NZ passing the Buck

Good Afternoon Danielle,

Upon consultation we have established that this query sits with Minister Penk for response, as it falls under his portfolio responsibilities as Minister of Veteran Affairs, and we understand this correspondence has already been sent to his Office.

Ngā mihi nui,

Ministerial Services Team

Ministry for the Environment | Manatū Mō Te Taiao

Email: OIA@mfe.govt.nz Website: www.mfe.govt.nz

8 Willis Street, Wellington Central, Wellington 6011

18/06/2025

To the Ministerial Services Team and the Office of the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs,

This case concerns an active transnational organised crime network involving government agencies, chemical manufacturers, and public institutions that knowingly enabled, profited from, and denied intergenerational harm caused by chemical exposure during the Vietnam War.

Under Executive Order 13581 and global legal standards, this case qualifies as transnational organised crime. It involves cross-border harm, systematic denial of care, obstruction of justice, and coordinated deflection by multiple state parties and corporate actors.

I am now formally submitting the complete legal case currently under review by the International Criminal Court under Article 15 of the Rome Statute. The case documents violations of:

the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

the Convention on the Rights of the Child

the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

international humanitarian and environmental law obligations

New Zealand is a State Party to several of these instruments and is therefore accountable under international law for its role, actions, and failures to act. This is not a veterans’ services matter. It is an international criminal matter involving systemic harm to children and civilians.

Your office has acknowledged the original correspondence and referred it to Veterans’ Affairs. That response has now been formally recorded as institutional deflection. It does not discharge New Zealand’s legal responsibility under the treaties listed above.

The matter has progressed through the NCP network internationally, with Germany and the U.S. now engaged. The Australian NCP remains under review within this process.

New Zealand is now listed in Annex B of the ICC submission as a notified State Party. This email and the attached documentation form part of the official public and legal record.