On 1 February 2026, the International Action Hub sent a letter of support to the Rt. Hon. Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister - copying also to the Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Hon. Nicola Grigg, Minister for Women. The letter was sent upon gaining approval from the NCWNZ Board to welcome the Prime Minister's announcement that New Zealand declined the invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump to join the Board of Peace.
U.S. President Trump had launched the founding charter of the Board of Peace during the 50th World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on 22 January 2026. Leaders and foreign ministers of 19 other countries attended the Board of Peace signing ceremony in Davos and signed the founding charter. The U.S. originally presented the Board of Peace as an oversight body focused on Gaza, and the U.N. Security Council adopted the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 on 17 November 2025 to give the Board of Peace a mandate to do so until the end of 2027. The Board of Peace charter indicated that the U.S. would serve as the fiscal depository and that President Trump would be approving all decisions. The charter does not contain the word "Gaza" which had been the original U.N. mandate. President Trump has asserted that he would like the Board of Peace to become the world’s preeminent conflict resolution body.
Many thanks to International Action Hub member Megan Hutching (WILPF) for taking the lead in building the bulk of this statement. Read the letter of support from NCWNZ to the Prime Minister below:
1 February 2026
To: Rt. Hon. Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister
Cc Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Cc Hon. Nicola Grigg, Minister of Women
Tēnā koe Prime Minister
The National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) affirms the Government’s decision to decline the invitation from US President Donald Trump to join his Board of Peace.
Our view is that the proposed Board of Peace is a tool for undermining the multilateral world order and the UN's role as the main platform for global diplomacy and conflict resolution. Since its inception NCWNZ has strongly supported an international framework for law and order based on human rights. Peaceful coexistence doesn’t happen by chance. It’s built through women’s leadership, inclusion, and equal participation.
New Zealand played a central role in establishing the UN in 1945 to prevent a repeat of the crimes against humanity and genocide during the Second World War. The UN Charter is anchored in a set of principles, which were hard-earned lessons of that war: the primacy of non-aggression, self-determination, fundamental human rights, and the ‘equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small’. None of these goals is any less relevant today in 2026. International co-operation remains the best way to solve international problems. The UN already provides this infrastructure within a framework of Treaties, human rights protections and international law.
We celebrate this renewed effort by the New Zealand government’s leadership to work together to protect and strengthen the UN and other institutions established to uphold international human rights and humanitarian law, the global rule of law, and accountability. A strengthened UN is best placed to ensure that women’s rights, children’s rights, and human rights are considered, respected and honoured - in both times of conflict and times of peace.
Joining the proposed Board of Peace would have diluted our country’s voice and erode what remains of the multilateral rules-based system. We are proud that New Zealand formally rejected the invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ngā mihi
National Council of Women of New Zealand
To read more articles from The Circular (January-February 2026) issue 655, click on the tag below.