge influx in recent years of people from other cultures/religions speaking different languages, eating different foods, having different coloured skin and wearing different dress. It is exotic, stimulating and fun. Cultural diversity is titillating, especially as we munch kebabs, dance the samba or picnic at a SummerTimes Festival ethnic day. All great. But what about the 100% unemployment rate of one ethnic group in Christchurch and employment rates in the 50 plus percentage category of many other of the 160 ethnicities now resident in this city? There is not a pro-active, integrated, cohesive and flexible policy or funding regime for newcomers to our society. Such lack of planning will lead to an ethnic underclass evolving with all the attendant social problems. Many would argue such an ethnic underclass already exists in the Maori and Pacific Island communities, but the nature of the problem will be very different among newer groups who do not have the political support, the language facility, and the community structures to fall back on. They are disenfranchised without Government or Church commitment to assist.
There is not a pro-active, integrated, cohesive and flexible policy or funding regime for newcomers to our society. Such lack of planning will lead to an ethnic underclass evolving with all the attendant social problems.
Where was the Church leadership and membership last week to welcome the 20 Ethiopian refugees to our city; or the 40 Kurdish refugees of three months ago, or the 500 Somali refugees of the past few years? Where are the loaves and fishes for the misled migrants who have come to New Zealand having fallen for the creative rhetoric of unscrupulous immigration agents commanding large fees as they peddle nonsense about opportunities in the ÔGodzoneÕ land of Ômilk and honeyÕ? There is no co-ordination between Government and professional boards. Our country has scores of well qualified professionals in disciplines currently requiring workers who canÕt work. So theyÕre on the dole incurring the wrath of misinformed critics; becoming depressed and languishing in directionless quandaries of, Ôwhere to from here?Õ In my view, this is all happening while the Church leadership, membership and internal structures look on from the sidelines? Mostly!
The Catholic Church has a Justice and Peace Commission. What is the role of this group in the 1990s approaching the year 2000 and beyond? What does it do? Where is its message? Who is its voice? No doubt many good things are achieved, but there is a feeling of a lack of obvious public presence of this group compared to the outstanding Catholic commitment to various socio-political struggles in the 1980s and earlier decades. Is the group funded adequately and is it given Ôpulpit publicityÕ and Ômissionary marketingÕ for its New Zealand work?
It would be a reasonable assumption to make that the Church via the Justice and Peace Commission would have responded to the scandalous closure recently of the South Island Race Relations Office in Christchurch. Christchurch society is moving in one direction toward cultural diversity, whilst the Government is moving in another direction, closing the very offices crucial to the elective management of things inter-cultural. Why is this not an issue for the Church or, if it is, why the silence? Maybe our comfort zone needs to be challenged. There is no justice and peace about moves such as the closure of such key organisations.
The challenge is there in Aotearoa for Catholics once again to lead the way in challenging injustice at every turn and to support initiatives like the Anglican Hikoi to highlight poverty and hardship in this country. My call is for the Justice and Peace Commission to induce an outbreak of justice and peace in this country for refugees and migrants coming to this land. LetÕs not simply be back-slapped by our United Nations colleagues for accepting the grand total of 750 quota refugees per year to our shores. What happens then? Once we have invited these refugees into our house (country) we then say ÔWell IÕm sorry I havenÕt got a spare bed.Õ Or, ÔIÕve got some tea and milk, but IÕm not going to tell you where it is.Õ Or, ÔIÕm not going to show you where the light switch is, and if you happen to find it I wonÕt teach you how to use it.Õ
My call is for the Justice and Peace Commission to induce an outbreak of justice and peace in this country for refugees and migrants coming to this land.
There are issues of housing, cultural orientation, first language maintenance, English language acquisition, employment training, trauma counselling, health support, and childrenÕs education that need urgent attention. There is no central government co-ordination of these issues. Everything is ad hoc, reactive, and totally lacking in cohesive planning. There is also no co-ordinated Church response to the issues. These people do need the shirts off our backs. TV images of starving refugees from afar shock us. But let us spare a personal and collective sigh for those in our street, our suburb, our town, city and country who are also in need. For they are here, they are real, and they are chronically disenfranchised. Are they not worth a sermon or two, a dollar or two, a meeting or two, or an agenda item or two at the next Justice and Peace conference?
Wonderful Church groups and Christian individuals certainly do exist. This writerÕs contention is that collectively much more could be done not only in dollars and cents but in education, awareness raising, debate, discussion, inspiration and spiritual guidance from our groups, leaders and institutions.
Patrick OÕConnor is the director of the Pasefika Education and Employment Training Organisation (PEETO) in Christchurch.