International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill

I move, That the International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

The bill updates New Zealand’s International Crimes and International Criminal Court Act 2000 by adding a series of war crimes amendments that were made to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It will ensure that our implementing legislation remains up to date and will enable our ratification of these important amendments, despite the fact that we’ve taken somewhat a long time to get this ratification occasion.

The bill had its first reading on 3 December 2019 and was referred to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee. The committee reported to the House in May 2020 and recommended that the bill proceed. The bill was read a second time on 24 June 2020, during which time Minister Martin noted that a Supplementary Order Paper would be moved to incorporate the starvation amendment into the bill. The starvation amendment was the most recent war crime amendment to the Rome Statute, which criminalised the starvation of civilians in the context of non-international armed conflict. That amendment was made only after this bill’s introduction and so was not included in the bill at the first instance. However, we welcome that the Supplementary Order Paper has been approved and the bill amended to incorporate this amendment. I am pleased that the process allowed New Zealand to update the primary Act in an effective and efficient manner to now reflect all war crimes amendments to the Rome Statute.

This bill will bring our domestic legislation in line with the most recent war crimes amendments to the Rome Statute and give New Zealand courts jurisdiction over these additional war crimes, in line with our existing legislation. The bill demonstrates New Zealand’s support of the global system of international criminal justice. It includes the rules of international humanitarian and criminal law. New Zealand recognises that these legal regimes form crucial elements of the multilateral rules-based order, and that as a small State committed to the international rule of law and those institutions charged with upholding it, we take our international role and responsibility seriously and encourage others to do the same.

This bill demonstrates our commitment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and all States and parties to the court have a responsibility to ensure their domestic systems and legislative regimes are set up effectively to investigate and prosecute these most serious international crimes under the system of complementarity. At the ICC Assembly of States Parties, New Zealand has supported the inclusion of all these additional war crimes in the Rome Statute. We are pleased that we will now have the chance to give effect to these amendments in our domestic law.

I’d like to thank all those who submitted on this bill and the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee for its work on this bill as well as examination of the starvation amendment. Sometimes these sorts of things can sound like they’re boring and tedious and time consuming, but the reality is it’s through measures like this, taken by countries all round the world who have and share our values and the ability to impose greater pressure—indeed, embarrassment—on nations who do not follow the rule of law, that change internationally may well much more quickly happen. So I commend the International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill to the House.

National supports the passing of this bill to incorporate into New Zealand law a number of amendments, as the Rt Hon Winston Peters has said, from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court concerning war crimes.

The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee conducted an international treaty examination of the war crimes amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court early this year, and recommended a bill be passed subsequently. Domestic legislation is required to bring any international treaties into force, and, as a result, we support, as I say, the passage of this bill today. We welcome the war crimes amendments and hope they will discourage the use of inhumane weaponry.

I wasn’t on the committee, and I came to the foreign affairs spokesperson role for the Opposition relatively recently. I am not, either, an international jurisprudence expert. I am sure Mr Peters is; he’s an expert in most things—just ask him. Humility is his middle name, and I’m sure he’s all over this like a rash.

I’m not. But what I would say is just two brief general comments. The first, and it’s a good thing about New Zealand, is that all parties, more or less, in this Parliament and probably, actually, most of them outside this Parliament as well, support multilateralism, support the rule of law, and support international bodies with power, with teeth, and the ability to do things. That’s true whether it’s the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, the UN, or many others besides. It’s certainly also true of the International Criminal Court.

I wouldn’t say I’m cynical; I would say, though, I think, as a former UN secretary once said, “These bodies aren’t going to get us to heaven, but they can save us from hell.” So we, in supporting this bill, stand up as a small country, and as the Opposition, for multilateralism, the rule of law, and supporting these international bodies in what they do—their important work.

