Polisario Punishes Misuse of the New Zealand Justice System (European Union Policy Report)

“The decision went further by questioning the reasons for the separatists’ insistence on misusing the New Zealand legal system to serve a foreign agenda,” James Wilson, editor of the Brussels-based portal, wrote in an article published Tuesday.

The case dates back to March 15, when the New Zealand Supreme Court rejected the Polisario and his mentors who had sought in vain to challenge the legality of the exploitation of phosphates extracted from the kingdom’s southern provinces by the New Zealand Pension Fund (NZSF). .

And the portal notes that fertilizer companies Ravensdown and Ballance Agri-Nutrients also import Moroccan phosphate, which is prevalent on New Zealand farms because it is well suited to use there.

The author of the article states that the lobbyists supporting the Polisario “were trying to prevent the legitimate trade in Moroccan phosphate”, by taking legal action to stop the extraction, under the pretext that these resources belong to them.

So the New Zealand Supreme Court in Auckland issued a landmark ruling in the case, saying that the Polisario had no recognized legal status. Second, he continues, the Supreme Court ruled that the regional dispute over the sovereignty of the Moroccan Sahara is a geopolitical conflict in nature and does not fall within the jurisdiction of the court, which is a national judicial institution that does not have the power to rule under international law. On setting the territory.

In this regard, Wilson explains, the court ruled that there is no domestic jurisdiction empowered to adjudicate an international geopolitical dispute, and “dismissed all allegations made by the plaintiffs in their attempt to misuse and misinterpret the New Zealand legal system.”

He also stressed that “the court based its decision on New Zealand’s national law and concluded that the New Zealand Pension Fund (NZSF) investments are fully in line with its obligations as a responsible corporation in a country of international repute.”

The Supreme Court confirmed that the fund complied with the New Zealand Responsible Investment Framework (RIF) and New Zealand Investment Policy and Procedures Statement (SIPSP), which in turn is based on the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).

“The allegations made by the Polisario and the New Zealand-based lobby group were completely dismissed in substance and form by the New Zealand court,” confirms the editor of the portal.

He concluded that this was not the first time that the “Polisario” separatists had failed in their attempt to disrupt the export of phosphates from the states of southern Morocco.

“A similar attempt to block a shipment in Panama in 2017 was canceled by the courts as well,” he recalls.