The deal will is now tabled for a final vote in the Parliament's plenary session of 13 February.

The Indian company Coromandel Fertiliser Ltd last week for the first time acquired phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara.

The national liberation movement of Western Sahara, Frente Polisario, sent out a press release after the vote in the European Parliament of 16 January 2019 regarding a new trade agreement that covers occupied territory.

The leading MEP on the proposal to extend EU-Morocco trade relations into occupied Western Sahara wants a legal opinion to be certain the proposed Western Sahara trade scheme meets the standards of the highest EU Court. The European Parliament is to vote this afternoon.

The European Parliament today approved a new EU-Morocco trade agreement for Western Sahara, without having asked the people of Western Sahara whether they want it. "A sad day for democracy and those who believe in rule of law", WSRW comments.

Today, 444 (!) members of the European Parliament decided to ignore the EU case law and vote to include occupied Western Sahara into a trade agreement With Morocco. See here which parliamentarians who voted for this travesty of justice, and whom tried to prevent it.

WSRW got access to a release sent out to international media by Western Sahara's liberation movement.

The leading MEP on the controversial Western Sahara trade file has introduced a last minute extra vote on UN consultations and the deal's potential effects on the UN-led peace process.

A proposal to undo the ALDE push of removing a debate on Western Sahara trade from the European Parliament's agenda was lost by a narrow margin. These are the 153 parliamentarians who prevented a public discussion on the issue of extending EU-Moroccan trade into occupied Western Sahara.

The French multinational ENGIE operates in occupied Western Sahara. WSRW today wrote the company, asking how they consider the legal-ethical aspects of such operations.

In 2015 and 2017, the Norwegian shipping company Spar Shipping transported two large cargos of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara to India. The company announced today that further trade from the territory is out of the question.

97 Saharawi civil society groups have, again, reminded the EU Commission and the European Parliament that the people of Western Sahara have never consented to, nor approve of, the extension of the EU-Morocco trade deal into their occupied homeland that is up for Parliamentary vote next week. Read their full letter here.

The proposed trade scheme for occupied Western Sahara denies EU consumers the right to know the true origin of covered products, just like it failed the right of the people of Western Sahara to decide whether they wanted the deal in the first place.

As the European Parliament prepares to vote on the extension of the EU-Morocco trade deal into occupied Western Sahara, WSRW calls on newly appointed Rapporteur Marietje Schaake to save her and the Parliament s reputation by suspending the procedure and starting over from scratch.

From the end of this year, 2 of 3 global importers of Western Sahara's controversial conflict minerals are from New Zealand. This week, locals protested in the city of Dunedin.

A sad Human Rights day for the Saharawi people. Just hours after the resignation of the leading MEP, the European Parliament's International Trade Committee backed extending EU-Morocco trade to occupied Western Sahara.

According to the EU Council, it cannot make public a legal opinion on a future EU-Morocco trade deal in occupied Western Sahara as that would "carry the risk compromising the capacity of reaching an agreement on the dossier".

Amid investigations into potential breach of code of conduct due to her membership on the Board of pro-Morocco lobby group, MEP Patricia Lalonde resigned today as the European Parliament's rapporteur on the proposed extension of the EU-Morocco trade deal into occupied Western Sahara.

The global match-maker of private accommodation has delisted providers in Israeli settlements and Crimea, but seem to apply different standards to similar situations of occupation. Saharawis object.

95% of the energy needed by Morocco to plunder the phosphates of Western Sahara is delivered via SiemensGamesa windmills. The company has now prolonged its service contract for the controversial windmills for another 15 years, while continuing to refuse to comment on Saharawi consent.