The final point I simply wanted to make was that I think we can all, if we think about it, agree that the means and ability of humanity to hurt each other and to inflict misery and sadness, tragically, regrettably, can be infinite. If you see the amendments that we’ve made, they are a step and a way in which we as a Parliament can stand against that misery and those ways of inflicting, as I say, misery, hurt, death on people around our globe. The Ministers referred, for example, to the amendment around starvation. If we thought about that and dwelt on that for very long, I think we could all agree what an awful state of affairs it is that an amendment like that is necessary or desirable in this bill. But there it is. In passing this law today, the New Zealand Parliament, I’m sure as one—certainly from the Opposition’s perspective—stands up against such inhumane international crimes.

I want to acknowledge the leadership of the Rt Hon Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the role that he plays on behalf of New Zealand, not only throughout the Pacific region but globally, and commend him for moving the International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill quickly at its third reading. This is evidence of the Government’s quick action on updating our international commitment and obligations and is further evidence of what good governance looks like. It also demonstrates what good political leadership looks like, and I commend this bill to the House.

Just a few observations on this bill. National’s been very supportive of the changes. I think it echoes what, actually, previous speakers have said, which is this Parliament supporting multilateral efforts. But that’s probably the area I want to put most of my time into. Just around the bill itself and the amendment around starvation, it all makes a lot of sense just for the public to, once again, understand that it’s really important as an exercise of New Zealand’s sovereignty that we pass domestic legislation in order to bring international treaties into effect.

So can I acknowledge the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee and all its members who worked hard on both of these. This came through, if you will, in two tranches: one around the likes of poisoned weapons, expanding bullets, and so forth, and then a little later around starvation. I thank, obviously, the officials. I’m mightily impressed with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials, I have to say, and through the Minister to thank them for their work, not only on this but also certainly the briefings and the insight that they give me in my role.

I will say that the process to get us here was a little untidy. I think it’s good that we’ve had a Supplementary Order Paper to resolve the starvation matter, but in terms of parliamentary process, it has been a little untidy, if not resolved today.

Two last points: international crimes and the International Criminal Court sit within a framework of multilateralism and rule of law. We must continue to work hard and stridently to support that. I would add we need to do that along with our allies. There are growing malevolent forces out there in the world who are not playing by the rules, who believe they are a rule unto themselves, and who are quite prepared to use their strength and clout—military, economic, or otherwise—to push us around. They know who they are. I’m going to give them the dignity today of not naming them, but those actors need to be warned, and New Zealand needs to stand very strongly with its traditional allies and those who do support multilateralism and the rule of law.

The final call is that the Minister is clearly enthusiastic for passing bills like this. I would ask in our final two weeks that the Autonomous Sanctions Bill be put on Order Paper No. 1. In fact, I see the Leader of the House here. Throw it into the urgency motion. New Zealand needs this. Here is your opportunity to be remembered and to give me a chance to do another speech praising the Government for its actions. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Tēnā koutou katoa. I’m actually a proud member of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee and I would like to acknowledge our chair, Simon O’Connor.

So this International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill, essentially, adds to the current list of war crimes that were agreed at the annual Assembly of States Parties in December 2017. For our information, we’ve added to the list of crimes weapons that use microbial agents, biological agents, or toxins; weapons that injure by fragments that are undetectable by X-rays; and blinding laser weapons. What the Supplementary Order Paper does is also add the crime of starvation, which was a recommendation by the State parties in December 2019.

What I want to reassure the House about is that, as a select committee, we did consult with the public in March regarding the starvation amendment, and we actually reported back to the House in May 2020. So the addition of the starvation amendment is pragmatic because, essentially, our report back would then trigger a piece of legislation. So rather than have a completely new piece of legislation, the Minister has added the starvation amendment, and I want to note that in our select committee report, we did say, and I quote, “The Government intends the treaty to be implemented through an amendment to legislation.” So we’ve been transparent with the public.

I also just want to acknowledge that we ratified the Rome Statute in September 2000, so this is a 20-year-old document. Essentially what it does is determines what is an international crime. As we all know, starvation as a method of warfare—I just want to particularly highlight that—is about depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival. So we’re talking about food and water. It was a crime in international disputes; it’s now, via this amendment, also a crime in non-international conflicts. So this is where there are conflicts internally within countries. I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.

