Christchurch Call signing ‘significant’

CHRISTCHURCH: Muslims in Christchurch welcomed the signing of the Christchurch Call, which aims to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.

Seventeen countries, the European Commission and eight major tech companies signed up to the accord in Paris.

‘‘The achievement is significant,’’ Muslim Association of Canterbury spokesman Anthony Green said.

‘‘It won’t wipe out the emotion that drives these things, but if it helps to remove the platform, then that is to be welcomed.’’

But in a blow to the strength of the mandate, the United States has chosen not to sign despite extensive diplomatic efforts and the fact that a representative was in Paris at a parallel meeting of G7 digital ministers.

The call is still an unprecedented agreement between governments and all the major tech companies for ongoing collaboration to make the internet safer.

The White House will not sign the agreement amid US concerns it clashes with constitutional protections for free speech.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern noted the United States’ support for the call’s principles.

The US reluctance to sign up was in part mitigated by the commitments of the tech companies, which were mainly based there, she said. Dialogue with the US was ongoing.

Mr Green said he was disappointed the US refused to sign up to the agreement.

‘‘American people should start to reflect seriously on the status of America as a significant outlier on so many issues.’’

The Christchurch Call is the culmination of weeks of intensive work across many government departments, involving thousands of officials, to draw up the document and garner global support.

While it is a voluntary framework, it has been given extra heft after an endorsement from 55 investor funds that will use their $US5 trillion ($NZ7.6 trillion) in assets to push tech firms to follow through on their pledges.

And five major tech companies have released a series of commitments, including regular publishing of transparency reports about detecting and removing terrorist or violent extremist content on their online platforms, to strengthen the call. They also agreed to establish incident management teams to urgently respond to objectionable content. — NZME

WELLINGTON: Cabinet has until next month to decide whether to further extend New Zealand’s deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan or end them.

Defence Minister Ron Mark said the security environment after the Christchurch mosque attacks will be one factor ministers take into account in making the decision, alongside foreign policy considerations.

Last year the coalition government extended the Iraq deployment until the end of next month, while Cabinet considered the long term future of New Zealand’s contribution to the USled operation against Islamic State.

New Zealand has been in a joint mission with Australia, training Iraqi security forces in Taji Camp since 2015. The latest Defence Force rotation left for Taji at the start of the month and could be New Zealand’s last.

The clear message from the government last year was both the Iraq and Afghanistan deployments would be extended to fulfil commitments New Zealand had made, but complete withdrawals would be considered this year.

Even then, the size of the Iraq mission was reduced from 143 personnel to 121, with most based at Taji Camp.

The landscape has changed considerably in Iraq since last year’s decision, including victory being declared over Isis in neighbouring Syria.

Mr Mark said while that might be a victory on the ground, it was not a victory over the ideology.

There were numerous foreign policy considerations as well as those at home, he said, including the security environment in the aftermath of the Christchurch shootings.

‘‘Everybody in the ‘defeatIsis’ coalition understands and accepts this is going to continue for quite some time.

‘‘Isis is fluid, it’s adjusting the way in which it operates — as we fully anticipated it would — and I don’t think anyone’s blind to the fact that Isis is arguably going to go back into what they have done in the past — rely on pure terrorism, extremely violent terrorism at that,’’ said Mr Mark said.

National Party defence spokesman Mark Mitchell said history had shown the dangers of western nations leaving conflict zones too early, while Green Party foreign affairs and defence spokeswoman Golriz Gharaman wants New Zealand to withdraw immediately.