Stop illegal EU Fisheries in Western Sahara:
Support the Fish Elsewhere! campaign
The European Commission will soon start negotiating on the continuation of the EU-Moroccan Fisheries Agreement. In practice, the bulk of the fisheries under that agreement take place in Western Saharan waters.
The EU is paying Morocco to fish in occupied Western Sahara. The EU-Moroccan Fisheries Agreement is both politically controversial and in violation of international law. The international Fish Elsewhere! campaign demands the EU to cancel its highly unethical operations, and go fishing somewhere else. No fishing in Western Sahara should take place until the conflict is solved.
Support the campaign by signing the petition: www.fishelsewhere.eu
Giant Norwegian fish oil purchases from Morocco/Western Sahara stopped
In March, Swedish National Television revealed that fish from the waters of Western Sahara was imported to Norway by GC Rieber Oils, subsequently turned into Omega 3-supplements by Napro Pharma and thereafter secretly sold to consumers in Scandinavia.
The news had a domino-effect. After receiving a letter from WSRW, asking the German firm Cognis that they instruct their Norwegian subsidiary Napro Pharma to halt the unethical purchases, Cognis terminated all fish oil imports from both Western Sahara and Morocco. Shortly after, several players in the Scandinavian health industry decided to drop their order of omega 3-supplements if they could not get guarantees on the products’ origins.
After losing its biggest client, the Norwegian firm Ewos, which is partially owned by the Norwegian government, GC Rieber announced it would stop importing from Western Sahara and Morocco. Yet, the story didn’t end there for the company. Due to tax evasions on the fish oil imports, amounting to nearly 100 million Euros, GC Rieber’s chairman Mr. Paul-Chr. Rieber, had to resign as President of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises on 24 April.
UN misses out on opportunity to implement human rights monitoring and to halt plundering
On 30 April 2010, the Security Council decided to extend the presence of the UN mission in Western Sahara with one year, after long discussions as to whether human rights monitoring should be included in its mandate. Such a provision would bring an end to MINURSO’s unique position in being the only UN peace-mission lacking such a mandate.
In his report to the UNSC, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon had noted that both parties to the conflict accuse each other of human rights abuses, and that while Polisario has asked twice for a human rights monitoring tool, Morocco has objected this. Ban Ki-Moon expressed his concern on the human rights situation, but nevertheless did not make any recommendation to address the issue.
In its letters to UN Secretary-General and to all members of the Security Council, Western Sahara Resource Watch had called for a human rights monitoring capacity to be included in the MINURSO mandate, as well as for the establishment of a mechanism to place the proceeds from the exploitation of Western Sahara's natural resources under international administration until the status of the territory has been resolved.
However, the Council unanimously passed resolution S/RES/1920 (2010), prolonging MINURSO’s mandate, without mentioning the term “human rights”, but instead referring only to the “human dimension” of the conflict. Despite strong efforts by several other member stated, France again blocked any reference to human rights monitoring. Uganda’s proposed amendment on the protection of Western Sahara’s resources was equally stifled. France justified its opposition to human rights monitoring by arguing it was important to refrain from any provocation or steps that could harm goodwill in the peace-process.
Western Sahara not part of EFTA-Morocco free trade agreement
The Moroccan-EFTA free trade agreement does not cover Western Sahara, according to Norwegian and Swiss authorities. This illustrates how the European Commission is on collision course with rest of the international community.
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Seismic services company renounces further Western Sahara involvement
Dutch seismic services firm Fugro NV, and its Norwegian subsidiary Fugro-Geoteam, have stated they do not want to undertake any more assignments in Western Sahara under the current political situation in the country.
In a letter to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated 23 April 2010, Fugro-Geoteam stated that it “has decided to abstain from any further involvement in Western Sahara until the political situation has been resolved". Shortly after, Fugro-Geoteam’s Dutch parent company, Fugro NV, also announced that it would terminate its involvement in Western Sahara.
Last year Fugro-Geoteam carried out seismic surveys for Morocco off the coast of Western Sahara, even though UN legal office had stated that such oil exploration would be in conflict with international law.
“The admission was nevertheless tardy. The data have already been gathered and delivered to the American company it worked for. Fugro-Geoteam has already prepared everything for a breach of international law and a conflict escalation in Western Sahara,” says Ronny Hansen of the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara.
Different Fugro NV subsidiaries have been involved in the territory for a decade. The fact that the parent company in the Netherlands also has decided to terminate its activities may have consequences both onshore and offshore for Morocco’s oil program in the territory. This is the sixth company in the international oil industry to terminate its involvement in Western Sahara after pressure from the solidarity movement.
Also during April…
… the European energy project Desertec decided not to carry out their reference projects in Western Sahara, citing “reputational reasons”, while Swedish grocery chain Axfood decided to stop selling tomatoes from the occupied country.
Saharawi phosphate workers continue to protest, while Uruguay is reported importing
Every Thursday, former Saharawi phosphate miners demand their rights from the Moroccan controlled phosphate company, OCP. They were under contracts with the Spanish, but lost their rights when Morocco illegally invaded the territory and took control of the Bou Craa mine. They’ve since been replaced by Moroccan settlers. See footage of their demonstrations here.
Meanwhile, Western Sahara Resource Watch can reveal that Uruguay has joined the list of countries that import illegally excavated Saharawi phosphates. The country has received at least two shipments during 2009, worth 4.4 million dollars.
Western Sahara not part of EFTA-Morocco free trade agreement
Continued from front page
“Since Morocco does not exercise internationally recognised sovereignty over Western Sahara, Western Sahara is not seen as a part of Morocco’s territory in relation to this agreement. The Free Trade Agreement is thus not applicable to goods from Western Sahara”, stated Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre in Norwegian Parliament on 11 May 2010 regarding the Free Trade Agreement between EFTA and Morocco.
By clearly excluding Western Sahara territory from the application of the Free Trade Agreement, Norway applies the same interpretation as the other major EFTA country, Switzerland. ”Since Switzerland does not recognise the Moroccan annexation, the free trade agreement between EFTA and Morocco is not applicable for Western Sahara”, stated Martin Zbinden, Head of Free Trade Agreement at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in 2007.
The EFTA, "the EU light”, consists of four European countries; Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. The association works parallel to the EU, but still closely connected to its bigger brother. EFTA was originally established in 1960 on a UK initiative.
By excluding Western Sahara, EFTA is thus much more clearly following the UN than the EU. Although the UN and European Parliament lawyers states that economic activity in Western Sahara is in violation of international law, the European Commission supports economic affairs in the territory through a deliberate misinterpretation of a UN advice from 2002. The Commission has repeatedly misquoted the UN statement, causing the author of the 2002 opinion himself, the former UN undersecretary general for legal affairs, to say he is “embarrassed to be European”.
By excluding Western Sahara, EFTA is thus much more clearly following the UN than the EU. Although the UN and European Parliament lawyers states that economic activity in Western Sahara is in violation of international law, the European Commission supports economic affairs in the territory through a deliberate misinterpretation of a UN advice from 2002. The Commission has repeatedly misquoted the UN statement, causing the author of the 2002 opinion himself, the former UN undersecretary general for legal affairs, to say he is “embarrassed to be European”.
Read full article: Western Sahara not part of the EFTA-Morocco free trade agreement
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