Luxembourg pension fund blacklists six firms over Saharan imports
A Luxembourg government fund has excluded six companies from its portfolios due to "association to illegal exploitation of natural resources (Western Sahara)".
On 15 November 2014, the Fonds de Compensation commun au régime général de pension (FDC), published the list of 61 companies that it has decided to blacklist. No less than six of those companies have been rejected because they purchase phosphate from Moroccan occupied Western Sahara.
FDC has divested from Canada's Agrium Inc and Potash Corp Sasketchewan, Australian firms Wesfarmers and Incitec Pivot Ltd and USA firms Innophos Holdings and FMC Corporation, citing their "association to illegal exploitation of natural resources in Western Sahara".
All six companies had been listed by WSRW in its June 2014 "P for Plunder" report, which gives a complete overview of all clients, volumes, values and shipments of illegally excavated phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara for the years 2012-2013.
Morocco occupies the major part of its neighbouring country, Western Sahara. Entering into business deals with Moroccan companies or authorities in the occupied territories gives an impression of political legitimacy to the occupation. It also gives job opportunities to Moroccan settlers and income to the Moroccan government. Western Sahara Resource Watch demands foreign companies leave Western Sahara until a solution to the conflict is found.
It's not easy keeping up with all the different legal proceedings relating to Western Sahara. For the sake of clarity, here's an overview of the three different cases at the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Leading activists from Western Sahara are condemned to sentences ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment in connection to a mass protest in 2010 denouncing the Saharawi people’s social and economic marginalization in their occupied land; the Gdeim Izik protest camp.
At COP22, beware of what you read about Morocco’s renewable energy efforts. An increasing part of the projects take place in the occupied territory of Western Sahara and is used for mineral plunder, new WSRW report documents.
