Big March for Peace Held in Auckland, New Zealand

By Liz Remmerswaal, World BEYOND War, June 25, 2026

Up to a thousand people joined the March for Peace in Auckland on 20 June to demand that Aotearoa New Zealand becomes a voice for peace rather than a complicit partner in U.S.-led illegal wars.

The march was organised by new group, Anti-War Aotearoa, and Greenpeace, and stopped outside the U.S. Consulate en route because it’s important that the New Zealand government refuses any “war minerals” deals with the Trump administration.

The groups are urging the Government to implement fully independent foreign policy grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, diplomacy, and international law.

Niamh O’Flynn, Programme Director at Greenpeace Aotearoa, says the nation’s environmental and international priorities are fundamentally linked.

“We oppose Luxon and the coalition Government allowing Aotearoa to be drawn into Trump’s wars, and we strongly oppose the minerals deal being negotiated to fuel those wars,” says O’Flynn. “We call for an independent foreign policy in Aotearoa that prioritises peace, upholds the UN charter, and supports the wellbeing of people and the planet. We must not sell off Aotearoa’s natural places to the highest bidding war-monger.”

A spokesperson for Anti-War Aotearoa says the march is a necessary public response to escalating imperial aggression, the erosion of international law, and a dangerous shift in domestic priorities.

“We are marching because Aotearoa needs to become a voice for peace and reason in an increasingly unstable world, rather than acting as a supporting player in these illegal, foreign wars,” Anti-War Aotearoa spokesperson Gabriella Brayne says.

“We demand that the New Zealand government places immediate sanctions on Israel to end the genocide in Gaza, gets fully behind the ICC and ICJ cases against war crimes, and pulls public funding from militarisation so it can be invested into health, housing, and education,” said Brayne.