Illegal workers face potential retribution in China

The Chinese worker who left police custody on the way to the airport on Thursday (April 1, 2021), night had a charge of absconding, which carries a maximum sentence of five years, withdrawn when he appeared in the Auckland District Court this morning (April 3, 2021).

The worker, who was in a very distressed state after 10-days in custody, had simply opened an unlocked door of the patrol car on the way to the airport and got out. He had hoped to recover lost property and money he was owed. He then walked for seven hours confused and disoriented before speaking to an early morning exerciser who spoke Mandarin and they agreed that he should surrender himself to the police again.

Migrant Labour exploitation

The worker’s lawyer, Matt Robson,  said he has suffered migrant labour exploitation and should be released to allow that to be investigated but the magistrate said he had no power to do so and he was remanded in police custody again on the outstanding immigration matters.

The worker asked to speak to the Court and begged to be able to work in New Zealand so that he could earn back the large amount of money paid in fees to get here and provide for his parents, wife and child back in China. 

Human trafficking or not?

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi has said that this case is not a case of trafficking.

The person he delegated the authority to make this decision did so, it seems from the email trail, after examining the documents for 20 minutes.

But the government’s own website on trafficking includes the circumstances of these workers who were recruited and made false promises in China and paid huge fees for fake visas that they thought would be work visas and were then told they could change from their visitor status once they arrived, which was a lie.

At the top of the site is a summary statement:

UN definition

The United Nations defines people trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by deceptive, coercive or other improper means for the purpose of exploiting that person. It is a global crime, committed at the expense of victims who are robbed of their dignity and freedom.

I want to know from Minister Faafoi which part of “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by deceptive, coercive or other improper means for the purpose of exploiting that person,” does not apply in this and so many other cases that go without investigation.

Mike Treen is an advocate for the Unite Union based in Auckland. The above was received as a Press Statement.

Radio New Zealand reports (extract):

Matt Robson, the lawyer representing the group of Chinese men being deported says that China’s human rights record needs to be considered before they sent home.

Ten men were caught illegally working at an Auckland construction site last month.

Mr Robson, who represents nine of the men, said that officials need to ask about the potential for retribution in China.

“China is an unknown quantity to a lot of us but the issue of corruption of those who hold different positions of power is well known. He has absconded so that shows some desperation. He has gone to people he knows in Auckland who got him to come back. I and the Department of Labour have been trying to interview him but have been obstructed by Immigration New Zealand (INZ),” he said.