Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Thank you, Chair.
Further to the CANZ Statement, we provide the following remarks in our national capacity.
We know that too often those least responsible for conflict bear its heaviest costs. Recent and ongoing conflicts continue to impose this unacceptable harm on civilians and communities at alarming levels.
As part of this we see increased use of weapons that are indiscriminate, or highly prone to indiscriminate effect, such as anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, and the reduction of global funding available to respond to the long-term harm they cause. This risks eroding humanitarian norms we have worked so hard to cement.
We must strengthen our shared resolve in the face of these challenges to uphold international law, including international humanitarian law, and strengthen the protection of civilians.
We call upon all States Parties to weapons law conventions to comply fully with their obligations. Through these treaties, we have committed to save lives and prevent unnecessary suffering.
New Zealand remains firmly committed to advancing global efforts to reduce the harm caused by conventional weapons. This includes our obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, as well as our commitment through the Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas.
We also call on States to engage in open multilateral discussions to address the humanitarian harms caused by military devices with incendiary effects, and mines other than anti-personnel mines.
Finally, we are pleased to again be a main sponsor of the resolution on autonomous weapon systems, which points to the important decision before the Review Conference next month. New Zealand calls for all High Contracting Parties to the CCW to engage constructively in this process. It is time to move to negotiation of an effective, legally binding instrument building on the consensus set of elements adopted recently, and we look forward to engaging toward this objective.
Thank you, Chair.