Some refugee numbers
First, the Gulf States. It has been widely reported that the Gulf States have taken zero refugees from Syria. This is by definition: they are not signatories to the relevant UN Conventions, so people fleeing to the Gulf States do not count as refugees according to the UNHCR. Those people still exist. There are relevant questions about why these states aren’t signatories, and about how they have treated the (many) Syrians who fled there, and about whether they should accept more people from Syria, and about their humanitarian record in general. The official figure of zero refugees isn’t a good starting point, though.
Second, New Zealand. The Government has announced an increase in the refugee quota, but the announcement is a mixture of annual figures and figures added up across two and a half years. It would be clearer if the numbers used the same time period.
The current quota is 750 per year. Over the next 2.5 years that would be 1875 people. We are increasing this by 600, to 2475. The current budget is $58 million/year. Over the next 2.5 years that would be $145 million. We are increasing this by an estimated $48 million, to $193 million. Either by numbers or by dollars, this is about a 1/3 increase.
Thomas Lumley (@tslumley) is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests include semiparametric models, survey sampling, statistical computing, foundations of statistics, and whatever methodological problems his medical collaborators come up with. He also blogs at Biased and Inefficient See all posts by Thomas Lumley »
Even this is a generous view as the current quota can vary by 10% up or down (http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/BFA5A365-51D3-44C7-BAEE-112683F82C18/0/refugeequotaprogramme201314to201516.pdf)
So over 2.5 years 187 (plus a cat or dog) of the 600 could have come anyway. I have seen nothing to say that this 600 is above the quota plus 10%
9 years ago