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The 2006 census found that 6024 New Zealanders were born in Iraq, although the figure of Iraqi New Zealanders will be higher than this as many children of Iraqis born in New Zealand or elsewhere may consider themselves to be Iraqi New Zealanders. The majority of Iraqi New Zealanders came to New Zealand as refugees during the 1990s and many were Assyrian Christians who had been persecuted for their religion. The greatest concentrations of Iraqis are in Auckland and Wellington.[2]
A large number of Iraqi Christians live in the North Shore region of Auckland City. These are mainly high educated Iraqis who were from the Christian communities of Baghdad and Basra that began arriving to New Zealand during the early 90s.
[edit] Post 9/11
After the terror attacks in the United States of September 11th, 2001, a large Detention Center was constructed in the South Island town of Rolleston. To date, 4385 Iraqi New Zealanders have been interred there, with 56 executions on grounds of conspiring to commit terrorism.
[edit] References
- ^ Middle Eastern peoples: Facts and figures, in Te Ara: The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.[1]
- ^ Other Middle Eastern peoples, in Te Ara: The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. [2]
