PSNA says High Court Superfund decision a victory for Palestinian rights
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
16 April 2026 (Embargoed by the High Court to 11am today 16 April)
Media release:
PSNA says High Court Superfund decision a victory for Palestinian rights
The High Court in Auckland has found policies of the NZ Superfund are ‘unreasonable and unlawful’ and fail to properly address human rights issues, when the Fund considers excluding companies from its portfolio of investments.
The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa issued judicial review proceedings against the Superfund for its failure to divest its investment in Israeli companies which the UN says are complicit in the Israeli occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
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)
The Guardians have a duty to reformulate the policy documents.
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.
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 investment exclusions policy.”
Previously the Fund used policy documents, such as the United Nations Global Compact, an internationally recognised investment guideline which specifically includes human rights standards.
“But it removed the Global Compact and gutted its policy of any other direct reference to human rights, after it had made a previous principled decision on the five Israeli banks.”
“Not only was the Superfund in breach of its statutory obligations, but it was setting an illegally based template for KiwiSaver schemes and major private companies, such as those who sell Israeli products here, such as Sodastream.”
“We don’t believe it is a coincidence that the Fund dropped the policy after heavy pressure from the pro-Israel lobby, following the divestment decision on the five Israeli banks which profit from funding illegal Israeli settlements.”
“The Superfund replaced a principled policy with an entirely vague and subjective assessment of companies which meant they could resist pressure from human rights groups such as PSNA. The Fund was entirely making up legal sounding excuses as it went. It meant they could now keep on their books other companies which abuse the human rights of Palestinians.”
“Opting out of policies, which the High Court found were meant to be a statutory requirement, appears to be a cowardly backdown to backdoor bullying, which is standard operating procedure by the pro-Israeli lobby everywhere in the world. The Fund’s obligation is to stand up against human rights abuses without fear or favour,” says Minto.
“The Superfund owes us all an apology – and in particular an apology to Palestinians here and in Palestine, whose suffering is helping pay the price of the Fund’s increasing wealth.”
John Minto
Co-Chair PSNA
You can find the judgement here