Ministry of Justice - Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill

This is suggested text to send on the “Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill”. Please copy and paste it into your email client using the email address and subject line. Please add your details at the end.

To: Ministry of Justice

Email: Nationalsecurity@justice.govt.nz

CC: MOJ-TM@PSNA.nz

Subject: Transparency on Counter-Terrorism Laws Review

Tēnā koe, Salaam Ali kuum, Greetings Ministry of Justice, 

I am deeply concerned about the stakeholder engagement reviewing counter-terrorism legislation (Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference Amendment Bill and other legislation) that had excluded the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties (NZCCL).  

This exclusion:

  • Undermines democratic oversight and transparency. 

  • Ignores risks of laws being misused to target legitimate protest, including solidarity with Palestine, Māori, Muslims affected by  the Christchurch massacre, Environmental and other indigenous solidarity struggles. 

  • Mirrors troubling Western trends where "counterterrorism" stifles advocacy and human rights especially for Palestinians.   

I demand the Ministry of Justice:

  1. Immediately include the NZCCL, Palestinian, Muslim organisations affected by Islamophobic attacks  and Māori lawyers  and iwi organisations for Te Tiriti context in all consultations.

  2. Publicly release the stakeholder list and terms of reference. 

  3. Guarantee future reviews are open and rights-respecting including Māori, Palestinian, Muslim,  NZCCL and Environmental representation. 

  4. Must not follow other Western governments criminalising dissent for advocacy for Palestine.

  5. Determine whether the establishment of a permanent FBI office would constitute foreign interference under our current legislation and whether it is in our region’s interest given the US FBI director singling out our largest trading partner and given its horrendous spying and militaristic domestic actions against its own citizens and human rights leaders since inception. 

This feedback is to be made available to the public and is not to be redacted.  I look forward to hearing from you on the next steps.

 Ngā mihi nui  

 

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