110 S e cti o n T w o – c iv il and politi cal rights National security and Associated Personnel, and Hostages) Act 1980; the The Defence Act 1990 empowers the Governor-General Maritime Crimes Act 1999; the United Nations Sanctions as Commander-in-Chief to raise and maintain the New (Terrorism Suppression and Afghanistan Measures) Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), consisting of the Royal Regulations 2001; the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002; New Zealand Navy, the New Zealand Army and the Royal the Counter Terrorism Act 2003; and the Anti-Money New Zealand Air Force. The Minister of Defence exercises Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act control of the NZDF through the Chief of Defence Forces. 2009. In addition to the defence forces, other agencies that In 2007, the Government amended the Terrorism contribute to national security are: Suppression Act to strengthen New Zealand’s • the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, the Government Communications Security Bureau and the National Assessments Bureau, 14 which provide foreign intelligence and assessments • the New Zealand Police, which is responsible for counter-terrorism within New Zealand and has a role in supporting multilateral regional-security initiatives • the New Zealand Immigration Service, which has duties, under the Immigration Act 2009, relating to national security concerns and suspected terrorists • the Customs Service, which helps prevent terrorism and threats to bio-security • the Ministry of Defence, which is responsible for providing defence-policy advice to the Government • the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which also deals with threats to bio-security • the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, through diplomacy • the Ministry of Health, which provides services to commitment to its international counter-terrorism obligations by: • facilitating New Zealand’s ratification of the Nuclear Terrorism Convention, by creating new offences concerning the use of radioactive material and radioactive devices, and amending existing offences concerning the physical protection of nuclear material • amending the designation of ‘terrorist’ and associated entities • introducing a new offence of committing a “terrorist act”. Constraints on State actions Protection against specific state infringements is provided by: • the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act in 1989, 15 abolishing the death penalty for treason, the last remaining offence to which it had applied • the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995, which outlines the circumstances and procedure for prevent health threats at New Zealand’s borders and obtaining blood samples – under part 3 of this act, overseas. police can keep a DNA profile databank for samples States have a responsibility to protect persons within their territory against the threat of terrorist acts, and to bring perpetrators of such acts to justice. New Zealand has a comprehensive counter-terrorism legislative framework. taken from suspects who are subsequently convicted • the Crimes of Torture Act 1989, which reflects the CAT by prohibiting torture by public officials • the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977, The key pieces of legislation that provide protection which prohibits anyone (including state officials) from from terrorism are the Aviation Crimes Act 1972; the consenting to sterilisation of another person when that Crimes (Internationally Protected Persons, United Nations person is too young to do so 14 The National Assessment Bureau, renamed from the External Assessments Bureau, is responsible for a national assessments programme that includes domestic and external intelligence sources. 15 In 1941, the Crimes Amendment Act changed the penalty for murder from death to life imprisonment with hard labour. The only crimes for which the death penalty still applied were treason and piracy. The National Government restored the death penalty for murder in 1950. From 1951 to 1957, there were 18 convictions for murder and eight executions. The Crimes Act 1961 abolished the death penalty for every crime except treason, which became no longer punishable by death with the passing of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act in 1989.