Auckland Refugee Council

Imagine; when you woke up tomorrow, you had to leave your country and you could never return. This is the harsh the reality our clients face

Auckland

The Auckland Refugee council run a hostel and transitional housing units for asylum seekers. Our on-site social worker provides support to all who stay at the hostel. For those with little or no income, we supplement food, medical and general expenses.

Asylum seekers who use our service are those who are particularly vulnerable and destitute. We are able to ensure they are receiving their rightful benefits, are housed, fed and able to access other community services when needed. This allows them to proceed with their claim for refugee status and gives them the best possible opportunity to succeed.

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Imagine; when you woke up tomorrow, you had to leave your country and you could never return. If you stay, you will face persecution, you may be harmed physically or arrested, you may even face death. If you go, your future is un-certain. Maybe you can take your family with you, but you’ll leave your friends, your school or work, your community. Where will you go? How will you make a new home? What will your life will look like?

In New Zealand, most of us take our safety, security and civil rights for granted. But for 54 million stateless people around the world, this is not an unlikely scenario they read about on a website, it’s their life. Every single person has rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; we’re all have the same right, to be free from violence, persecution, to have access to education, to be able to make a living. We also have the right to seek asylum in another country, if it’s not safe to stay in our home country! Of nearly 1 million asylum seekers world-wide, approximately 300 make their way to New Zealand each year. Once in New Zealand it can be a difficult and expensive journey to exercise their right to citizenship in another country. Unlike quota refugee’s, they do this without any support from the New Zealand Government.

The Auckland Refugee Council / Asylum Seeker Support Trust is here to help them rebuild their lives