95bFM Economy of Genocide: the UN report exposing corporations on a global stage and what role New Zealand should play
23 July, 2025
Interview and article by Sara Mckoy
The University of Otago’s Robert Patman, and Amnesty International’s Margaret Taylor, say the release of Francesca Albanese’s report, the ‘Economy of Genocide,’ raises an important question about who really has the capacity and responsibility to act.
Earlier this month, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council titled: ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’.
The report openly identifies the “corporate machinery” sustaining the financial means of Israel’s occupation of Gaza.
The bold indictment of forty-eight companies includes tech giants such as Microsoft, Alphabet Inc. – Google’s parent company – and Amazon, and establishes a database implicating over a thousand corporate entities.
In response to Albanese’s report, United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has imposed sanctions against Albanese, which he describes as “a campaign of political and economic warfare” against the US.
More broadly, the report has reinvigorated discourse surrounding the power and obligations of global actors — between the United Nations, state governments and individuals — to respond to war crimes and humanitarian crises.
University of Otago International Relations Professor, Robert Patman, told 95bFM’s The Wire that Albanese’s initiative to deliver this report could be influential.
“I think Francesca Albanese's powers are limited ... but it may play a significant role in the long term, depending on how people respond.
“It's certainly a warning shot to the Netanyahu government that since a number of companies [that] have been supporting the Netanyahu government have been served notice that the world is watching them; that has commercial implications for them.”
He says that the key issue blocking the UN from delivering meaningful action against states like Israel inflicting violence is the undue power given to the US, China, Russia, UK, and France – the UN member nations granted veto abilities.
“Let's be quite clear: it's unacceptable to most countries in the 21st century that questions of war and peace rest on the shoulders of just five countries.
“That means that five countries can block anything they don't like internationally, and it's the rest of the world that's paying the price for that privilege.”
Without an alternative to this process, where the UN lacks the ability to hold Israel accountable for their occupation of Gaza or Russia accountable for their war in Ukraine, Patman says protest action is important.
Amnesty International community manager Margaret Taylor, also told The Wire that it is significant for citizens to demand accountability where existing international processes are incapable.
“Global leaders have been missing in action when it comes to calling out Israel's genocide … the leadership is coming from the people.”
Patman affirms these sentiments around the failure of global leaders, calling out the “irony” of this in the face of urgent global challenges.
“We do not have an authoritative UN, and superpowers are confronted with problems that are too big for them to solve, but they're in denial about it.
“I do think consumers and citizens generally do have some influence if they choose to exercise it.”
When it comes to the role of the New Zealand government, both Patman and Taylor say that despite being a relatively smaller actor on the global stage, there is important potential to stand in solidarity with those impacted.
Patman says that New Zealand has played a positive role in supporting a rules-based international order, but is, in practice, “reluctant to speak up” to uphold these principles.
He adds that the country’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi underpins New Zealand’s moral obligations to human rights.
Both Patman and Taylor advocate for the government to lead action within the UN that scrutinises and seeks to resolve effectiveness concerns.
“New Zealand is one of the strongest nations in support of the International Criminal Court, and [it] must ensure that… it continues to support the ICC and its calls for justice here.”
Patman says that although there is no simple resolution to these global challenges, there is a sense of optimism that this report may generate meaningful change.
“Problems created by human beings can be fixed by them. There's nothing inevitable here.”
