This letter is meant as a suggestion as to how to first contact a supermarket if you see a product from "Morocco"
For those concerned with Western Sahara issue, please help out to look for the following "Moroccan" products in your local shop:
Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes
Melons
Canned and frozen fish
If you discover these products in the shop, feel free to contact the management of the shop by cutting-and-pasting from the letter below. Contact either the shop itself, or alternatively the management of the entire chain. Try googling around to find any responsible in the shop/chain.
Be particular attentive to fruit/vegetable products of the labels Azura, Idyl and Les Domaines. See more about these on page 10 and 11 in our 2012 report Label and Liability. But also other labels need to be researched.
Thanks for sharing any findings, replies from the shops, or high resolution photos from shops with coordinator@wsrw.org
Example letter:
Dear XXXX[NAME OF DEPARTMENT/PERSON]
My name is XXXX, I am a regular customer of your shop [XXXX]. I recently discovered that you are selling [PRODUCT]. The product was labelled to be of "Moroccan" origin. Please find a photo of the product label attached to this mail. [MAYBE GIVE MORE INFO ABOUT THE PRODUCT LABELLING, IF AVAILABLE].
As you maybe know, Morocco partially occupies the territory of Western Sahara, and no state in the world recognise the Moroccan sovereignly claims of the territory. A number of dilemmas are involved in the trade with the territory, such as matters regarding international law. Some products are actually produced in Western Sahara are incorrectly labelled "Moroccan" as they are sold in shops in Europe.
On that basis, it is important to me to know whether Moroccan products are in fact Moroccan or actually from Western Sahara. Could you please help to clarify to me the precise origin of the [NAME OF MENTIONED PRODUCT]? Thank you for providing as detailed information as possible regarding the production location.
Thank you for your help. Looking forward to hear from you. You can reply to me on my email address.
Sincerely yours,
First season in Switzerland without occupation tomatoes?
From this winter on, Swiss supermarkets will probably, for the first time, no longer sell tomatoes from occupied Western Sahara.
Transparently unethical: Western Saharan melons are not from Morocco
An example of doing the wrong thing the right way: Swiss supermarket chain Migros still imports from occupied Western Sahara, but is at least honest about it to its customers.
Is your local shop selling conflict tomatoes?
Morocco’s tomato export season starts today. But some of the ‘Moroccan’ tomatoes you’ll soon find in your shop have been grown illegally in a territory under military occupation. Have you spotted dirty tomatoes? Help us to identify them in your local store!
Swiss grocery chain will re-label Western Sahara melons
One of Switzerland’s largest supermarket chains has stated it will replace the ‘Morocco’ labels with ‘Western Sahara’ on melons that are imported from the occupied territory.