Click here for our 2020 Election Priorities for Global Affairs
Aotearoa New Zealand can be a responsible global citizen, working to promote peace, human rights, and environmental sustainability, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s foreign policy should promote peace and human rights
- New Zealand law should ensure that our armed forces never engage in overseas military action without a UN sanction and the approval of Parliament.
- Our human rights and peace advocacy work should focus on the Asia-Pacific region.
- Aotearoa New Zealand should support and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, leading by example by honouring te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Counter-terrorism should focus on solving underlying problems
- Aotearoa New Zealand should work to address the “root cause” legitimate economic and social grievances felt by many groups which foster non-state terrorism.
- Human rights should not be undermined in the name of counter-terrorism.
- We should support peaceful realisation of the principle of self-determination.
Aotearoa New Zealand should work to ensure a sustainable global environment
- We should pursue binding agreements to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to a scientifically-based safe level.
- We should oppose all whaling and harvesting of endangered marine species while working to broaden the International Whaling Commission’s mandate to include dolphins.
Trade should be fair and environmentally sustainable
- Trade agreements should contribute to national and global environmental goals, promote human rights and labour standards, support democracy, and uphold national sovereignty.
Global governance should be strengthened
- Democracy should be encouraged, but there is no single “right” type of democracy.
- The UN Security Council should be reformed to ensure good decision making. The reform process should investigate regional membership and changes to veto powers.
- Enforcement of International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice decisions should be strengthened.
- Aotearoa New Zealand should promote the “responsibility to protect” in cases of genocide or gross and systematic violations of human rights.
