Latest News: ARCI has IRD Donee Status

Auckland Refugee Council have been given Donee Status by IRD.
This means that any cash donation given to ARCI over $5.00 can be claimed as a tax credit.
ARCI will supply you with the necessary receipt for this purpose.
You may also wish to ask your employer about Payroll Giving

AUCKLAND REFUGEE COUNCIL (Inc) NEWSLETTER 29th April 2010

Dear Members

It's good to be in touch with you again after our AGM in September.

We are currently calling for Nominations to the Executive Committee for 2010/2011. Recently a couple of people on the current board have either resigned or will not be standing for re-election. We therefore need people who are willing to put their names forward this year and I hope you will consider yourself as a candidate or nominate someone else you know is interested in asylum seeker work.

The nomination must be received back to this office by Friday 28th May. Our AGM this year will be on Saturday 28th August and as last year will be held at the Grey Lynn Community Centre.

There will be a notification of further details nearer the time of our AGM

Since our last AGM we have had two more Quarterly Meetings with the Immigration Service and on 21st April we met with the new Group Manager for Refugee and Migrant Settlement INZ, Stephen Dunstan.

Mr. Dunstan stated his desire to form a good working relationship with ARCI and we will do all we can to facilitate this. At the meeting he promised to action some long awaited talks between INZ and MSD Managers concerning the resettlement allowance for Convention Refugees and other financial support for asylum seekers. The talks were initiated by the Minister of Immigration after we sent a report to him on our concerns late last year. The Report is attached for your information.

Mr. Dunstan also said he would keep us informed of possible changes in the management of the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre.

You may also be interested to know that ARCI have now obtained three units from Community Housing (through Housing NZ) which are only a few kilometres away from our hostel. These will be used as Transitional Housing for those asylum seeker families who have gained refugee status but either do not have residence or are unable to obtain a Housing NZ State House. After taking the tenancy on March 12th the three units are already full. This is an exciting time for ARCI as we expand our service to fill a very real need.

If you want to hear more about our current work please do not hesitate to call or email me at the office.

Kind Regards

Elizabeth Walker

Executive Officer

Auckland Refugee Council (Inc)

AUCKLAND REFUGEE COUNCIL (Inc) NEWSLETTER 2009

Greetings to all ARCI Members

Funding

Our first few months of 2009 have been very busy with a number funding applications having their dead line in the first quarter of the year.

Currently ARCI is fairly well placed financially. However, the down side of this is that for some funding organisations we are considered too financially secure to receive a grant. This is a great shame as the judicious management of our finances is now working against us. In addition one of our traditional funders is not able to continue their support and others are unable to maintain the same level of funding as previously.

The Good Shepherd Sisters who have been so good to us over the last few years from the time we opened our Avondale Hostel are also obliged to curtail their support and this is the last year we shall receive funding from them. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking the Sisters for their generous support.

The ASB Trust has deferred the finalisation of their grants budget until September. While it is possible we will receive some funding from them it seems likely we will have to dip into our reserves for next year.

We still have the Lottery Grants Board, although we understand they are being extremely thorough this year. Fortunately we have good standing with our funders both for the work we do and the management of our operations.

The Executive Committee have been looking at acquiring an additional hostel. We have about a third of the cost of a modest house in the Avondale area but were able to find the additional support needed to make a purchase. If we had been able to buy a property our need for financial assistance would certainly have become crucial and the response from funders perhaps more positive. There is now a real possibility that we will need to use some of this reserved income to continue our services next year.

Events and Meetings

As reported last month ARCI were invited to meet with the High Commissioner for Refugees Mr. Antonio Gutteres on February 27th. . This was his first visit to New Zealand and we were impressed by his sincerity and humanitarian stance on refugee issues.

The Auckland Regional Refugee Resettlement Forum too place on 7th March on a Saturday – to enable working refugees to attend. Issues discussed included, Immigration - mental health and community wellbeing, Employment and WINZ, Education and Housing. Particular items from these topics have been referred to the National Refugee Forum to be held in Wellington in May. A full report of the meeting is available from Refugee Services.

On 20th March the ARCI Executive Committee met with the new Immigration Minister Hon Dr.. Jonathan Coleman. Our concerns focussed on the lack of permits to those whose applications for asylum were in process as well as the need for work permits to remain valid for those whose refugee application had been declined but who were pursuing a humanitarian claim.

The Minister showed an interest in our concerns and proposed a series of meetings should take place between INZ Managers together with ARCI, the Refugee Council of New Zealand and the Auckland Refugee Coalition to find ways of resolving this issue.

