Dechert LLP sent the below reply-email to WSRW on 11 February 2016. Dechert has co-produced a legal opinion for the Moroccan state-owned phosphate company OCP, purportedly stating that OCP's exports of occupied Western Sahara's phosphates is permissible under international law as it accrues benefits to the "local people". Read WSRW's initial letter, asking whether the firm would share its legal opinion with the Saharawi people, here.
REPLY BY DECHERT LLP ON 11 FEBRUARY 2016
Dear Ms Eyckmans,
Thank you for your email and letter of 8 February.
As you may already know, all advice that we provide to our clients is confidential in accordance with our strict obligations of client confidentiality under the Solicitors Regulatory Authority Code of Conduct.
Various statements that you make in your letter are incorrect - I am open to have a discussion with you about those incorrect statements on the basis of the principles of international law.
I understand you have provided copy of your letter to the UN secretary General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, the UN Secretary General’s Special representative for Western Sahara and Head of MINURSO and the Chairperson of the Africa union Commission. I would grateful if you could provide us with their addresses so that we could copy them as well in our response.
Regards
Miriam González
Dechert LLP
www.dechert.com
New report on contentious Western Sahara phosphate trade
Morocco shipped over 1.5 million tonnes of phosphate out of occupied Western Sahara in 2017, to the tune of over $142 million. But the number of international importers of the contentious conflict mineral is waning, WSRW's annual report shows.
Report: Canadian companies behind nearly all of the dirty trade
Two Canadian companies, Agrium and PotashCorp, were behind two thirds of all imports of phosphates from occupied Western Sahara last year. WSRW today launched its annual report of the controversial trade in Western Sahara's white gold.
WSRW asks OCP to release legal opinions on phosphate trade
WSRW has asked Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company to share the legal opinions that supposedly prove its activities in occupied Western Sahara are lawful with the legitimate owners of the territory’s phosphate reserves; the Saharawi people.
New report: Western Sahara phosphate trade halved
The export of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara has never been lower than in 2019. This is revealed in the new WSRW report P for Plunder, published today.