It is a great pleasure to stand and take a call on this bill, the International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill. I haven’t actually sat on the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee; I’ve only just recently come on to the committee, but can I acknowledge the chair, Simon O’Connor, and the other select committee members that have worked on this bill. Can I acknowledge the Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, who is in the House and is the sponsor of this bill, and just put on the record that that New Zealand has got a very long and proud record of taking strong stands on international bodies.

I’d go back to the genocide that we saw unfold in Rwanda. We can be very proud as a nation that we took a stand and said that there needed to be a much stronger intervention in support of, at the time, the head of the UN mission there, General Roméo Dallaire, to prevent the type of genocide that we saw unfolding. We stand here today in this House of Representatives in New Zealand, right down the bottom of the world, in a relatively peaceful country, but right now, as we all stand here in this House taking calls, there are people that are suffering under corrupt regimes that’ve got no interest in upholding basic human rights and are bullied and suffer terribly under those regimes.

The one thing that I think is very important in this bill is the highlighting of “poison or poisoned weapons”, “asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases, and analogous liquids, materials, or devices”. It was only recently, if you think back just in the last 10 or 15 years, when we remember those terrible images of the Kurds that suffered under Saddam Hussein’s regime and the contorted bodies of children that had been subjected to poisonous gas attacks—just innocent, innocent victims with no ability at all to be able to escape or defend themselves or any chance of survival whatsoever.

So I do want to acknowledge the Minister. I do want to acknowledge that this is an important amendment bill, in support of what is being passed, and just say that we as a country should continue to constantly look at ways that we can even take a—even though we’re a small nation, constantly look at ways that we can continue to take a lead on the abolition of military-style rifles like the AK-47, that wreaks so much harm and havoc around the world, and things like these poisonous gases. So I want to stand in support of this bill. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Kia ora, Madam Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. I rise on behalf of the Green Party to support this legislation. It’s a positive step forward. I think the next steps our country needs to take are to criminalise the crime of ecocide and also ratify the Kampala amendment to have a crime of international aggression. These are the next steps we as a country need to take. Kia ora.

Kia ora, Madam Speaker. I take a short call on this and acknowledge the Minister of Foreign Affairs in so doing, and also the officials and the advisers and the members of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, which I am not a member of, but I have substituted in on different occasions and have been fascinated.

As is heard, the National Party support this bill. I won’t go into the detail, other than saying that it expands the list of war crimes. These are war crimes that during the course of my lifetime, I never factored in. I remember watching movies as a child—I remember my childhood—and a key figure of note on the global scene in relation to breaches of humanitarian and the genocide that was happening was Idi Amin in the 1970s. So growing up, that lifted my consciousness around warfare and the atrocities of that. And then, moving through, watching spy movies—which I thought were so surreal but in today’s age are so real. The movies that come to mind, of course, for many of us are the James Bond movies—growing up watching those and thinking, “My goodness, sci-fi.” But it’s not; it’s the reality of today.

So the war crimes that this bill incorporates into the New Zealand jurisdiction: expanding the inclusion of poison or poisoned weapons; asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases; expanding bullets; and then, of course, the microbial agents, biological agents, or toxins; weapons that injure by fragments that are undetectable by X-rays; and blinding laser weapons.

We will also reflect and recall in recent years, prior to me coming into Parliament, the Alexander Litvinenko poisoning case, where, by way of the exposure to chemical gas, he died within the course of three weeks. Then, as recently as 4 March 2018, during the course of our service as MPs, was Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, being on a beach in Salisbury, being subjected to these toxins that almost took their lives.

We have a duty of responsibility on the international global scene as New Zealanders. This incorporates that we deal with this within our own jurisdiction, but we are one of a party on the international global world warfare international responsibilities and that duty of care. So I commend this bill to the House, with all of the colleagues standing here in Parliament to take calls today. Kia ora.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is just a very short call to acknowledge the Minister and the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, who has worked on this. As I have heard in the debate today, it’s a very positive step forward for Aotearoa, for New Zealand, and it’s positive that there is support across the House for it. I commend the bill to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Good to have the opportunity to contribute to this, the International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill. My own contribution, like that of others, will be relatively brief. I do just want to touch on a couple of points under the headings of why, what, when, and who.

