New Zealand nuclear-free zone

New Zealand’s three decade anti-nuclear campaign is the only successful movement of its type in the world which resulted in the nation's nuclear-free zone status being enshrined in legislation. In 1984, Prime Minister David Lange barred nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships from using New Zealand ports or entering New Zealand waters. Under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987, territorial sea and land of New Zealand became nuclear free zones. The Act prohibits "entry into the internal waters of New Zealand 12 miles (22.2 km) radius by any ship whose propulsion is wholly or partly dependent on nuclear power" and bans the dumping of radioactive waste within the nuclear-free zone, as well as prohibiting any New Zealand citizen or resident "to manufacture, acquire, possess, or have any control over any nuclear explosive device." Similar provisions were made for biological weapons. After this Act was passed by the Labour government of David Lange, the United States government suspended its ANZUS obligations to New Zealand. The legislation was a milestone in New Zealand's development as a nation and seen as an important act of sovereignty, self-determination and cultural identity.

Historical background

Initial seeds were sown for New Zealand’s 1987 nuclear free Zone legislation in the late 1950s with the formation of the local Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (NZ) (CND) organisation in 1957. In 1959, responding to rising public concern following the British H-Bomb tests in Australia and the Pacific, New Zealand voted in the UN to condemn nuclear testing while the UK, US and France voted against, and Australia abstained. In 1961, CND urged the New Zealand government to declare it ‘will not acquire or use nuclear weapons' and to withdraw from nuclear alliances such as ANZUS. In 1963, the Auckland CND campaign submitted its ‘No Bombs South of the Line' petition to the New Zealand parliament with 80,238 signatures calling on the government to sponsor an international conference to discuss establishing a nuclear-free-zone in the southern hemisphere. It was the biggest petition in the nation since the one in 1893 which demanded that women must have the right to vote.

Mururoa

Mururoa atoll, and its sister atoll Fangataufa, in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean were officially established by France as a nuclear test site on September 21, 1962 and extensive nuclear testing occurred between 1966 and 1996. The first nuclear test, codenamed Aldebaran, was conducted on July 2, 1966 and forty-one atmospheric nuclear tests were conducted at Mururoa between 1966 and 1974.

Mururoa protests

Community inspired anti-nuclear sentiments largely contributed to the New Zealand Labour Party election victory under Norman Kirk in 1972. As an integral component of New Zealand’s nuclear-free ambitions, the third Labour Government under Kirk reacted swiftly to France blatantly ignoring a ruling by the International Court of Justice (1972), (case launched by Australia and New Zealand), which ordered that the French cease atmospheric nuclear testing at Mururoa atoll.

According to French journalist Luis Gonzales-Mata in Actual magazine 1976, large numbers of Polynesians had been secretly sent on military flights to Paris for treatment for cancer. Tahitian activist Charlie Ching told a nuclear-free Pacific hui in Auckland in 1983 that more than 200 Tahitians had died from radiation-linked illnesses over 5 years. Due to the secrecy of health issues in French Polynesia, these figures remained impossible to confirm.

Mururoa was the site of numerous protests by various vessels, including the Rainbow Warrior. In a symbolic act of protest the Kirk government sent two of its navy frigates, HMNZS Canterbury and Otago, into the test zone area in 1973. A Cabinet Minister was randomly selected to accompany this official New Zealand Government protest fleet. This voyage included a number of local kiwi peace organisations who had organised an international flotilla of protest yachts that accompanied the frigates into the Mururoa zone. Many of the early NZ peace activists and organisations were enthusiastic young hippies and students, many of whom were involved with the counter-culture and the original opposition to the Vietnam War movements.

File:Nambassa 1978 Workshop, Nuclear Free Pacific Information. Photographer unknown.jpg

Information workshops at the 3-day Music & Alternatives festival, Nambassa, New Zealand 1978.

Peace yachts attempting to disrupt the French tests sailed in coordinated protests through the Mururoa exclusion zones between 1972-1991. These included the voyage of the first joint Greenpeace-CND campaign in 1972 with David McTaggart, (who co-founded Greenpeace), on the yacht Vega (renamed Greenpeace III). This was followed followed in 1973 by a flotilla of yachts organised by the Peace Media with protest yachts Fri, Spirit of Peace, the Boy Roel, Magic Isle and the Tanmure.

During numerous voyages to Mururoa atoll the protest yacht Fri, Vegas and Greenpeace were boarded by French commandos and members of their crew assaulted and arrested. In 1973 the Vega was rammed by a French military warship and David McTaggart was severely beaten by French military police. A major change in New Zealand society caused by these Pacific campaigns was the upsurge in pro anti-nuclear sentiments in New Zealand, and, as a consequence, the eventual rise of its anti-nuclear policy in 1987.

