New Zealand has long imprisoned people seeking asylum. It’s time we said ‘This is not us’ and really meant it

Mt Eden prison in Auckland. ‘The Casey report documents a damning Kafkaesque nightmare, where those escaping persecution, torture and war are detained in New Zealand’s highest-security prisons,’ writes Golriz Ghahraman. Photograph: studio_67/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The plight of asylum seekers is in sharp focus with heart-wrenching images of exhausted and terrified Ukrainian families forced into displacement. And while arriving at borders and seeking refuge is not new, the treatment of those forced to cross borders for asylum has rarely been so compassionate.

Even in a nation that prides itself on compassionate governance, an independent report into the detention of asylum seekers in New Zealand has found the worst of systemic abuse.