PSNA says High Court Superfund decision a victory for Palestinian rights
The High Court ruling against the NZ Superfund isn’t just a technical legal loss — it’s a blunt statement that human rights can’t be quietly edited out of public investment policy. And now the Fund has to answer for it.
The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa issued judicial review proceedings against the Superfund for its failure to divest from Israeli companies which the United Nations Human Rights Council says are complicit in the occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The Court’s just released judgment found:
“The Guardian’s policies fail to meet the basic requirements of the Act (New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001) so far as exclusion from the fund for alleged breach of human rights standards is concerned. They are unreasonable and unlawful. (para 86)[1]
The Guardians have a duty to reformulate the policy documents.
The Court has forced the Superfund back to human rights accountability
Once legally compliant policy documents are in place the Guardians will inevitably have to make decisions about the challenged investments in accordance with these policy documents. (para 102)”
“This is an important and timely win for Palestine”, says PSNA Co-Chair John Minto. “We are certain if the Superfund now does its job properly, it will quickly divest from the four companies it holds investments in which are on the United Nations Human Rights Council list of companies involved in building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements in the OPT.”
“As things stand, the Superfund is raking in money from the most appalling breaches of international law by Israel in the OPT, that is Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
“New Zealanders expect the highest of standards from our leading sovereign wealth fund, which should be setting the benchmark for all New Zealand investment funds.”
“No New Zealander on national superannuation in the future wants to have money in their pocket made from Israel’s war crimes and massive human rights abuses of Palestinians in the OPT.
Minto says of extreme concern to PSNA, is the revelation from the judgment, that in June 2022, a year after the Fund had divested from five Israeli banks, it gutted its exclusions policy and removed all direct references to human rights standards.
So why were human rights stripped out in the first place?
In particular, the new abbreviated policy removed the reference to the human rights standard in the UN Global Compact. The High Court said the new policies are now
“materially less clear and specific than previous iterations and there is no practical benchmark for those applying the policy in relation to alleged breaches of human rights standards” (para 60)
The High Court judgment also says:
“The current policy documents no longer link exclusion directly to any human rights standards”
“This is beyond outrageous,” says Minto. “Our largest sovereign wealth fund, owned by the government on behalf of the people of New Zealand, has no specific references to human rights standards in its exclusions policy.”
Previously, the Fund used international guidelines such as the Global Compact, which explicitly include human rights.
“But it removed the Global Compact and gutted its policy after it had made a principled decision on the five Israeli banks.”
“Not only was the Superfund in breach of its statutory obligations, but it was setting a template for KiwiSaver schemes and major private companies, such as those selling Israeli products here, like Sodastream.”
“We don’t believe it is a coincidence that the Fund dropped the policy after heavy pressure following the earlier divestment decision.”
“The Superfund replaced a principled policy with a vague and subjective assessment that allowed it to resist pressure from human rights groups.”
“Opting out of policies which the High Court found were a statutory requirement appears to be a cowardly backdown,” says Minto.
“The Superfund owes us all an apology — and particularly Palestinians whose suffering is helping fund its returns.”
John Minto
If Minto was just about Palestinian rights in the OPT that would we one thing. And whilst there is a fair point to be made about NZ Super in any way appaering to support illegal settlements – which are abhorrent- Minto does this discussion no good at all. The fact is Minto wants the destruction of Israel as the Jewish state (fact), he thinks Hamas and Hezbollah are “freedom fighters” (fact) and that Oct 7 was “understandable” (fact – in fact he declared so in writing on Oct 8). He stands with Iran generally. Or anyone who hates Jews. He protests against teenage girl tennis players. He does not care one iota about anyone other than his own desperation for relevance and hating upon Jews under whatever excuse he can conjure up from time to time. You never hear him expressing concern for Sudanese, Congolese, Chinese etcetera. He has one focus only. There is a reason he can only find support from sad souls in sad echo chambers – such as this blog – which either censor or abuse anyone with a view at odds with its own.