"As a European I feel embarrassed", stated the former UN legal chief regarding the EU's fisheries activities in the waters of occupied Western Sahara, taking place in violation of international law. New trade agreements between Morocco and the EU - which Morocco is applying in Western Sahara - are entering info force in October 2012. WSRW questions the award of the Nobel peace prize to Morocco's important ally.

Spokespersons of two Swedish political parties urge the Swedish government to ensure that Morocco does not misuse the UN climate mechanism CDM to uphold the occupation of Western Sahara.

While the EU is in the process of negotiating a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with Morocco, 31 Saharawi NGOs recommend the EU to respect international law by excluding their occupied homeland. The organisations represent the vast majority of Saharawi civil society groups in the occupied territories of Western Sahara and in the refugee camps in south-west Algeria.

WRSW has asked German multinational Siemens to withdraw from supplying wind turbines and related technical assistance for the construction of the Foum el Oued windfarm project in occupied Western Sahara. Siemens' partner in the project is NAREVA holding, a Moroccan company owned personally by King Mohammed VI.

While the UN Human Rights Council is gearing up to review Morocco’s human rights slate, WSRW urges the international community to give due attention to the rights of the Saharawi people.

Update: WSRW is pleased to note that several countries did raise the issue of Western Sahara during Morocco's UPR-session. Transcripts of those statements are available here.
 

A Resolution passed in the EU Parliament today backs the EU's Trade for Change policy vis-à-vis its southern neighbours, but turns a blind eye to the singular obstacle to peace and development in the region: Morocco's continued brutal occupation of Western Sahara.

A group of unemployed Saharawi fishermen is said to have chained themselves to a foreign owned trawler in the harbour of Dakhla, protesting the plunder of their country.

Responsible Investor - Siemens, the German industrial giant, is facing scrutiny from environmental, social and governance (ESG) research house GES Investment Services over a wind farm project in the disputed Western Sahara.

Siemens’s African division in Denmark has signed a contract for delivery of wind turbines to Morocco-occupied Western Sahara. The indigenous population has not been consulted, as prescribed by the UN. Danwatch, 4 March 2012.

Siemens Energy has initiated a dangerous path for its internationalization strategy. Beginning of February, the company secured its first wind turbine orders on land occupied by Morocco.

Read also: Danwatch: Siemens’s Danish Division Signs Contract to Occupied Land