New Zealand’s “Complementary” Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship: A Sustainable Community Partnership?

Abstract This article which includes analysis of interviews, examines New Zealand’s Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship programme in which both nominated and UNHCR referred applicants are selected for resettlement in a scheme which is additional to the state’s refugee resettlement quota programme (RQP). It argues that in New Zealand a “sustainable community” for refugee sponsorship has developed as a result of a “compact” between sponsors and other “actor-citizens” and government. It demonstrates the importance of manaakitanga, the Māori concept of hospitality within this “sustainable community”. It examines and responds to objections raised by some scholars to the role of the community in nominated sponsorship for refugee resettlement.