The Government is leaving open the option of processing asylum seekers offshore.
It has rejected a recommendation made via an agency of the United Nations, which suggests countries should not transfer asylum seekers to detention centres in third countries.
Sri Lankan asylum seekers disembark from their wooden boat in Indonesia. Photo: AFP
Some 155 recommendations were made to New Zealand by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
They were made by member countries and while many were accepted, one from the Czech Republic about not processing asylum seekers in third countries was rejected.
New Zealand's response to that was that it does not want to disregard this as an option if circumstances change.
It also notes that any use by New Zealand of offshore processing centres would require legislative amendment.
Amnesty International has criticised Australia's use of offshore detention centres in Nauru and on Manus Island, saying it has serious concerns about the human rights of the asylum seekers there.
The Green Party's Jan Logie says those people live in brutal conditions and the Government should not be going down a similar track.
She believed the Government is making New Zealand complicit to Australia's approach to asylum seekers.
