Maori Party Celebrates Global Peace Award as Recognition of Twenty Years of a Nuclear-Free Aotearoa

Tariana Turia, Co-leader of the Maori Party

Thursday 31 May 2007

Maori Party Co-leader, Tariana Turia, today welcomed the news that Aotearoa has been ranked the second most peaceful nation in the World on the Global Peace Index, as a much needed piece of good news.

“This announcement helps to remind us all of the importance of valuing and maintaining our role as a peace-keeping nation” said Mrs Turia.

“So often, the news is ‘bad’ – creating an illusion that violence and savage assaults are everyday occurrences in all New Zealand homes” said Mrs Turia.

“What this ranking demonstrates instead is that the great majority of New Zealanders value and uphold peaceful relationships both at home and abroad” said Mrs Turia.

“It is, of course, a remarkable achievement too, which reflects our leadership across the globe, in speaking up against nuclear war, weapons proliferation and military warfare” said Mrs Turia.

“Our prestigious place on the Global Peace Index also reminds us that twenty years ago, we passed the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act” said Mrs Turia.

“Whilst we honour the memory of the late David Lange, we also pay tribute to the work of advocates such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Peace Movement Aotearoa; the Pacific People’s Anti-Nuclear Action Committee; and the momentum they created to ensure an enduring peace-making role” said Tariana Turia.

“We celebrate this placing, as a way of promoting the value of whanaungatanga – to promote respect for all cultures and to recognise that the people are our wealth” ended Mrs Turia.

Background

- Norway, New Zealand and Denmark led the Global Peace Index in that order. The US was ranked at 96, just beating Iran at 97. The lowest on the list was Iraq at 121. Some countries were absent from the list due to lack of data supplied (eg Afghanistan and North Korea).

- The Global Peace Index was initiated by Steve Killelea and developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (links to The Economist). Prominent endorsers of the Project include HH Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

- The indicators include the number of internal and external conflicts; the number of deaths from organised internal conflict; the number of homicides; the number of military transfers per 100,000 people. They also include subjective indicators such as the level of distrust in other citizens.

ENDS

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