British companies are still involved in the illegal exploitation of phosphate from Western Sahara, so says a report published on 22 May.
Morocco invaded Western Sahara in 1975 and has illegally occupied the territory ever since.
One of the resources that Morocco illegally exports from occupied Sahrawi territory is phosphate, used in artificial fertilisers. Western Sahara has been one of the world’s largest suppliers of high-quality phosphate rock.
Western Sahara Resources Watch has successfully lobbied some shipping companies to withdraw from Sahrawi phosphate transportation.
British insurance companies provide ‘protection and indemnity’ (P&I) insurance for most of the cargo vessels that carry Sahrawi phosphate rock around the world.
Four British ‘P&I Clubs’ covered 18 phosphate shipments from Western Sahara in 2023, involving a million tonnes of conflict minerals, according to P for Plunder, the new report from Western Sahara Resource Watch.
For example, UK P&I (head office: 90 Fenchurch St, London EC3M 4ST) insured a February 2023 shipment of 53,500 tonnes of stolen Sahrawi phosphate to India. The P for Plunder report:
www.wsrw.org