4. Hon MARIAN HOBBS (Labour—Wellington Central) Link to this
to the Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control
What actions have been taken by the Government to respond to the loss of lives and livelihood caused by the use of cluster munitions in Lebanon?
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control) Link to this
Today New Zealand will be co-chairing a conference in Norway, which we hope will build momentum towards the international adoption of a legally binding instrument to constrain the use of cluster munitions. New Zealand is playing a leading role at that conference, which will have 45 countries and seven international agencies attending. I was also privileged a fortnight ago to farewell a New Zealand Defence Force contingent that is now working in the Lebanon to locate, map, and destroy cluster munitions and unexploded ordinance.
Why is this conference being held outside of the formal UN process, and what does it hope to achieve?
The formal United Nations review conference on conventional weapons last year regrettably failed to agree on a mandate to launch negotiations to restrict cluster munitions use. That was, in our view, an unacceptable outcome. We have therefore embarked on the alternative route of mobilising support to limit the use of cluster munitions. We hope this conference will provide a roadmap towards strengthening the current international humanitarian law to restrict the use and design of those munitions, and, in fact, New Zealand itself is considering holding a further conference after this one to ensure that that momentum keeps on towards that goal.
What level of contribution is New Zealand making on the ground in Lebanon to deal with cluster munitions, which harm so many hundreds of thousands of young people?
Regrettably, it is young people who are disproportionately the victims of the cluster munitions, which number something like 1.4 million on the ground in south Lebanon. As part of our contribution towards that, we are sending two 10-person explosive ordinance teams that will be based at Tyre in southern Lebanon. They will be working with the United Nations mine coordination centre. The first team is now deployed. It is working in the area where there is the greatest concentration of those munitions. It consists of five people from the Navy and five surveyors from the Army, who will locate and destroy cluster munitions and help people get their lives back together.
Gerry BrownleeIf the Minister is as concerned about this issue as he should be, has he had any discussions with the Minister responsible for the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to ensure that the New Zealand Superannuation Fund does not invest in companies, or is not an investor in a company, that makes the very cluster bombs he is so outraged about?
I have indeed had discussions with the Minister. As the member may well be aware, the Guardians of the New Zealand Superannuation have now divested from, I think, four companies that were manufacturing landmines, and one that was dealing in whale meat. As the member also knows, that board, quite properly, operates at arm’s length from political control—and the member voted for the clause in the bill that required that. The guardians have become members of the United Nations Global Compact, which sets out the requirements for proper investment and proper activity for a good corporate citizen. It is also a founding member of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. It is now looking at areas beyond the international requirements, such as nuclear weapons, to look at whether it is appropriate that New Zealand has any investment in firms dealing with those areas. There will also be a member’s bill before the House. I look forward to seeing how the member votes on it.