Is New Zealand’s immigration ‘set up’ to take in climate migrants from the Pacific?

Those Pacific Islanders hoping to flee the consequences of climate change and migrate to Aotearoa currently need to pay $1385 for the visa application, pass a health test, be under 45, and have a job offer.

And they must also be lucky enough to have their name drawn from a ballot.

World Vision advocacy and research advisor Dr Olivia Yates said Aotearoa's current immigration settings are not suitable for people migrating for climate-related reasons; termed "climate mobility."

"Our immigration is set up to cater more for employment pathways than to address climate mobility."

The Pacific Access Category visa provides residency to 500 people from Fiji, 150 from Kiribati, 500 from Tonga, and 250 from Tuvalu annually. Although known as a humanitarian visa, applicants must also be able to read, write, and speak English.

"The costs associated with securing a visa and setting up a life here are having the opposite effect of humanitarian," Yates said.

"Instead of supporting people's well-being, they're seeing many Pacific families lose their life savings and sense of dignity."

Workers are also at risk of exploitative employment conditions as they need a job to secure a visa. The other available route for migration is a seasonal worker visa.

Yates has been researching climate mobility in the Pacific for almost a decade. "I began my research back in 2018, and over the past six years, we've not actually seen any policy change."

Climate mobility from the Pacific was first recognised globally during last year's Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.

Yates said New Zealand was "furiously involved" in the process behind the "pivotal" Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility, with research conducted into the scope, scale and pace of climate mobility from the Pacific to Aotearoa.

"The Framework is the first time, put down on paper, that people are migrating because of climate-related reasons, and it acknowledges Pacific states need to do something about it to ensure people can migrate through official pathways with security, safety and dignity" she said. However, the framework is non-binding.

"It means our government is ready to take this seriously. But I wouldn't say they are taking this seriously yet."

Worsening climate

Heavy rain, flooding and a magnitude 6.9 earthquake near Tonga opened this year's Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting last Monday, a foreboding reminder of the threat climate disasters pose to the world.

Pacific sea levels have risen as high as 15cm in the past three decades, an existential threat as 90 percent of all Pacific Islanders live within five kilometres of the coast. Worsening storms, floods, and droughts make the Pacific "today the most vulnerable area of the world," according to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

It's predicted 50,000 Pasifika people could lose their homes each year due to climate change. In the last decade, one in ten people from Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu have already migrated due to worsening climates.

Although most displaced people move within their own borders, they may flee further afield as climate change worsens. However, gaps remain in international laws and policies on "climate refugees."

The landmark case

A farmer who called a tiny atoll deep in the vast blue expanse of the Pacific Ocean home took New Zealand to court on the global stage in 2020; he wanted to claim asylum as the world's first climate change refugee.

Four years later, Guterres has warned that "the surging seas are coming for us all," yet "climate refugee" remains a term yet to be officially recognised in international law, nor is there any officially binding agreement protecting those displaced due to climate change.

Ioane Teitiota was born on Tabiteuea "land of no chiefs" Atoll, one of 33 tiny islands that make up the Republic of Kiribati. It is 38km2 in size, surrounded by an azure lagoon over 360km2.

In 2012, he sought refugee status on New Zealand's shores, claiming climate change and the impending sea level rise would make it impossible for him and his family to survive in Kiribati. His case was rejected, and he was deported in 2015. He brought his case to the UN Human Rights Committee the following year.

Four years later, in an unprecedented decision, the Committee said governments must take into account the human rights violations caused by climate change when considering the deportation of asylum seekers.

Although the Committee still found Teitiota's deportation was lawful as he did not face immediate danger to his life in Kiribati, the landmark case recognised climate change was a serious threat to the right to life.

"This ruling sets forth new standards that could facilitate the success of future climate change-related asylum claims," Committee expert Yuval Shany said.

A more encompassing term

In 2017, two Tuvaluan families applied to be recognised as refugees in New Zealand. They said they would not have access to clean drinking water and were worried about climate change's impact on their livelihoods. Their case was rejected.

The tribunal said the consequences of climate change cannot be used to gain refugee status. The term "refugee" is defined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, which offers protection only to those fleeing war, violence, conflict, or persecution due to specific reasons who cross international borders seeking safety.

The convention does not explicitly cover people displaced solely by climate change or disasters.

However, it has been used internationally in the context of climate change increasing the risk of persecution or violence. In 2021, hundreds of people in Northern Cameroon were killed, with tens of thousands more fleeing to Chad to escape violence between herders and fishermen. This conflict was triggered by the dwindling water resources.

Regional refugee laws in Africa and Latin America also protect "climate refugees. " These laws define refugees as those seeking protection due to events "seriously disturbing public order," which could include climate-related events.

In 2017, the Labour government introduced an "experimental humanitarian visa" specifically for people displaced from the Pacific Islands by climate change. Yet, this only lasted six months.

The visa was dropped as Pacific Islanders themselves said gaining refugee status is the last resort. They wanted autonomy to stay within their own countries to prevent cultural loss and instead argued New Zealand should reduce emissions and provide legal migration pathways.

Yates said the difference between climate change and refugee law is that people aren't forced to migrate because of something happening inside their country.

"Climate change is this unique phenomenon because what is forcing people out of their countries comes from elsewhere, it comes from other countries. At face value, the idea of being a refugee didn't fit."

"It doesn't encompass the justice element that those who are the most responsible for impacts are the ones who should be doing the most."

Climate mobility recognises the complexities of those displaced due to climate change and that it's a spectrum.

"Most people don't want to leave and never go back. They want to come to Aotearoa for a place to anchor themselves, but they also want to hold on to those precious ties with their loved ones, lands, and culture."

Complex issue

In her work with World Vision, Yates believes New Zealand needs an official visa pathway for climate mobility that is "rights-based."

"I'd like to see the government use a lens on all of the different groups being disproportionately impacted by climate change, like those with disabilities and women and children."

Around 50 percent of people in the Pacific are children and young people.

Other countries have expanded humanitarian visas, which have facilitated free movement immediately after disasters, such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Australia provides special access to Tuvaluans in a world-first bilateral agreement on climate mobility.

Yates said these visas are "revolutionary" as they don't bar people with disabilities from applying. The agreement also includes adaptation funding, an important factor for those who want to stay in Tuvalu for as long as possible.