NZ sanctions plan fallen by wayside?
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta appears to have once again killed off the prospect of New Zealand having an independent sanctions regime, after suggesting it was on the agenda.
Mahuta, when passing the Russia Sanctions Act in March, said she would be ‘‘stewarding through’’ a broader autonomous sanctions bill, which would allow New Zealand to lay sanctions on countries and individuals outside the United Nations system.
The minister said Cabinet would consider a broader sanctions regime within ‘‘weeks’’. However, as the Government now considers whether it can sanction Iran through the Russia sanctions law, the promise of wider autonomous sanctions legislation has fallen by the wayside.
‘‘Our focus is on the issue at hand, which is the Russia-Ukraine war and ensuring that our sanctions regime is fully operational,’’ Mahuta said yesterday.
The Labour Government has twice before killed off autonomous sanctions law. A National Party bill that was on Parliament’s order paper for years was withdrawn by Labour in 2020, and a subsequent member’s bill brought by National’s Gerry Brownlee was voted down by the Government.
Countries including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and Australia have autonomous sanctions regimes that have been used on the likes of Iran, Myanmar’s military junta, and Chinese officials held responsible for the Uyghur minority.
Mahuta has previously called sanctions a tool of ‘‘last resort’’, and said a broader regime would
need to ‘‘educate the New Zealand public about the dual-impact of invoking a sanctions regime, because it’s not oneway’’. The Government’s preference has been for multilateral, United Nations-led action.
Mahuta said she had not ruled out creating a broader regime, and she would be ‘‘happy’’ to receive advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat).
But Mfat was waiting for ‘‘direction from the Government’’. Mfat deputy secretary Deborah Geels told MPs on the Foreign Affairs and Trade select committee last month that the ministry had not looked at an autonomous sanctions regime ‘‘in a specific way’’.The Government has been under pressure to take a firmer stance on the Iranian regime, which has cracked down violently on protests in recent weeks.
New Zealand already sanctions Iran in line with UN sanctions.