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.
“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.
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.
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).
A consultancy hired to assess phosphate imports from occupied Western Sahara into New Zealand concludes there is no problem.
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.