On the subject of why, obviously we are aligning domestic law and international law. A couple of other speakers, including the Minister and also the Hon Simon Bridges on our side of the House, have mentioned that. It’s not merely a matter of aligning the two, of course, but domestic law is needed to give effect to the international law, so from that perspective, it’s a worthwhile thing that we do to pass this legislation in the House today.

As for the “what”, of course, the subject matter has been traversed, at least briefly, in the House today—very briefly in the case of the committee of the whole House stage. But I did note with interest an exchange between Simon O’Connor on our side of the fence—but wearing his hat, I suspect, as much as anything, as the chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee. The Minister was able to answer a question in relation to starvation being a weapon of war, essentially, which is a sad thing to reflect as far as human nature is concerned. But the Minister noted rightly enough that these things invariably take a lot of time to come to our attention and to be given effect to within the international context. So that’s an interesting heads-up, I guess, for the future, that we should expect more of such legislation and international instruments to be updated continually to reflect, sadly, the inventiveness of the human mind, such that we need to continually work to understand the ways in which we find ways to do harm to each other.

So that covers the “what”, really, although I would just point anyone who’s interested in more detail to the report of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee. It’s got a commendable amount of detail on these different offences that are being updated within the international criminal context and, again, as I say, our own domestic arrangements.

I’ve covered the “when” aspect somewhat by noting, as the Minister had, that the wheels do grind slowly, and the ongoing nature of these kinds of updates that we need to pass, for the reason of updated technology, I suppose—just to look at such detail as expanding bullets and microbial agents and toxins and undetectable weapons that injure by fragments and so on.

I’ll just complete my remarks with an observation on the “who” aspect, by which I don’t mean the World Health Organization but rather those who are involved. We stand today at the intersection of diplomatic, legal, and political worlds, among others, probably. So I do want to acknowledge all those who’ve been involved, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and others within the broader sense of Government, and also the Government of the day, as joined by the Opposition. As you will have heard, we are having no hesitation in commending the bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I start by just acknowledging the Minister, the Rt Hon Winston Peters, for shepherding this piece of legislation through the House. It’s an important piece of legislation, and I want to also acknowledge that it’s really good to see that it has across the House party support. Everything has been said previously, so I just want to finish off by saying I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to take a call on the International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill at its third reading—a bill which the National Party supports as it incorporates into New Zealand law a number of amendments from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court concerning war crimes. I just want to acknowledge the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, ably chaired by my colleague Simon O’Connor, for the work that they’ve done in considering the bill and the submissions that have been taken into account.

I just want to acknowledge the Minister of Foreign Affairs as well for bringing this important bill to this Parliament, a bill which expands the list of war crimes subject to the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction, allowing the court to hold individuals criminally responsible for them. This is the type of legislation which is about ensuring that we maintain the highest levels and standards in this very serious area—war being an area which no one in this House wants us to partake in, but standards, nevertheless, need to be in our legislation that New Zealand needs to be a party of. The amendments make it a war crime to employ the following in a non-international armed conflict: poison or poisoned weapons; asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases, and materials; expanding bullets; a whole range of microbial agents, biological agents, or toxins—a range of very serious issues which this bill ratifies and I commend it to the House.

I’m very pleased to stand briefly to reaffirm the Labour Party’s support for this piece of legislation, the International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill. New Zealand has a proud history of standing up for the international rule of law and human rights, going back to events such as our isolated stand in the League of Nations to try and defend Abyssinia from annexation; the role of Peter Fraser in the Labour Government of that time, at the founding of the United Nations; our own use of the International Criminal Court to stop French atmospheric testing in the Pacific; and many, many, many other examples of New Zealand playing its part and engaging in a stable and peaceful international order.

This piece of legislation is a part of that evolution. It clearly puts into frame a range of awful techniques and practices that should be outlawed, and I’m very pleased that we are continuing to play our role, following on from that strong history as a country that believes in international human rights. I commend the bill to the House.

Bill read a third time.