New Zealand Terrorism Suppression Act
The New Zealand Terrorism Suppression Act came into effect on 17 October 2002. It was developed against an historic background of national and international responses to acts of terrorism dating back to the 1970s.
These included United Nations General Assembly conventions against terrorist related activity - for example the 1970 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft through to the 1997 Convention on Terrorist Bombings and the 1999 Convention on Terrorist Financing.
In April 2001 New Zealand introduced the Terrorism (Bombings and Financing) Bill with the intention of being able to ratify the two related UN Conventions.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has also issued a number of Resolutions against terrorist activity.
In October 1999 the UNSC adopted UNSCR 1267, which established a Committee consisting of all the members of the Security Council. This committee has responsibility for establishing and maintaining a list of individuals and groups designated as "terrorist entities", and against whom various sanctions are to be applied.
As a member of the United Nations, New Zealand is bound by international legal obligations to give effect to UNSC Resolutions.
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania focused global attention on the effects of international terrorism.
On 28 September 2001 the UNSC issued a resolution calling for member states to apply certain measures to prevent and suppress terrorist acts. These included obligations to prevent terrorist financing, recruiting, and harbouring terrorists.
In January 2002 the UNSC issued a further resolution that specifically required member states to apply the measures against all individuals or groups "terrorist entities" listed by the 1267 Committee.
In order to give effect to the obligations created through the various UNSC Resolutions the New Zealand government decided to use the Terrorism (Bombings and Financing) Bill, which had already been introduced and which was still before the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, as a means of enacting appropriate laws.
On 8 October 2002 the bill, having been re-titled the Terrorism Suppression Bill and substantially rewritten, was reported back to the House and was enacted.
Effect of the Terrorism Suppression Act (TSA) 2002
The New Zealand Terrorism Suppression Act establishes the legal framework for the suppression of terrorism. In particular, the Act is the principal mechanism by which New Zealand complies with United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions to suppress terrorism.
Prior to UNSCR 1373 (Sept 2001) the requirements upon member states were very specific to particular nations or events. For example, sanctions were applied to named countries according to specific resolutions and against named individuals and groups (designated terrorist entities) under the '1267 Committee' listing process.
However, UNSCR 1373 required member states to adopt measures to combat terrorism, without defining what amounted to terrorism or who amounted to a terrorist.
The first feature of the New Zealand Terrorism Suppression Act is that it contains a definition of the term 'terrorist act', which in essence includes an act that:
- Is intended to cause the death of, or serious bodily injury to, one or more persons; and
- Is carried out for the purpose of advancing an ideological, political, or religious cause; and
- Is intended to either:
- Induce terror in a civilian population; or
- Unduly compel or to force a government or an international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act; and
- Is not an act that occurs in a situation of armed conflict and which is, at the time and in the place that it occurs, in accordance with rules of international law applicable to the conflict.
"Carrying out" a terrorist act, is defined in Section 25 of the TSA, to include planning or preparing to commit a terrorist (as defined above).
The Act creates offences relating to terrorist bombings and financing terrorism (ss 7 & 8). The Act also criminalises various forms of interaction with designated terrorist entities. For example, it is an offence to deal with a designated entity's property or to provide an entity with property, financial or related services (s10). It is an offence to knowingly recruit for (s12) or participate in (s13) a designated entity, and it is an offence to harbour or conceal a terrorist to assist avoiding arrest or escape lawful custody (s13A).
While it is an offence to participate in a designated entity if this is for the purpose of enhancing the entity's ability to carry out a terrorist act, there is no offence of simply 'belonging' to a terrorist group.
All of the offences contained in the TSA have been carefully constructed in order to meet New Zealand's international legal obligations, including those contained in UNSCR 1373.
Prosecution under the Terrorism Suppression Act
Proceedings for an offence against the Terrorist Suppression Act may only be initiated with the authority of the Attorney General.
Special Police Powers under the Terrorism Suppression Act
The Terrorism Suppression Act provides Police with no special powers to arrest, detain or interview persons suspected of committing offences under the Act.
However NZ Police are able to obtain a warrant to intercept communications - including telephone communications - to investigate persons believed to be involved in carrying out terrorist acts.
