Rebecca Mackay

Last week, I watched footage of New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Winston Peters, warmly greeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Malaysia.

I was appalled—not by diplomatic civility, but by what it represents on matters of global human rights abuses, and who Mr Peters represents at this table of power and influence.

Me. Us. New Zealanders.

Only days earlier, the US announced sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Her June 30 report outlined how more than 60 multinational corporations—including US tech giants Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—are profiting from what she described as the transformation of Israel’s economy of occupation into an “economy of genocide.”

Instead of investigating those allegations or acknowledging their seriousness, the US responded by smearing and sanctioning her. Mr Rubio called her efforts to prompt legal accountability “illegitimate and shameful.” This language, and these sanctions by the US government, are designed to silence her for exposing genocide and calling out those who profit from it.

And Mr Peters smiled and made small talk.

Where is our government’s response to this dangerous precedent—punishing UN experts rather than confronting credible, mounting evidence of genocide? Where is our voice? Where is our representative’s defence of international law and human rights?

When our representatives ignore our emails and efforts to meet, dismiss our protestations, delay action, and stick to outdated “two-state solution” talking points while shaking hands with those obstructing justice, they do not stand on the side of neutrality or justice. They stand on the side of the oppressor. They are complicit. They do not stand for our shared humanity, and they do not represent us. They also do nothing to effectively oppose genocide or stop the killing.

I urge our community to contact our leaders - our representatives - to take a clear public stance and do all in their power to compel our government to:

· Name and condemn the horrendous actions of the Israeli government against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

• Condemn the US sanctions against UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.
• Publicly reaffirm New Zealand’s support for independent international legal mechanisms, including the ICC and ICJ.
• Sanction Israel for its ongoing breaches of international law - a legitimate, peaceful response to  occupation.

Anything less is an abdication of moral and legal responsibility.