NZ backs stronger chemical arms ban
New Zealand and the United Kingdom have welcomed measures to strengthen the global ban against chemical weapons, following a spate of recent attacks.
The two countries are among the states to have joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, the global treaty banning chemical weapons, which held an emergency meeting in The Netherlands this week.
The UK’s calls for identifying the the perpetrators of chemical weapons were supported by 30 states, including New Zealand.
Acting British High Commissioner to New Zealand Helen Smith said she welcomed the fact the international community had voted overwhelmingly in favour of the UK’s proposal to strengthen the global ban against chemical weapons, and agreed the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) should begin work immediately on identifying those responsible for chemical attacks in Syria. The countries condemned ‘‘in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons by anyone, under any circumstances, emphasising that any use of chemical weapons anywhere, at any time, by anyone, under any circumstances is unacceptable and contravenes international norms and standards’’.
As well as supporting immediate action on identifying those responsible for chemical attacks, or suspected chemical weapon attacks in Syria, the supporting countries also agreed that whenever chemical weapons use occurred on the territory of one of these countries, ‘‘those who were the perpetrators, organisers, sponsors or otherwise involved should be identified’’.
Smith said the UK and New Zealand had been working extremely closely together, along with a wide range of like-minded partners, to ensure the global taboo against chemical weapons remained intact and their use did not become normalised, after the recent spate of chemical weapons attacks in Syria, Salisbury and Kuala Lumpur.
Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control Winston Peters said he welcomed the conference’s decision to establish a mechanism that formally identified perpetrators of chemical weapon attacks so they could be held to account.
‘‘It is vital that the international community comes together to ensure the prohibition on chemical weapons is upheld.
‘‘New Zealand supported this meeting and its outcome because the recent chemical attacks in Syria, Iraq, Malaysia, and the UK seriously risk undermining the global norm against the use of this horrific type of weapon.’’
New Zealand would continue to work with other countries to ensure chemical weapons were never used under any circumstances, Peters said.
Earlier this year, Peters was criticised for refusing to immediately point the finger at Russia following a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy on UK soil, as the UK and other countries had done.
Following backlash Jacinda Ardern and Peters issued a joint statement saying there was no other plausible explanation for who was responsible, adding Russia’s reaction to the attack had been ‘‘cynical’’. New Zealand also imposed a travel ban on the Russians expelled by other allied nations, following the nerve agent attack on a former Russian double-agent and his daughter in the UK.
Several nations, including every other Five Eyes partner, have expelled a number of Russian diplomats following the attack.
The ban applies to the diplomats expelled by our Five Eyes partners and other close allies, affecting at least 100 Russian nationals.
Just weeks later, a chemical attack in Syria killed dozens of men, women and children in a besieged Syrian enclave near Damascus.
Ardern expressed ‘‘the strongest condemnation’’ of the attack in eastern Ghouta, Syria, while Peters labelled it a war crime.
‘‘When we know who to point the finger at, we’ll point the finger then ... It’s abhorrent, and it’s against international laws and standards,’’ Peters said at the time.
Ardern added New Zealand was not shy about laying blame at the feet of the Syrian Government or Russia if that’s what the evidence found.