The admission from the NZDF was triggered by what they described as "a precaution against the hazards specifically associated with exposure to the material." The report goes on to call for a precautionary approach to the weapons, the continued testing of New Zealand's personnel, the submission of a report to the UN Secretary General in line with last year's General Assembly resolution and the continued monitoring of global efforts to control the use of uranium weapons.

DUET submit the petition text, February 2008

Nevertheless the report fell far short of expectations from the Kiwi campaigners that instigated it. The report resulted from a petition submitted by members of DUET - the Depleted Uranium Education Team. The petition asked the Parliament to: “emulate the Belgian Parliament’s decision of 22 March 2007 by prohibiting in New Zealand the manufacture, use, storage, sale, acquisition, supply and transit of inert munitions and armour that contain depleted uranium [DU] or any other industrially manufactured uranium.”

The Rev Rob Ritchie from DUET said: “DUET argued that the international campaign to ban DU munitions would receive a major boost if nuclear-free New Zealand, which was also leading the campaign to ban cluster munitions, emulated Belgium’s lead. By signing this petition, Kiwis could help our Parliament decide to adopt a similar ban here. However, sadly the Foreign Affairs Committee have ignored over 3,000 citizens who signed the petition. They have also shown misunderstanding and complacency about the health risk to NZDF personnel, and damaged New Zealand’s reputation as a world leader in disarmament.”

Members of DUET were surprised that the committee seemed to misunderstand the health risks from the weapons, focusing as it did on the use of DU counterweights in NZ Air Force jets. This came despite the submission of expert evidence from Dr Rosalie Bertell and Belgian MP Dirk Van der Maelen. However, DUET welcomed a minority report from the Green and Labour members of the committee, who called for the government to go further in adopting a precautionary approach and introducing legislation to ban the manufacture, use, storage, supply and transit of munitions and armour containing depleted uranium.

Recent elections in NZ saw the country's politics shift towards the centre-right after many years of Labour rule. Nevertheless DUET are determined to ensure that NZ takes what they believe to be its rightful place among international efforts to control uranium weapons and will continue to campaign towards that goal.

Attachments

• Report of the NZ Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee

  80 Kb - Format doc
  The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has considered Petition 2005/161 of Robert Ritchie and 2,780 others, requesting that the House “emulate the Belgian Parliament’s decision of 22 March 2007 by prohibiting in New Zealand the manufacture, use, storage, sale, acquisition, supply and transit of inert munitions and armour that contain depleted uranium [DU] or any other industrially manufactured uranium.”