One of the desired outcomes of our meeting with the Minister was to establish a good relationship with him and we expressed our willingness to be of help in an advisory capacity whenever necessary.

On 25th March the first “combined” quarterly meeting with INZ took place. The organisations meeting with INZ were: ARCI, RCNZ and the Auckland Refugee Coalition. Issues for discussion at this meeting included our concern for the removal of failed asylum seekers and our need to know what treatment they receive when being returned to their country. We have had some disturbing reports of returnees having endured extreme maltreatment and other cases where their disappearance is connected with the real possibility of execution. The combined organisations were keen to see some sort of follow up to ensure that failed asylum seekers were indeed free from any kind of danger on being returned to their country. The next combined meeting will take place on 1st July with the addition of a representative from Amnesty International.

Our next AGM has been set for the morning of 12th September and will be held at the Garden Room of the Grey Lynn Community Centre. Nominations for office holders on our Executive Committee will be sent out in May for return by 12th June. Please consider whether you would like to make yourself available for nomination.

Auckland Refugee Council are now in their 20th Year with the first AGM taking place in 1989 and officially incorporated in June 1990.

Elizabeth Walker

Executive Officer

Auckland Refugee Council (Inc)

ARCI NEWS IN BRIEF - February 2006

I thought it was timely to send out a short news letter to keep all members up to date with ARCI activities.

Avondale Hostel:

You may recall at the AGM we had hoped to open our new hostel in October. Unfortunately there have been a number of delays, the most recent being the wait for resource consent. A report will go to Council next week and hopefully this will be the last hurdle we need to cross in order to get our hostel established.

We are still in need of some items of furniture and in case any of you are having a clean out at home the following items would be appreciated:

Bedside tables, or small desks
Double bed
Chests of drawers.

The resource consent report asks to accommodate 10 people with an extra person as a manager. We also need consent to run our courses.

A brochure on our new hostel has been drafted and we await some photos to finish it.
The location is perfect for our clientele being close to transport, religious centres, local shops (include a Halal butcher) and various other amenities. Like an expectant mother, I'm beginning to wonder whether this hostel will really be a reality after all this time - seven months from the time we contacted Housing. However, we just need a little more patience!

Political Issues:

ARCI have made a submission regarding the Immigration Advisers Licensing Bill. We support the Bill and have asked for changes in this area for some years. However, we do have some concerns around exemptions and have also made recommendations about levels of registration. The Bill can be found on the Knowledge Basket website at:

http://www.knowledge-basket.co.nz/gpprint/docs/bills/20052701.txt

A meeting with Minister of Immigration scheduled for Friday 24th February, has unfortunately been postponed. However, the Minister was very apologetic and another meeting will be arranged shortly. We have a number of issues to put to the Minister. There are so many that we need to stick to the ones we feel to be most pressing for our clientele. A letter to the minister setting out some of our concerns is available on request.

The six monthly asylum forum is to be held on 5th May at he Mangere Refugee Camp. I will attend a pre forum meeting on March 30th. The agenda currently includes the following items:
Detention, health, and education.

Funding:

I have been busy at the office making applications for funding. Now that we have no funds from the New Zealand Immigration Service, we depend totally on charitable trusts, local government and funding from Internal Affairs (Lottery and COGS).

Refugee Cases:

The Executive Committee asked me to make a spread sheet of all the cases which come to our office. While this is confidential to our executive committee members, I can tell you that the people come from a broad range of countries from various backgrounds. However, their common need was for accommodation on arrival. Over the Christmas period, when government departments were closed, this office was very busy trying assist homeless people. Particularly vulnerable were those with young families. Thanks are due to our volunteers who have worked hard in this area and the Good Shepherd Sisters who have a generous donation to help us support those in most desperate need. Thank goodness also for the Auckland City Mission and St. Vincent de Paul who make food parcels available.

AGM:

I would like to give thanks to all those who attended our AGM in August. It was most successful. Thank you to all who invited friends and to those who assisted in setting up.
Nominations for the next AGM will be sent out in May. Please consider whether you would like to be part of our Executive Committee. We have meetings once every two months, with smaller sub committees meeting at more frequent intervals.

Please feel free to contact me at the office if you would like further details on our work, meetings and some of the issues of concern.

Elizabeth Walker
Auckland Refugee Council Inc
February 2006

\

Design by Luis Suarez luisksuarez@gmail.com - hosted free of charge by The Web Company