19564 (2024). Ricardo Menéndez March to the Minister of Immigration

19564 (2024). Ricardo Menéndez March to the Minister of Immigration: What is the process outlined in the Immigration New Zealand Operational Manual for treating children when they come to New Zealand as part of a mass arrival group?

Hon Erica Stanford: As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, New Zealand takes its responsibilities to children very seriously. The Immigration Operational Manual does not spell out the full response planning for a mass arrival, and in particular does not provide the detail of how different classes of person (including minors, whether travelling as part of a family group or not) would be managed. This full planning is set out as part of the detail of the Mass Arrivals Response Plan, which will be published later this year. The planning for a mass arrival sees the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment applying the same principles that it does now where asylum claims are made on behalf of minor children. Unaccompanied children would be placed into the care of Oranga Tamariki. In principle, families would always be housed together, and (as set out in the Immigration Act 2009), minor children would have to have a responsible adult to represent their interests. I do note however that the government would reserve the ability to separate families if it was absolutely necessary – for example, if the parent required hospitalisation, or where family violence had taken place. The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment is currently in the process of updating a range of documentation, including the Operational Manual and websites, as part of the implementation of the Immigration (Mass Arrivals) Amendment Act 2024.