Nuclear-free zone legislation

According to opinions polls taken before the 1984 election, 30 per cent of New Zealanders supported visits by US warships with a clear majority of 58 per cent opposed, and over 66 per cent of the population lived in locally declared nuclear free zones. Following the victory of the New Zealand Labour Party in elections in 1984, Prime Minister David Lange barred nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships from using New Zealand ports or entering New Zealand waters. Reasons given were the dangers of nuclear weapons, continued nuclear testing in the South Pacific, and opposition to US President Ronald Reagan's policy of aggressively confronting the Soviet Union. Given that the United States Navy refused to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard ships, these laws essentially refused access to New Zealand ports for all United States Navy ships. In February 1985, a port-visit request by the United States for the USS Buchanan was refused by the New Zealand government on the basis that the Buchanan was capable of launching nuclear depth bombs. An opinion poll commissioned by the 1986 Defence Committee of Enquiry confirmed that 92 per cent now opposed nuclear weapons in New Zealand and 69 per cent opposed warship visits; 92 per cent wanted New Zealand to promote nuclear disarmament through the UN, while 88 per cent supported the promotion of nuclear free zones.

Under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987, territorial sea and land of New Zealand became nuclear free zones. The Act prohibits "entry into the internal waters of New Zealand 12 miles (22.2 km) radius by any ship whose propulsion is wholly or partly dependent on nuclear power" and bans the dumping of radioactive waste within the nuclear-free zone, as well as prohibiting any New Zealand citizen or resident "to manufacture, acquire, possess, or have any control over any nuclear explosive device." Similar provisions were made for biological weapons. After this Act was passed by the Labour government of David Lange, the United States government suspended its ANZUS obligations to New Zealand. The legislation was a milestone in New Zealand's development as a nation and seen as an important act of sovereignty, self-determination and cultural identity. Further, many were driven by a sense of responsibility to support peace and the rights of all humans, not just in New Zealand, but worldwide.

New Zealand has long maintained an independent foreign policy initiative, with various Labour Governments ignoring American and other countries' policy demands. While New Zealand meets its international responsibilities towards maintaining global peace, its pacifist based anti-nuclear stance reflects the mainstream ideology held by the majority of its residents. New Zealand's opposition to nuclear weapons is rooted in the belief that the proliferation of such weapons of mass destruction does not reflect an attempt to preserve peace in the form of a nuclear deterrent. New Zealand's nuclear-free zone option looks to remove the nation from under the nuclear umbrella.

Rainbow Warrior affair

Greenpeace continued an unrelenting protest offensive in French Polynesia until 1996. The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior was sunk by the French foreign intelligence agency (DGSE) while docked in Auckland harbour, New Zealand, on 10 July 1985.

It is often speculated that the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior was an unnecessary act of revenge against Greenpeace and New Zealanders themselves for their successful campaigns to enforce a nuclear weapons test ban at Mururoa. When the French DGSE agents Commander Alain Mafart and Captain Dominique Prieur were captured in New Zealand and eventually sentenced to 10 years prison for their roles in sabotage of the Rainbow Warrior and manslaughter of Fernando Pereira, the French government threatened New Zealand with trade sanctions to the European Union if the pair were not released.

From a Pacific perspective, the military attack on the Rainbow Warrior only served to consolidate New Zealand’s and the Pacific communities nuclear free zone ambitions. (Treaty of Rarotonga - South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty). The attack served to further isolate the French in that part of the world, which resulted in strong anti-French political campaigns for independence in Tahiti (French Polynesian legislative election, 2004) and New Caledonia. (Politics of New Caledonia}.

Recent developments

Under the present New Zealand Labour Government, its Prime Minister Helen Clark maintains New Zealand’s nuclear-free zone status, a bipartisan position supported by the opposition New Zealand National Party. The United States wants New Zealand to repeal its nuclear-free legislation, which would then allow U.S. warships possibly with nuclear weapons to visit New Zealand ports. Pressure from the United States increased in 2006, with U.S. trade officials linking the repeal of the ban of American nuclear ships from New Zealand's ports to a potential free trade agreement between the two countries. Differences between the French and New Zealand Governments now appear to be resolved with both countries enjoying positive trade and cultural exchanges.

In August 2006 people of French Polynesia welcomed an official report by the French government confirming the link between an increase in the cases of thyroid cancer and France's atmospheric nuclear tests in the territory since 1966.

See also

• ANZUS - New Zealand bans nuclear ships
• Greenpeace Aotearoa New Zealand
• Treaty of Rarotonga
• Nuclear-free zone
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (NZ)
• Fri (yacht)
• France and weapons of mass destruction
• Nagasaki and Hiroshima
• Nuclear testing
• Moruroa

Bibliography

• Stephen Kos, 1984, Interim Relief in the International Court: New Zealand and the Nuclear Test Cases, Victoria University Wellington Law Review.

• Legal Challenges to Nuclear Weapons from Aotearoa/New Zealand., Kate Dewes

External links

• Disarmament and Security Centre, New Zealand Peace Foundation
• New Zealand becomes a Nuclear Free Zone
• Anti Nuclear Oxford debate by former New Zealand PM David Lange
• Mururoa Veterans
• Nuclear Free New Zealand (NZHistory)
• Keeping New Zealand Nuclear Free
• France's Nuclear Weapons Program at the Atomic Forum
• Mururoa protest,Time 1973
• Bikini Atoll Atomic test zone
• Pictures of victims of US nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands.
• Nuclear Testing in Australia 1952-1958
• British Nuclear Test Veterans Association
• Australias Maralinga nuclear test site
• "Nuclear Free Berkeley Act" - Nuclear-free zone legislation for Berkeley, California
• Radio Nizkor International Nuclear conference