(Headline abbreviated, original headline: Have your say on the International Crimes and International Criminal Court Amendment Bill)

This bill proposes amending the International Crimes and International Criminal Court Act 2000, to incorporate amendments made to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court concerning war crimes. This would enable New Zealand to bring proceedings into New Zealand for these offences.

The bill would make it a war crime to use the following in a non-international armed conflict:

• poison or poisoned weapons:

• asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases, and analogous liquids, materials, or devices:

• expanding bullets.

It would also make a war crime to use the following in international and non-international armed conflicts:

• weapons that use microbial agents, biological agents, or toxins:

• weapons that injure by fragments that are undetectable by X-rays:

• blinding laser weapons.

This bill follows on from the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee’s consideration of the War Crimes Amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court earlier in 2019.

Tell the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee what you think

Make a submission on the bill by midnight on Friday 7 February 2020.

For more details about the bill:

• Read the full content of the bill

• Get more details about the bill/petition

• What’s been said in Parliament about the bill?

• Follow the committee’s Facebook page for updates

© Scoop Media