18 Dec 2008

New Zealand flies home Indians stranded on Niue for two years

4:14 pm on 18 December 2008

The New Zealand Government has chartered an aircraft to fly nine Indians from Niue to Fiji, from where they travelled to India this week, after being stranded on Niue for more than two years.

The Punjabi men had been enticed to Niue with promises of employment and land, and each had reportedly paid a New Zealand Indian tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege.

They ended up living in poor conditions and earlier this year the then New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark accused the Niue Government of breaching their human rights.

The New Zealand High Commissioner to Niue, Bryan Smythe, says New Zealand had no option but to pay their fares home.

"These nine had been left here in here in most unfortunate circumstances. They had been misled when they were brought here and they were not facing good conditions at all in Niue, with an ongoing problem that needed to be resolved and this was the best way of sorting it out, in conjunction with the International Organisation of Migration."

The Indians had been denied transit through Auckland which is the only airport with regular links with Niue.

Mr Smythe says three Indians have remained on Niue.