NZ agencies ‘Islamophobic’
Security bodies institutionally racist, terror inquiry told
Kiwi security agencies were “institutionally racist and Islamophobic” and ignored the rising threat of rightwing extremism because it was instead focused on Muslim terrorism, an Islamic organisation says.
The Federation of the Islamic Associations of New Zealand (Fianz) yesterday released its submission to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the March 15 terror attacks.
It investigated how the New Zealand Intelligence Community [NZIC] didn’t foresee the threat of right-wing extremism despite rising attacks overseas and the Muslim community here feeling increasingly unsafe.
“We asked for help. We knew we were vulnerable to such an attack. We did not know who, when, what, where or how. But we knew,” the report said.
A team of researchers pored over a decade of media reports, speeches in Parliament, public addresses, online forums, among other sources, to establish how the threat had been ignored. It concluded security organisations were institutionally racist, Islamophobic, incorrect and misled the New Zealand public.
“We are not trying to generate any hate, we are just trying to give the facts as we see them. The problem is much deeper than that,” said Abdur Razzaq Khan, who chaired the federation’s submission to the inquiry.
The federation said Muslim communities were left “defenceless” because of “systemic failures” of diversity at the security organisations which failed to properly engage with Muslim communities.
The report pointed to numerous examples of the director-general of security, Rebecca Kitteridge, wrongly framing terrorism as a “Muslim issue” rather than seeing the community as potential victims.
Their submission included a speech from Kitteridge in 2016 at Victoria University of Wellington where she said New Zealanders “can walk the streets free from fear” of events like Paris, Brussels, Ottawa, London and Sydney which were all perpetrated by Islamic radicals.
She did not mention events in Oslo, Quebec, Pittsburg or Macerata orchestrated by right-wing extremists.
Not until mid-2018 did agencies begin assessing the threat of rightwing extremists, the report said.
But Khan said they did not blame any individual for the “failings”, or say the NZIC was staffed by white supremacists or individuals with antiMuslim bias. “This is not the fault of any individual — this is the culture of Islamophobia.”
The federation also found the Christchurch mosque attacks terrorist would never have been able to obtain a firearm if proper procedures were followed because two of his referees did not meet police criteria.
To avoid a terror attack happening again, the federation recommended criminalising hate crimes, denying right-wing extremism, establishing a Ministry of Super Diversity, improving how the media portrays Muslims, and better training for police and security agencies.
The NZIC said it could not respond to specific claims until the inquiry’s report is released on December 8. It has been given to the Government.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she wanted the public to see the 800-page report before “launching into the discussion” on whether security agencies had failed.