ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by setting out the background and proposes provisions in the New Zealand Immigration Bill, before turning to consider the concept of non-refoulement in international human rights law. The concept that states have a responsibility to protect the human rights of non-citizens, including those residing outside their own territory, is very much in vogue. New Zealand has historically implemented its obligations under the Refugee Convention in a manner that attains international best practice. The chapter analyses the considerable body of jurisprudence emanating from a number of key international and regional treaty bodies in order to provide a framework of analysis for the remainder of the article. It focuses on non-refoulement specifically on the basis of socio-economic rights violations, considering first the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, followed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“the ICCPR”). The ICCPR is primarily concerned with the protection of civil and political rights.
