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New Zealand is a founding member of the United Nations and strongly supports the principles of collective security and multilateralism enshrined in the UN Charter. Our physical and economic security depends on a properly functioning system of international rule of law and dispute settlement. We rely on collective action to address threats that could affect international peace and prosperity.
New Zealand, while a relatively small player in the United Nations, has a longstanding reputation as a constructive contributor. Currently our annual financial contribution to the United Nations regular budget amounts to $6.7 million. Our total contribution, however, was $22.4 million in 2004/05. This includes assessed costs for United Nations peacekeeping and the two international criminal tribunals (but excludes the contributions NZAID makes to United Nations agencies and programmes).
Co-ordinating responsibility for New Zealand’s engagement with the United Nations rests with the United Nations, Human Rights and Commonwealth Division and our posts in New York, Geneva and Vienna. New Zealand participates actively on a range of issues in the United Nations. These include United Nations reform, security and peacekeeping, human rights, development, international law, disarmament, environment, and pursuing New Zealand candidatures. New Zealand is currently serving on a number of United Nations bodies and peacekeeping operations.
Other MFAT divisions, posts and government agencies which are engaged in specialised multilateral issues also contribute to New Zealand’s overall United Nations effort. NZAID has a significant role.
This year is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. The enormous progress that has been achieved globally through the United Nations, in fields such as human rights, social and economic progress, international legal norms, environment protection and conservation, is well recognised.
But the multilateral system centred on the United Nations has sometimes been slow or unable to perform. The United Nations needs reform to be more effective in addressing contemporary threats and challenges in security (terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, internal and regional conflicts), development (extreme poverty, pandemics, climate change) and continuing gross human rights violations.
2005 will be crucial in determining whether the United Nations can reform its political structures, update its working practices and attract a genuine recommitment to rules-based collective action, especially on the part of its major members. The High Level Summit in New York in September will be the culmination of the major reform effort launched by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2003. Annan himself is nearing the end of his term and has been troubled by the oil-for-food scandal.
New Zealand has strongly supported the reform process, working with traditional partners such as Canada, Australia and Nordic countries as well as participating in the cross regional group of friends of United Nations reform led by Mexico.
New Zealand can support many of the Secretary-General’s reform proposals. Key New Zealand priorities include the establishment of a Peacebuilding Commission, the principles of Responsibility to Protect, reform of the human rights machinery, the development agenda, a comprehensive convention on terrorism and institutional reforms.
It has been New Zealand’s strong hope that, as the Secretary-General has urged, a balanced and comprehensive plan of action to strengthen key parts of the United Nations system will be agreed in September.
Security Council reform is among the most sensitive and difficult issues, and the international community is far from agreement on it. New Zealand’s overriding concern is to ensure that the Security Council is more effective and reflective of current geopolitical realities. We have stated that any satisfactory expansion of the Security Council would need to include Japan. In line with our position on the veto in the Security Council since 1945, we have opposed any expansion of the veto. We also believe firmly in the principle of accountability. With respect to the addition of new permanent members, our strong preference would be for a mechanism which provides for permanent membership to be ‘reviewable’.
Some other issues look more likely to achieve a satisfactory outcome. The Peacebuilding Commission proposal, for example, has attracted wide support from across the United Nations membership. Given the far-reaching nature of many of the reforms proposed, work on their implementation is expected to be an ongoing process, extending well beyond the September summit.
The inquiry was established by the Secretary-General in 2004 to look into allegations of corruption in the OFFP. The OFFP was a complex programme of humanitarian assistance which was designed to deliver relief to the Iraqi population from 1996 to 2003 when Iraq was subject to Security Council sanctions. The positive achievements of the OFFP have been overshadowed by the allegations against those involved in the programme.
The Inquiry Committee released it final report on 7 September. It was a balanced report. It found that the OFFP was broadly successful, however at the same time, there were serious failings which damaged the reputation and credibility of the United Nations. While the overall management performance of the Secretary-General and his Deputy was found to have fallen short of the standards the UN should strive to maintain, Panel Chair Volcker emphasised that responsibility for the failings of the OFFP ‘must be broadly shared starting with Member States and the Security Council itself’.
Three previous interim reports have found mismanagement, one case of conflict of interest on the part of one senior United Nations employee, the connection of the Secretary-General’s son to a Swiss inspection firm (Cotecna) which had an OFFP contract, and evidence of corruption by two United Nations employees.
