New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern issued a sombre state apology on Sunday to the Pacific neighborhood for racially targeted immigration raids in the 1970s that resulted in deportations and prosecutions.
The “Dawn Raids”, which typically occurred early in the morning, took location from 1974 to 1976 when New Zealand’s economy was in a downturn and the government clamped down on immigrant workers from the Pacific who overstayed their work visas.
Addressing hundreds of people today in attendance for the formal apology, Ardern stated members of the Pacific communities continue to “suffer and carry the scars” of the raids in which they had been particularly targeted and racially profiled.
“Today, I stand on behalf of the New Zealand government to offer a formal and unreserved apology to Pacific communities for the discriminatory implementation of the immigration laws of the 1970s that led to the events of the Dawn Raids,” Ardern stated.
“The government expresses its sorrow, remorse, and regret that the Dawn Raids and random police checks occurred and that these actions were ever considered appropriate.”
As element of its formal apology, Ardern stated her government will provide NZ$2.1 million ($1.5 million) in academic and vocational scholarships for Pacific communities and $1 million in leadership scholarships for young people today from Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Tuvalu, amongst other people.
Sunday’s occasion incorporated an Ifoga, a conventional Samoan ceremony in which people today ask for forgiveness or obtain forgiveness, exactly where some ministers and members of parliament draped a mat more than Ardern, which was then removed by members of the Pacific neighborhood.
“There were no reported raids on any homes of people who were not Pacific; no raids or random stops were exacted towards European people,” Ardern stated through her apology.