NZ needs to be seen standing up for Ukraine
New Zealand has had military involvement as part of international alliances in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. If the Ukrainian conflict were to widen, and we were asked to send troops, should we? An MP from each side of the house gives their views.
In the red corner
The harrowing images and accounts of unimaginable suffering coming out of Ukraine underlines the consequences of Russia’s unjustified, unproved aggression.
New Zealand has been strong in our condemnation of this invasion and has joined the international community in calling on Russia to immediately cease military operations in Ukraine to avoid a catastrophic and pointless loss of innocent life.
From the outset it was clear that
Russia’s invasion posed a significant threat to peace and security in the region and would trigger a humanitarian crisis, with large numbers of people across Ukraine immediately fleeing towards to border countries.
New Zealand was one of the first to provide humanitarian aid for Ukraine, with a focus on supporting health facilities and meeting basic needs such as provision of food and hygiene items.
We also moved to fast-track support for Ukrainians to remain or return to New Zealand immediately. And, with the recently increased refugee programme, the Government is working closely with international partners and stands ready to assist as required.
The Government will continue to monitor events closely as the scale of the conflict, and the resulting humanitarian crisis, becomes clearer. We know the consequences of Russia’s actions will be significant, and tragically many of these will fall on innocent people.
In terms of military aid, it is often nations with large military operations that are able to deploy equipment, and potentially personnel. New Zealand is in a different category in that regard. But the Government will continue to work through options consistent with New Zealand’s unequivocal opposition to Russia’s actions.
Russia has demonstrated a disregard for diplomacy and efforts to avoid conflict. And, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, they have also displayed a blatant disregard for international law and abdicated their responsibility to uphold global peace and security.
Russia must face the consequences of those decisions. That is why, in addition to implementing an initial suite of sanctions, we have taken the significant step of passing a specific Russia Sanctions Billa.
This is the first time a law of this nature has been brought before our Parliament, but with Russia vetoing United Nations sanctions we had no choice but to take this step.
My thoughts continue to be with the people of Ukraine.
In the blue corner
Over the last fortnight we have seen images and videos of everyday Ukrainian citizens, business people, retail workers, sportspeople and many more having to stand guard to protect their homeland.
It cannot be put into words what it must be like for those people, and I send my deepest sympathies to those in Ukraine. What Russia is doing is outrageous.
The first casualty of war is the truth, and Putin proved this by calling the invasion a ‘peacekeeping’ mission, but it is obviously anything but, and New Zealand needs to be seen standing up for the Ukrainians in the best way we can.
Unfortunately our Government has been slow to act and in the first two weeks of the invasion the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs were tardy and feeble in condemning Russia.
National has consistently called for an autonomous sanctions legislation, and if Labour hadn’t voted down the Hon.
Gerry Brownlee’s Autonomous Sanctions Bill last year we could have acted much sooner than we have.
The United Nations Security Council framework is limited in a scenario like this, because Russia can easily veto any decision.
New Zealand needs to be able to bypass the Security Council on issues like this, and having a three-week delay on introducing sanctions because the Government cannot sort their act out is frankly embarrassing on the international stage.
Thankfully after being pushed, the Government introduced the Russia Sanctions Bill last week, with unanimous support across the house.
The bill allows New Zealand to apply economic and diplomatic sanctions against Russia, alongside other larger economies, as a means of de-escalation. Almost all of us would rather see Russia stand down because they cannot fund a war, rather than use violence which would end the lives of countless people on both sides of the conflict.
Our partners have clearly indicated that, at this stage, they will not be taking any military action against Russia.It has been well over two weeks since the start of Russia’s inhumane and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, and at this point in time Russia is showing no sign of slowing down.
We are half a world away from Ukraine, but that shouldn’t stop New Zealand upholding the rights of state sovereignty and international laws and norms. Since passing the Russia Sanctions Bill we can now stand in unison with our traditional western allies and take a concerted effort in ending this terrible and wrongful conflict.