Relationship dossier
New Zealand
Western Sahara
Relationship assessment
New Zealand supports a UN-led process on Western Sahara’s political status; direct Sahrawi-New Zealand cooperation is unclear.
New Zealand toward Western Sahara
+15New Zealand supports a UN-led process for Western Sahara that provides for the territory’s people to determine its status. This is a concrete policy position, though the scope of direct bilateral engagement is unclear.
Western Sahara toward New Zealand
Not assessedInformation about direct government cooperation by Western Sahara’s Sahrawi authorities with New Zealand is insufficient to assess the relationship.
Overall relationship
Not assessedHow to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
New Zealand supports a UN-led process for Western Sahara that allows the territory’s people to determine its status. Western Sahara’s disputed status and divided governance complicate bilateral relations: Morocco controls most of the territory, while the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic claims sovereignty and the Polisario Front represents it. Information about direct government cooperation from Western Sahara with New Zealand is insufficient to assess that relationship.
Major uncertainties
- The extent of direct New Zealand engagement with Sahrawi representatives is unclear.
- Details of any direct government cooperation between Western Sahara’s Sahrawi authorities and New Zealand are limited.