UNFCCC seeks answers from Morocco on parliamentarian expulsion

A spokesman for UNFCCC told media that it has requested answer from the organisers of COP22 on why they kicked out the vice-president of the PanAfrican-Parliament.

Published 09 November 2016

“We are aware of the situation and are seeking clarification from the Moroccan authorities", a spokesman for UNFCCC told the news service Climate Home today. 

The vice-president of the Pan-African Parliament, Suelma Beirouk, was Monday expelled from Morocco, the host of COP22. Morocco occupies Western Sahara, a territory which Mrs. Beirouk is from. 

Western Sahara is a Member State of the African Union, while Morocco is not. Morocco has since 1975 occupied parts of the territory of Western Sahara. 

Since 2013, it has built windmills in the territory, needed to supply energy to the plunder of the minerals. Morocco uses alleged 'sustainable' energy projects to fortify the occupation, as WSRW uncovered in the report Powering the Plunder – What Morocco and Siemens are hiding at COP22, Marrakech, published 2 November. 

Morocco has not sought the consent of the people of the land to carry out such projects - a situation which the UN Human Rights Council expressed concerns about this week. Neither Morocco, nor its two partners in that sector, German company Siemens or Italian company Enel have lifted a finger to hear the opinion of the Saharawis. Nareva, the company of the Moroccan king, fails to respond to questions on human rights in a study published last week by Business and Human Rights

Last week, hundreds of Saharawis protested against Morocco, Siemens and Enel. The last days, numerous leading activists from the occupied territory have denounced the Moroccan projects on their land. 

 

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