One dismissal and a number of management actions have been taken to date to improve accountability and transparency in the United Nations Secretariat. The Secretary-General made available to Mr Volcker all relevant documents for the continuing investigation. He waived the diplomatic immunity of the employees concerned so that criminal proceedings against them could proceed. The Secretary-General has firmly denied any involvement on his part in the bidding of OFFP contracts by Cotecna, and the final report found that the evidence was not reasonably sufficient to conclude that the Secretary-General had acted inappropriately.
A further report is expected to be released in October on the activities of private sector companies that purchased oil and supplied humanitarian goods to the OFFP.
New Zealand is strongly supportive of United Nations reform, including management and administrative reform.
The Secretary-General has given this issue top priority. Investigations have been completed into allegations involving 152 peacekeeping personnel, and disciplinary action has been taken where necessary. The Deputy Secretary-General has toured many peacekeeping operations this year to emphasise the United Nations’ zero tolerance policy against sexual exploitation and abuse. The Security Council and General Assembly have lent their weight to these efforts by focusing intensively on the unacceptability of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel anywhere in the world.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s second term in office will end on 31 December 2006. The Asian Regional Group considers it to be their turn to hold the position (as does the Eastern European Group). There appears to be a level of support for this view, although there is no United Nations Charter requirement for regional rotation. Since 1946, United Nations Secretaries-General have come from Norway, Sweden, Burma (Myanmar), Austria, Peru, Egypt, and now Ghana.
From the Asian Group, Thailand and Sri Lanka have put forward candidates for the position. The Thai candidate is Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai. The Sri Lankan candidate is Jayantha Dhanapala, a Sri Lankan diplomat who was Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament under Kofi Annan and is now Sri Lanka’s chief official on the peace process with the Tamil Eelam. Other candidates from Asian countries and elsewhere may yet emerge.
Traditional peacekeeping operations have evolved into more complex multidimensional peace support operations and increasingly include a number of new tasks, from security sector reform, development of the rule of law, to good governance. Peace support is moving beyond just military involvement to include police, development assistance and other civilian interventions. Other trends in peacekeeping include: the emergence of regional and multinational “coalition of the willing” interventions; a marked decline in personnel contributions from developed countries to UN-led peacekeeping operations (although developed countries continue to pay the larger proportion of the UN peacekeeping bill); and a growing demand for peacekeeping operations in Africa.
New Zealand’s current contributions to peace support missions are either UN-led or UN-endorsed. New Zealand tends to focus on multiple, small-scale, niche contributions rather than the bulk supply of personnel and equipment. Over 200 New Zealand personnel are currently engaged in peace support initiatives in 12 countries in the Middle East (including Operation Enduring Freedom), Afghanistan, Balkans, Africa, Korea and the Pacific. Most missions comprise less than five personnel.
In March 2005 Cabinet endorsed a Review of New Zealand Contributions to Peacekeeping and Peace Support Operations. The Review established revised guidelines for considering peacekeeping requests, and a process by which those requests are handled by officials; considered the future demand for contributions in 2005/2006; and instituted an annual strategic review of peacekeeping deployments that will provide Cabinet with an understanding of the scope of possible requests over the next year. Specific peacekeeping requests are, however, still considered individually.
Participation in both UN-led and UN-endorsed peace support operations is one of the most tangible expressions of New Zealand’s commitment to collective security and the rule of law. New Zealand has strongly supported systemic reforms in United Nations peacekeeping aimed at improving its overall effectiveness, including efforts to address the serious problem of sexual exploitation by peacekeepers. We have a particular role to play in backing peace support efforts in our region and our broader commitment to collective security and the rule of law are likely to require ongoing contributions elsewhere in the world.
The next annual strategic peacekeeping review is due with Cabinet in March 2006. In addition, mandates for many of New Zealand’s current missions are due to expire from December 2005. Ministers will need to make decisions on extensions or terminations of existing missions, as well as decisions on possible new missions as they arise.
The pursuit of New Zealand’s interests internationally requires legal input into New Zealand’s engagement in a large number of institutions and processes ranging from the major multilateral bodies such as the United Nations and the WTO to an array of regional and bilateral arrangements and negotiations dealing with political and economic cooperation, international trade, security, disarmament, counter terrorism, access to and allocation of natural resources, environmental protection and many other issues. Globalisation has accentuated the trans-boundary dimensions of all those issues, which in some respects have evolved ahead of the international community’s ability to make rules to manage them.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade has primary responsibility for advising the Government on matters of international law and for informing Cabinet of the legal implications of all international treaty actions. The Legal Division of the Ministry provides that legal advice to the Minister. Its role includes:
s a small outward-looking trading nation, New Zealand relies on the effective implementation and enforcement of existing international trade rules, and has a strong interest in the development of any new rules. Our interests in international trade and economic law include: implementing our own obligations; monitoring our trading partners’ compliance with international rules and (where applicable and appropriate) enforcing these rules through dispute settlement; and active participation in the negotiation of new rules to ensure these are consistent with the existing frameworks and New Zealand’s interests.
