Call for regional court to help tiny Pacific nations fight drugs

A Pacific region criminal court is being promoted by leading overseas experts as small South Pacific island nations increasingly become staging posts for international crime.

The concept was under discussion at the Regionalising International Criminal Law conference, which drew experts from around the world to the University of Canterbury in Christchurch over the weekend.

Evidence showed small South Pacific nations were frequently being used by international crime syndicates for the production of large quantities of hard drugs such as crystal methamphetamine to be supplied to New Zealand and Australia.

Irish university Professor William Schabas, a top authority on international criminal courts, said the idea of a court for the Pacific region was "extremely intriguing" and worth exploring.

It could provide "quality criminal justice for a region where you have a lot of uneven quality of justice because of the size of some of the islands and traditions and the lack of experienced people there".

"There are a lot of small, minor crimes that don't require that kind of mechanism and can be handled very easily by local courts. Even very serious crimes aren't necessarily complex crimes.

"On the other hand, white-collar crime, corruption-type crimes, environmental crimes and a category we now call transnational crimes, which would be of regional concern ... that's where a unit like this makes sense. That's where it could be quite helpful."

Any plan for a regional criminal court had to avoid threatening the sovereignty of smaller Pacific Island nations.

Dr Andreas Schloenhardt, a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland TC Beirne School of Law, has identified widespread methamphetamine production in the Pacific Islands that was adding to production in New Zealand and Australia.

Precursor substances like pseudoephedrine were uncontrolled in countries such as Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu, where drug laws were less sophisticated.

Crystal methamphetamine was being produced in the South Pacific and snuck into New Zealand. "You get these massive [border] seizures every now and then. The more you see, the more is probably coming in."