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Kimberley Kitching was urging Japan and NZ to introduce human rights abuse laws

Kimberley Kitching was campaigning to have New Zealand and Japan adopt tough laws targeting foreign human rights abusers at the time of her passing.

Federal Labor senator Kimberley Kitching was a crusader for human rights.
Federal Labor senator Kimberley Kitching was a crusader for human rights.

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching had embarked on a campaign to introduce tough laws targeting foreign human rights abusers in New Zealand and Japan at the time of her passing.

Billionaire turned international human rights activist Bill Browder said Ms Kitching made her mark internationally and has been mourned by members of the US congress, members of Britain’s parliament, the Dalai Lama and the minority Uighurs, who have been sent to concentration camps in China’s Xinjiang region.

In the week Ms Kitching passed away, she and Mr Browder had held a Zoom meeting with members of New Zealand’s parliament to encourage them to introduce Magnitsky-style laws that mean individual human rights abusers can be sanctioned rather than only an entire country. They planned to hold a similar meeting with Japan’s parliamentarians.

“She was thinking far bigger than just Australia. She was a global human rights champion,” Mr Browder told The Australian.

“She was looking at this not from the perspective of how is this going to help her political career but wow, we have a tool that can right some terrible wrongs and can help some oppressed people.

“I think in a certain way that was what kept her going in spite of all the institutional pressure. Her motivation to do this was the most pure motivation.”

As first revealed in The Australian last Wednesday, Ms Kitching was rebuffed by Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong when advocating for the Magnitsky legislation in Australia.

She recalled in an interview with The Australian in February how Senator Wong said she would support the laws “over my dead body”.

Mr Browder said Ms Kitching had “shielded” him from much of the backroom machinations she was confronting and always adopted a positive, can-do tone. When politicians in other countries faced similar obstacles, he said, they often moved on or gave up.

“They start with good intentions and the moment they encounter road blocks they move on to easier things,” he said.

But that never happened with Ms Kitching. “There are always people who prefer not to rock the boat and she (Kitching) was ready to rock the boat even if that was going to cost her something in terms of relationships and ruffling feathers,” Mr Browder said.

“She was excited about getting Amal Clooney, because she thought that would help with the Labor Party. She was also very enthusiastic about Geoffrey Robertson because he was well respected and she was also very keen on (Russian opposition politician) Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was Boris Nemtsov’s protege, who was murdered by the Kremlin in 2015.

“He showed up twice to tell his story and how he was fighting for the Magnitsky Act, and Kimberley felt this was the single most compelling testimony because someone from Russia was ready to die for the cause. Who couldn’t support that?”

Mr Browder said how sad he was to learn since Ms Kitching’s death, of a suspected heart attack on March 10, about the extent of the battles she faced.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/kimberley-kitching-was-urging-japan-and-nz-to-introduce-human-rights-abuse-laws/news-story/d1147c699d339dcd669db020aa5cc9c1