Australia apples access: A decision will have to be taken on whether to proceed with WTO dispute settlement following New Zealand’s inscription of this issue on the agenda of the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary Committee.
It will be a considerable challenge to complete the Treaty examination process and enact the implementing legislation to enable New Zealand to ratify the Trans Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement by the target date of 1 January 2006.
Legal input is being provided into:
New Zealand has a strong interest in supporting an international system that is underpinned by the rule of law to guarantee international peace and security and to create the best conditions for economic growth and prosperity for New Zealand and New Zealanders. Respect for the rule of law is a core New Zealand value and, as a good international citizen, New Zealand seeks to play a constructive role in the negotiation of new international instruments on issues of importance to us.
Counter-terrorism
New Zealand
implements many of its international counter terrorism
obligations through the Terrorism Suppression Act
2002. Section 70 of that Act requires a Select
Committee review of the Act’s key provisions
to be completed before 1 December 2005. The
Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Select Committee
(FADTC) began work on this Review in May 2005. Officials
of the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs
and Trade have been assisting the Committee with
its Review. Substantive reports have been
requested by FADTC and will be available for consideration
when FADTC resumes post-election.
Cabinet approval has been obtained for New Zealand to sign the Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism when it opens for signature in New York on 14 September. Following signature in September officials will ask the Government to consider initiating the Treaty Examination Process to allow New Zealand to ratify this convention. A small number of legislative amendments will be required.
World leaders are expected to call for the conclusion of negotiations on a draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism at the UN High Level Summit in New York between 14 - 16 September. This will require resolution of the current deadlock between western and Islamic states on whether the acts of national liberation movements should be excluded from the scope of the convention and the actions of states included. New Zealand officials will participate when negotiations resume at the UN in October.
International
Criminal Law
New Zealand
signed the UN Convention Against Corruption when
it opened for signature in December 2003. In
July 2005 Cabinet Policy Committee agreed to the
creation of new criminal offences relating to bribery
and other changes necessary to implement the Corruption
Convention in domestic law. This approval
was subject to completion of the treaty examination
process. Drafting instructions have been
provided to the Parliamentary Council Office. Cabinet
approval will be sought to initiate the treaty
examination process later this year.
Officials will participate in the annual Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court from 28 November – 2 December. Samoan Judge, Neroni Slade, will stand for re-election to the ICC in January 2006. Ministers have agreed that New Zealand should actively support his re-election.
Human
Rights
New Zealand
is a party to the Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights allowing
individual complaints to the United Nations Human
Rights Committee. There are currently three cases
against New Zealand before the Committee:
(concerning immigration) (concerning
child custody) (concerning
parole).
Cabinet has approved New Zealand becoming party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, which provides for regular preventive visits to places of detention by independent international and national bodies of experts. FADTC has the treaty on its agenda. Implementing legislation will be required after the treaty examination process is complete.
New Zealand’s Foreshore and Seabed legislation was considered by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in March 2005 under its early warning/urgent action procedure. The Committee considered that the legislation appeared, on balance, to contain discriminatory aspects against Maori but acknowledged with appreciation the Government’s tradition of negotiation with Maori. New Zealand has been asked to report on implementation of the legislation in its periodic report to the Committee due in December this year.
Defence
New Zealand
is a significant contributor to the Regional Assistance
Mission in Solomon Islands (RAMSI). Three
civil cases have been brought in the Solomon Islands
High Court against members of the Participating
Police Force. New Zealand officials
(MFAT, Police and Crown Law) are working closely
with the Australians in responding to these cases. The
cases are of general importance because of their
political impact on whether RAMSI personnel enjoy
immunity from prosecution under Solomon Islands
law as was envisaged under the original arrangements
with the Solomon Islands Government.
New Zealand also is working to facilitate arrangements for ongoing New Zealand deployments to operations in Afghanistan.
