NZ Justice Dismissal of Polisario Claims, ‘Another Victory for Morocco’s Southern Provinces’ – French Geopolitical Scientist

Brussels – The recent ruling of the High Court of Justice of New Zealand dismissing a legal action by the polisario is a “major setback” for the separatists and their backers and “another victory for the southern Moroccan provinces,” wrote French geopolitical scientist, Aymeric Chauprade.
“The invalidation of the separatists’ request by the High Court of New Zealand is a major setback for polisario and its supporters,” Chauprade said in an article published Friday on the EU’s Parliament Magazine. On 15 March, the New Zealand High Court of Justice issued its decision following legal action initiated last year by two members of the polisario against the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZSF), a sovereign wealth fund which is a kind of pension fund and which has invested in recent years in fertilizer production activities using Moroccan phosphate. This is an important point that underlines yet again the fragility or even absence of any legal status of the Polisario movement, Chauprade underlined, adding that the High Court affirmed that the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara is of a geopolitical nature and does not fall within its competence. According to the expert, the High Court also affirmed that the Sovereign Wealth Fund’s investments meet the legal and ethical requirements of “responsible investment” imposed by both New Zealand law and the United Nations. The NZSF representatives provided convincing evidence that investment and business activities in Morocco’s southern provinces are fully consistent with international responsible investment practices, he said. The Court recalled that the NZSF had informed itself about the situation in Morocco’s Southern Provinces before investing, Chauprade underlined, stressing that the New Zealand companies operating in the Moroccan Sahara have always insisted on the legality of trade relations with Morocco. “They have visited the southern provinces on several occasions and have seen for themselves the positive social and economic impact of their activities,” Chauprade underlined. Once again, a national court affirms that it is legal to invest in the southern provinces of Morocco, to import phosphate produced in these provinces and to contribute, through economic investment, to the development of an entire region of Morocco, he said. For Chauprade, the lesson of this judgment is that companies from all over the world can invest in the phosphate of Southern Morocco and in any other economic sector of these regions, such as fishing or tourism. Recalling that “polisario has been trying for years to damage Morocco’s trade relations with other countries, including European ones,” the Former European deputy noted, however, that whenever the EU-Morocco trade relationship has been endangered by polisario’s legal maneuvers, reason and the law have always prevailed. Chauprade also insisted that neither the European Union’s justice system, nor that of New Zealand or any other country, is qualified to pronounce on the status of a territory. “This matter is in the hands of the United Nations, and no doubt more deeply in the hands of Algerian leaders who one would like to be visionary enough to build peace with Morocco rather than supporting artificial separatism,” he explained. “Year after year, legal failure after legal failure, Polisario reveals its sad face: that of an organization from the past, which is heading for the dustbin of history,” the expert concluded.