8. METIRIA TUREI (Green) Link to this
to the Minister of Trade
What is the Government’s position, if any, on importing minerals from non-selfgoverning territories where these minerals have been taken without regard to the wishes and interests of the people in those territories?
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Trade) Link to this
Any company importing any product to New Zealand needs to do so in compliance with both domestic and international law, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises that it has no evidence of any company acting contrary to this.
Is the Minister not aware that the vessel Bulk Sirius is currently in port at Tauranga bearing a cargo of phosphate fertiliser from Western Sahara; if so, does he have any concerns about New Zealand companies receiving minerals from non-selfgoverning territories under military occupation, as is happening at the moment?
I am aware of that fact, but I am advised that the New Zealand companies concerned are not in breach of either international or domestic law in importing phosphate from Morocco that may have been mined in Western Sahara. However, let me add that New Zealand has grave concerns about the political situation in Western Sahara and has strongly supported the UN processes and the peace plan designed to resolve the dispute between the Government of Morocco and the Sahrawi people.
Does the Minister agree with Hans Corell, legal counsel to the United Nations, that it is contrary to the principles of international law to take minerals in disregard of the interests and wishes of the people in Western Sahara; if so, what evidence can he show the House and the people of New Zealand that it is in the interests of the people of Western Sahara to have their phosphate mined by a Moroccan State-owned company—the military occupiers—then exported to New Zealand?
I am aware of the opinion given by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Hans Corell, back in 2002 on the basis of the charter principle of recognising that the interests of the inhabitants of non-selfgoverning territories must be paramount. However, I am also advised that there are no legal grounds for banning the trade from Morocco. Indeed, to do so would be subject to a legal challenge from Morocco under international trade law.
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I specifically asked what evidence the Minister has that it is in the interests, and is the wish, of the people of Western Sahara to have their phosphate mined. I would like an answer to that question.
Madam SPEAKERI will add further. The member asked several questions and therefore she runs the risk of not having all of them answered. The answer is that I do not think anybody can say with any certainty what the local people in Western Sahara feel about the mining of phosphate resources. I certainly have no evidence about that. I am aware that the independence movement is opposed to that, but I am not aware of what the views of the ordinary people in Western Sahara may be, and how could I be?
Given that the Minister has said that he has no evidence that the people of Western Sahara have given their consent to having their phosphate mined by the military occupier, and hence this shipment is in breach of international law where there is no evidence of that consent, will he then stop New Zealand companies from receiving minerals stolen from a people under military occupation until there is proof and evidence that they have given their consent to the extraction of those minerals?
I have neither evidence that they have given their consent nor withheld their consent. But what I do know, and what I have advised the member several times now, is that the legal advice I have is that those shipments are not illegal under international law.
Keith LockeWhat specifically is the New Zealand Government doing, following on from the Minister’s answer to the second supplementary question, to try to get Morocco to fulfil its promise made as far back as 1997 to allow a UN-sponsored self-determination process to take place to work out what the views of the people of Western Sahara really are on those matters and also on whether they want independence?
I regret to say that the member would have to address that question to the Minister of Foreign Affairs because it is within his portfolio area, but from general knowledge I can advise the member that New Zealand has steadfastly supported the procedures and the resolutions within the United Nations on a peace process coming to work in the Western Sahara area and people being given the chance to determine their future.
I seek leave to table two documents. The first is a Port of Tauranga vessels in port list, listing the Bulk Sirius, which is in port at present and is clearly from La’youn in Western Sahara.
The second document is a letter dated 29 January 2002 from Hans Corell, legal counsel to the Security Council of the UN, clearly stating that if exploration and exploitation activities are to proceed in disregard of the interests and wishes of the people of Western Sahara, they are in violation of the principles of international law applicable to mineral resource activities in non-selfgoverning territories.