New Zealand May Take More Refugees
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AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The New Zealand government will consider accepting more refugees from Cambodia and the Middle East by widening the eligibility for settlement, Immigration Minister Kerry Burke said Sunday.
Returning after visiting refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border, Burke said at a news conference that thousands of Cambodians are still fleeing from fighting between Khmer Rouge guerrillas and Vietnamese occupation forces.
He said New Zealand is taking 650 refugees a year from the camps. But the government is considering whether the eligibility for settlement in New Zealand should be widened to allow into the country people who do not already have relatives here, he said.
Burke added that he is also considering taking between 20 and 30 Christian refugees from war-torn Arab countries.
“Church people here are interested, and there are families here who are interested in sponsoring them,” Burke said.
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