The New Zealand Nuclear FreeZone Extension Bill (2000)

Edwina Hughes

The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone Extension Bill (2000) had its first reading in the New Zealand parliament on 5 July, and by 67 to 53 votes it proceeded on to Select Committee stage.
The aim of the Bill is to extend the NZ nuclear free zone from 12 miles to the 200 mile Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) and to prohibit the transit of high level nuclear waste, nuclear weapons and nuclear-power ships through that zone. It is necessary because the Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act 1987 is primarily concerned with controlling nuclear weapons and nuclear testing within the NZ nuclear free zone, and prohibiting nuclear powered ships from entering NZ ports. It does not prevent the transit of nuclear powered ships or ships carrying radioactive wastes.
    The Bill has been put forward by the Green Party, but the coalition government has said they will not allow it to pass into law. This is primarily because of a perceived conflict of interest between the rights of "innocent" passage for ships, inherent in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the sovereign right of a nation to protect its economic exclusion zone and coastline from harm.
    Peace Movement Aotearoa is currently putting together various arguments in favour of the Bill in preparation for submissions to the relevant Select Committee in September. If you have detailed knowledge of UNCLOS which you can contribute to this debate, we would be very pleased to hear from you.
    For more detail about the Bill, you can check out the Alert on the PMA website (below).

Peace Movement Aotearoa, PO Box 9314, Wellington, Aotearoa / New Zealand (tel +64 4 382 8129; fax 382 8173; email: pma@xtra.co.nz; http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/ ).