Peters focuses on Pacific global challenges, Mideast war at the UN

New Zealand wants to see a shared commitment from the United Nations to partnering with Pacific island nations, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.

He met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on Tuesday.

Peters also addressed the UN General Assembly and raised his concerns about the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.

Watch Winston Peters' address to the United Nations General Assembly below.

Peters said the small Pacific island states relied on collective action to tackle urgent global challenges, including sea level rise and sustainable economic development.

“My discussions with the secretary-general underscored the crucial role that the United Nations does and must play in helping the Pacific to meet these challenges.

“New Zealand is honoured to be playing a leadership role in the United Nations in preparing a high-level meeting on sea level rise in September.

“Having spent time with the Secretary-General in New Zealand and the Pacific in 2019, it was important to resume our dialogue on the region’s priorities – and what more we might do to work together to help advance them.”

Gaza was another focus of discussion, Peters said.

“An immediate ceasefire is needed to halt the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

“UN agencies, including UNRWA, are crucial in delivering humanitarian assistance and other vital services to Gazans.

“We discussed New Zealand’s latest contributions to these efforts, the ongoing investigations into UNRWA, and New Zealand’s next annual payment due in June.”

Shaquille Wasasala at Auckland's seventh protest for Palestine. Photo/Aleyna Martinez

“New Zealand is committed to playing its part to aid Palestinians caught up in the conflict, including through appropriate UN agencies.”

But the leader of a New Zealand solidarity group of Palestinian self-determination supporters has criticised Peters, saying the “bluff and bluster UN speech was misleading about inaction at home”.

National chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) John Minto said in a statement said Peters’ speech at the UNGA was a “classic case of doing one thing at home and saying another for overseas audiences”.

Peters had labeled the besieged Gaza enclave a “wasteland”, saying that Israel could “not be under any misconceptions as to its legal obligations”.

Peters also condemned the use of the veto in the UN Security Council five times to block ceasefire resolutions and Israel’s continued building of illegal settlements on Palestinian land.

He said the “misguided notion” and forced displacement of Palestinians “imperil the two-state solution”.

But Minto said while Peters’ words were “strong”, they were “meaningless in the context of what the government has failed to do at home”.

He said Peters had not told the world that the New Zealand Government had refused to stop its military exports to support Israel’s war on Gaza, among other things.

John Minto says Winston Peters’ words were “strong”, but they were “meaningless in the context of what the government has failed to do at home”. Photo file/John Darroch

“NZ has refused (and still refuses) to condemn Israel for any of its war crimes such as collective punishment, the mass slaughter of over 33,000 Palestinians - mostly women and children - the targeting of aid workers and deliberate starvation of Gaza’s Palestinian population.

“NZ refused (and still refuses) to reinstate funding for UNRWA (let alone doubling its funding and bringing forward payments which the government has been urged to do).

“NZ refused (and still refuses) to withdraw from the US war to target Yemen which is acting to oppose Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.”

“Winston Peters stands with the US/Israel on Gaza in every important respect but has tried to give a different impression to the United Nations,” Minto said.

Peters also expressed New Zealand’s condolences to Guterres over the loss of more than 175 UN staff in the Gaza conflict.

Since the conflict started in October, more than 33,000 Palestinians have died with women and children making up two-thirds of the dead, and about 76,000 people wounded, the Gaza Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

The Israeli government said over 1400 of its people had been killed, with 604 of them soldiers.

Nearly 100 journalists have died in the crossfire, the UN said.