7 February 2024
Te Ao o Rongomaraeroa | the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies condemns Israel’s genocidal attacks on Palestinians and calls for an immediate ceasefire, and to end Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.
We stand for peace. We stand for humanity. We stand with the Palestinian people, we deplore the violence, and we acknowledge that there is never any excuse for such acts of aggression. We stand in solidarity with those living in terror not knowing what the next day will bring. We adhere to the principle of Do No Harm, and this conflict continues to harm innocent people – children, women and men – daily as we watch it live on our screens. We call for immediate ceasefire and the ongoing support for those killed, injured, displaced and traumatised by the events of the past months.
We know that it is civilians who bear the brunt of this conflict, as they bear the brunt of all conflicts. We acknowledge the courage of many across the globe, including the brave voice of many Israeli and Jewish people, who are risking themselves to express their strong opposition to this situation. And we acknowledge that this will continue long after our media cycle has moved on.
We express our concern that in this time, this violence is cascading beyond Gaza, and our very international order is under threat along with Gaza. We call on the international systems and instruments, such as for the UN system to live up to their core responsibilities of saving generations from the scourge of war, for all people to live with human rights, dignity, justice and respect, calling on the Responsibility to Protect and adhere to the Laws of War. We need to increase our support for both the prevention of and non-violent resolutions to violent-conflict, and we need to strengthen our international laws and systems so that we are more readily and rapidly able to respond to such blatant acts of aggression in the future. In addition, we lament how much more dangerous this situation is because of the presence of nuclear weapons in our world, and we continue our call for global nuclear disarmament.
Peace must belong to all people, not only to those who have something to offer us. In the words of our precious Māori proverb, He aha te mea nui? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata. What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people. We are one.
We stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza in their time of trial. This world must stand for peace. We must strengthen our international systems for peace, and we call on the New Zealand government to contribute towards this.
Te Ao o Rongomaraeroa | The National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS)
and
Student Association President, Sally Angelson