{"id":1482,"date":"2020-12-08T21:01:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T21:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=135684"},"modified":"2020-12-08T21:01:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T21:01:22","slug":"christchurch-commissions-call-to-improve-nz-social-cohesion-is-its-hardest-and-most-important-recommendation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/08\/christchurch-commissions-call-to-improve-nz-social-cohesion-is-its-hardest-and-most-important-recommendation\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch commission\u2019s call to improve NZ social cohesion is its hardest \u2013 and most important \u2013 recommendation"},"content":{"rendered":"
ANALYSIS:<\/strong> By Alexander Gillespie<\/a>, University of Waikato<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The most fundamental obligation of any state is the safety of its citizens. On 15 March 2019, New Zealand completely failed in this obligation.<\/p>\n The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Terrorist Attack on Christchurch Mosques<\/a> was designed to tell us why and how this happened \u2014 why 51 people were murdered, and what steps need to be taken to prevent such acts recurring.<\/p>\n In a nutshell, the commission concluded no one was solely to blame. It was a collective failure, divided between the security agencies, the police and a population lacking social cohesion and with a fear of speaking out.<\/p>\n The failure of the security agencies was unremarkable in the commission\u2019s analysis. They were alienated, under-resourced and overly focusing counter-terrorism resources on the threat of Islamist extremism.<\/p>\n While the agencies were aware of right-wing extremism, their intelligence was underdeveloped \u2014 but even if it had been better, the outcome may not have been different.<\/p>\n The primary reason the terrorist was not detected, the commission concludes, was due more to<\/p>\n the operational security that the individual maintained, the legislative authorising environment in which counter terrorism operates, and the limited capability and capacity of the counter terrorism agencies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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