Disarmament/Non-proliferation
New Zealand,
as a participating member of a number of multilateral
non-proliferation arrangements, has been urged to
adopt what is broadly referred to as a “catch-all” provision
to enhance its strategic export control regime. A
catch-all provision enables controls to be placed
on the export of everyday goods not covered by existing
controls where there are reasonable grounds to believe
that the goods are intended to be used for an undesirable
strategic purpose, e.g. production of a weapon of
mass destruction (WMD). The Cabinet Business
Committee has agreed to an amendment to section 56
of the Customs and Excise Act 1996 to enable the
making of an Customs Export Prohibition Order which
will implement a catchall provision into New Zealand
legislation.
The generally stable relations between the major powers provide the strategic environment in which regional tensions, including in Asia and the Middle East, are managed. The United States remains the world’s pre-eminent military and economic power, and will retain this status for the foreseeable future. This is not to downplay the impact of shifting relationships between the major powers, particularly relating to the US and China, but these impacts will be longer term.
Against this background, transnational threats continue to dominate the international security environment. The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and subsequent attacks in Bali, Madrid, London and elsewhere, have elevated terrorism to the top of international and regional security agendas. While outright “victory” in the international campaign against terrorism is unlikely, preventing or suppressing terrorist attacks will remain a preoccupation for the international community for the foreseeable future.
Regionally, China’s growing political and economic influence remains the dominant trend. Political relationships in Asia are undergoing rapid and potentially far-reaching changes, driven in part by perceptions of a need to respond to the rising power of China. Alongside this process of transformation, there remain longstanding risks, both from regional conflicts (particularly around the Korean peninsula, Taiwan Strait and Indian subcontinent), and from intra state conflict, including in the Pacific.
While New Zealand has not been in the front rank of states affected directly by terrorism, the threat terrorism poses to our interests is real. New Zealand has been an active contributor to international and regional counter-terrorism efforts, particularly in the Pacific. Regional inter-faith dialogue is a new element in this process which New Zealand is keen to foster (see separate brief).
The scale and range of New Zealand’s interests in the Asia Pacific region, and the potential impact of conflict or serious internal unrest on these interests, heighten our concern for regional stability. New Zealand’s interests lie in supporting and encouraging the further evolution of regional dialogue mechanisms to address security issues. Notwithstanding limitations in the mandates, membership and ambitions of many of these fora, they provide important mechanisms for regional dialogue and their work embeds practices of cooperation and consultation that support our regional security goals.
Background
Operation
Enduring Freedom (OEF), principally directed against
Al Qaeda and its Taliban backers in Afghanistan,
was initiated soon after the terrorist attacks
of 11 September 2001. New Zealand
joined this informal coalition on the basis of
UN Security Council resolutions 1368 and 1373.
New Zealand’s military contribution to OEF has included deployments to Afghanistan and the Gulf. A Navy frigate and an Air Force P-3 Orion participated in the OEF Maritime Interdiction Operation in the Gulf region in 2003. In September 2003 New Zealand took over leadership of the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan.
Current deployments under OEF include the 122 person PRT, two police officers with the Bamyan Regional Police Training Centre, two non-commissioned officers assisting with Afghan National Army training, staff officers in the Kabul and Bagram operational headquarters of OEF, support staff elsewhere in the region, and staff in CENTCOM in Tampa, Florida. Special Air Service personnel were deployed for a third mission in Afghanistan for six months from June 2005. New Zealand, additionally, contributes two staff officers and a driver to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters in Kabul. In conjunction with planned NZDF troop rotations, New Zealand C-130 Hercules transport aircraft have been made available for ad hoc tasking within Afghanistan for OEF, ISAF and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
New Zealand’s military intervention has spearheaded a holistic contribution to peace building and reconstruction in Afghanistan through NZAID assistance, and contributed to the development of the bilateral relationship. These elements are covered elsewhere in the MFAT and NZAID post-election briefs.
New Zealand’s
Interests
New Zealand’s
strong support of OEF – along with our military,
police and NZAID commitments – reflects our
recognition of the threat that the ideology and
methods of international terrorism pose to all
governments. Participation in this broad-based
coalition underlines our support for multilateralism
as the most effective means to support international
peace and security. Involvement in OEF also provides
valuable experience in its own right, and in working
with our partners, particularly the UK and US,
in an operational context. New Zealand’s
deployments in Afghanistan specifically reflect
our support for stability and reconstruction there – and
our recognition that failure to stabilise Afghanistan
would have consequences for the global campaign
against terrorism.
