On the evening of 6 November 2016, the day before the opening of the climate talks in Marrakech, the official website COP22.ma is relaunched. False map is gone.
The Moroccan hosts of the COP22 climate talks in Marrakech has just announced on Twitter that it has relaunched its COP22.ma website. WSRW on 2 November mentioned in a report how the previous page contained a map in which Morocco had doubled its size as compared to official UN maps.
Morocco has illegally occupied Western Sahara since 1975, a territorial claim not recognised by the international community nor the UN.
With the largely revised site, the erroneous map is now removed. The URL to the previously published map is inactive.
Instead, a piece of country information has been published on the new site under the article "Useful information about Morocco" [or download].
There, the description of the surface area of Morocco is nearly doubled as compared to UN data. It is also claimed that Morocco borders Mauritania, which is not the case. The coastline is referred to as near identical to the circumference of the earth:
"Surface Area: 710,850 sq. km
3,5000 km of coastline
[...]
Bordering Countries: Algeria to the east and Mauritania to the south"
On the new site, it appears furthermore that Morocco is organising an event organised by something it calls "Coalition Régionale pour l'Economie Verte-Region Laayoune Sakhia El Hamra", while an exhibitor is called "Féderation des Amicales et Associations des Quartier de Laayoune".
One of the richest coastlines in the world
The fish stocks of occupied Western Sahara have not only attracted the interest of the Moroccan fleet: other foreign interests are also fishing in the occupied waters through arrangements with Moroccan counterparts. Along the Western Saharan coastline, a processing industry has emerged.
The CJEU Court Cases
Keeping track of the many legal proceedings relating to Western Sahara is not easy. This page offers an overview of the cases concerning the territory that have been before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
Tūhana human rights advisors ignore human rights
A consultancy hired to assess phosphate imports from occupied Western Sahara into New Zealand concludes there is no problem.
MEPs push back on Commission over Western Sahara in EU–Morocco trade
MEPs from across the political spectrum sharply criticised the European Commission over its handling of EU-Morocco trade relations covering occupied Western Sahara, raising concerns over legality, transparency and an apparent disregard for Parliament’s role.