Namatalevu Sisters Allowed to Travel to NZ

The Acting New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji, Caroline Macdonald has today come out with reasons as to why the Namatalevu sisters were not given visas to travel to New Zealand.

Macdonald said the applications of the Namatalevu sisters to enter New Zealand fall within the scope of the visa ban instituted, following the coup in 2006.

But according to Macdonald, there is a provision in the sanctions for the Ministers to grant an exemption to the visa ban on humanitarian grounds.

She said the case for an exemption in the case of the Namatalevu sisters was compelling given the grave illness of their brother and an exemption was granted for the sisters to travel New Zealand.

The sisters needed to fly to New Zealand for a bone marrow transplant for their brother, Osea Namatalevu who has Hodgekinson's lymphoma.