Current Issues
The
mandates for various elements of New Zealand’s
military contribution to OEF are due to expire
between November 2005 and September 2006. Decisions
on options for further military contributions to
OEF in 2006 will need to be taken shortly and will
be set out in advice to be prepared jointly by
Defence and MFAT.
Background
A more recent
New Zealand contribution to global security
is our participation in the US-led Proliferation
Security Initiative (PSI). PSI is an international
effort to counter the illegal trafficking of weapons
of mass destruction (WMD), both by states of proliferation
concern and by non-state actors (such as terrorists). PSI
participants (19 in total) take part in exercises
and share policy and legal information, to test
and enhance their ability to prevent and respond
to proliferation scenarios. New Zealand
takes a whole-of-government approach to participation
in PSI, with involvement from the Ministries of
Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence, Transport and
Customs.
New Zealand’s
interests
New Zealand’s
participation in PSI gives tangible expression
to our international commitment to prevent the
proliferation of WMD and provides a further mechanism
for New Zealand to work with other governments
towards this goal. Participation also enhances
New Zealand’s capacity to deter potential
proliferators.
Current
issues
The PSI is
moving rapidly into the discussion and testing
of such issues as border and export controls and
legal counter-proliferation frameworks. This
produces new legal, policy and operational challenges
for PSI participants, including New Zealand.
There are also a number of PSI exercises planned for the coming year, in which New Zealand may wish (or be invited) to participate. Ministers will need to consider both policy development and exercise participation issues.
Background Since the attacks against the US on 11 September 2001, terrorism has been the leading issue on the international security agenda. Reflecting this, the range and scope of international counter-terrorism measures has increased exponentially since 9/11. The UN has been at the forefront of the international counter-terrorism response, though key regional and bilateral partners (e.g. the US and Australia) have also been active. All countries now face substantial economic, political and moral consequences if they do not comply with international counter-terrorism standards.
While the threat of a direct terrorist attack in New Zealand remains relatively low, the existence of a sizeable New Zealand diaspora, and the fact that a significant number of New Zealanders travel overseas means there is a real risk that our citizens and interests will be caught up in offshore terrorist attacks. New Zealand citizens were casualties in the 9/11, Bali and recent London terrorist attacks.
New Zealand has been a committed and active contributor to international and regional counter-terrorism cooperation efforts. There are four main elements to the Ministry’s role. The first has been monitoring and reporting on international counter-terrorism developments of relevance to New Zealand – including in the United Nations, the OECD-based Financial Action Task Force (which develops anti-money laundering/financing of terrorism standards) and multilateral customs and transport security organisations. Significant national, bilateral and regional counter-terrorism policy developments have also been monitored and reported.
The second element relates to New Zealand compliance with new counter-terrorism standards. The Ministry advises on the foreign policy and international legal implications of new standards, participates in the development of new mechanisms to ensure New Zealand compliance, and communicates New Zealand counter-terrorism policy positions to key partners. The primary (but not sole) legislative mechanism by which we give effect to international counter-terrorism obligations is the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 (as amended). The Act criminalises terrorist acts, recruitment and financing, and empowers the Prime Minister to designate individuals and groups as terrorists, including those individuals and entities states are required to designate pursuant to UN Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1267. The Act is currently under review by Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee.
The third element of the Ministry’s counter-terrorism role is promoting enhanced regional counter-terrorism co-operation, particularly in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
New Zealand works with Pacific Island countries to help them comply with international obligations, and to reduce their vulnerability to possible exploitation by trans-national organised criminal groups and terrorist entities. New Zealand has established a $3m Pacific Security Fund to support these activities, which have included the provision of training and capacity building, and the development of model legislation. In November this year New Zealand (in conjunction with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat) will be convening the first ever Forum-wide counter-terrorism contingency planning (tabletop) exercise at the Forum Secretariat headquarters in Suva, Fiji. Bilaterally, we have recently concluded a counter-terrorism Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Fiji, and will be exploring additional potential Pacific MOU partners.
In Southeast Asia, New Zealand participates in counter-terrorism efforts under the auspices of the ASEAN Regional Forum and APEC, and we are active in promoting an ongoing regional interfaith dialogue initiative (outlined below). We have also concluded a joint declaration on counter-terrorism cooperation with ASEAN.
The fourth aspect of the Ministry’s role in counter-terrorism involvement, the consular response to attacks involving New Zealanders overseas, is covered in the consular section of this briefing.
There are a number of counter-terrorism issues where Ministerial decisions may be required in the near future, including:
