Hon Phil Goff
Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control

01 September 2007
Speech Notes

Dr Hans Blix – Introductory remarks
New Zealand Institute of International Affairs Sixth Annual Foreign Policy Lecture by Dr Hans Blix, The Grand Hall, Parliament Buildings, Friday 31August

Dr Hans Blix; Hon Russell Marshall, President of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs; Gray Southon, Vice President of the United Nations Association of New Zealand; Ambassadors, Ladies and Gentlemen

Welcome to the Grand Hall and thank you for the opportunity to make some introductory remarks. I thank the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs and the United Nations Association for their support for this event. I am delighted that Dr Hans Blix accepted my invitation to mark the 20th anniversary of New Zealand’s nuclear free legislation by sharing his insights on what can be done to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.

For New Zealanders, these issues hold great importance. Twenty years ago this year, we took a stand and passed legislation that committed New Zealand to being nuclear free. The Nuclear Free Act reflected the belief of New Zealanders that nuclear weapons are a threat to humanity.

This legislation enjoys wide support, across political parties and among the general public and is testament to the strength of New Zealand’s commitment to a world free of weapons of mass destruction and to our right as an independent nation to take a stand on this issue reflecting our values.

Today, there are still more than 27,000 nuclear weapons stockpiled, some thousands of those poised on high alert. These weapons could be launched within minutes, as a first strike or a response to a perceived attack.

They could be launched by accident, as a result of a technical malfunction or through terrorist infiltration of nuclear facilities. Whatever the cause, the results would be catastrophic. Each nuclear weapon today has a destructive power eight to forty times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The apocalyptic effects of a nuclear war is why New Zealand continues to push for total nuclear disarmament.

We have been working since 1998 with the New Agenda Coalition of Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, South Africa and Sweden to ensure that the messages from the international community are strong and consistent – nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament can and must be achieved.

This year a new initiative will be spear-headed by New Zealand at the United Nations General Assembly. New Zealand will work with Sweden, which has been our close ally on so many of these issues, and with a number of other interested States, to run a resolution to raise awareness, and to demand action, to eliminate the launch-on-warning status of any nuclear weapon.

We will also continue to work to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and support efforts to break the stalemate at the Conference on Disarmament.

We are further committed to work to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention and Chemical Weapons Convention, and will continue under the G8 Global Partnership to contribute to the destruction of chemical weapons and reduce the risk of proliferation of nuclear material in the Russian Federation and the Ukraine.

The misuse of conventional weapons also merits our attention. Their effect, as Kofi Annan has stated, can be the equivalent of weapons of mass destruction, responsible for the death of many millions of people since World War Two.

New Zealand is at the forefront of efforts to negotiate an international instrument to address the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions. New Zealand will host a negotiating meeting in Wellington next February towards this goal.

We are involved in a range of other activities to control conventional weapons, including support for an Arms Trade Treaty.

The report of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, chaired by Dr Blix, was a milestone.

Released in mid-2006, this report set out sixty recommendations on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons which, if followed, would greatly enhance global security.

As Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, I have invited Dr Hans Blix to address how we can best move forward to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction and how we can convince countries with nuclear weapons, and those that are seeking them, of what New Zealanders have believed for years - that nuclear weapons have no place in the modern world.

It is my very great pleasure to invite Hans Blix to address us tonight.

ENDS

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