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Joanna Allan (UK) and Kristina Nygaard (USA) were detained yesterday, 19 April, by the Moroccan police at a checkpoint in El Aaiun, occupied Western Sahara. Joanna Allan is a board member of WSRW.
Published 20 April 2014
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"Dear chairman of Kosmos Energy. Today I tried to film a friend holding a banner objecting to your company’s activities in my occupied country, Western Sahara. The Moroccan police responded by hitting me. Here you see how my eye looked like afterwards. How should we protest against your presence in our country?", asked 18 year old Elfayda Khayya from Boujdour in a letter to the chairman of Kosmos today.

Published 15 April 2014
As Morocco is about to undertake oil exploration offshore occupied Western Sahara, the UN Secretary-General comments in his report to the UN Security Council the obligations under international law.
Published 11 April 2014
WSRW has appealed to the members of the UN Security Council to support UN monitoring of human rights and natural resources exploitation in occupied Western Sahara.
Published 10 April 2014

Saharawis demonstrated 26 February against Kosmos Energy's oil plans in occupied Western Sahara. Find high resolution images here.

Published 29 March 2014

The people of Western Sahara continue to speak out against US oil firm Kosmos Energy's plans to drill in their occupied homeland in October 2014.

Published 20 March 2014
Saharawis have a clear message for the US Oil company Kosmos Energy, that has announced its plans to drill for oil in occupied Western Sahara in October this year.
Published 19 March 2014
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The Saharawi government has today announced that it has awarded a new oil and gas exploration block to UK-based Red Rio Petroleum Ltd. Read the full press release here.
Published 19 March 2014
A company that installed key equipment of the Atwood Achiever told Norwegian broadcaster today it would never had taken on the assignment had they known the vessel would be used in Western Sahara. It has withdrawn from commitments to deliver service to the rig while in the territory.
Published 17 March 2014
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A peaceful protest by Saharawi fishermen in the El Aaiun harbour this week was broken up by the Moroccan police. Nine fishermen were taken to the police station for hours of questioning, and threatened with harder punishment if they were ever to protest the EU fisheries again.
Published 14 March 2014
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Morocco's hunt for oil in the territory it has occupied keeps moving ahead. According to Upstream Online today, their partner Kosmos Energy is this week opening a base in Western Sahara for its offshore operation.
Published 14 March 2014
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WSRW has asked Kosmos Energy to demonstrate how it has obtained the consent of the Saharawi people for its activities offshore Western Sahara. The US oil firm plans to start drilling for oil in October this year.
Published 14 March 2014
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Check out this image from yesterday. Saharawis in Western Sahara are increasingly frustrated over the US oil company Kosmos Energy's plans to drill in the occupied territory of Western Sahara on behalf of the occupying power Morocco.
Published 13 March 2014
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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.

Published 11 March 2014
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The US company Kosmos Energy is going to drill in Western Sahara for the first time since the Moroccan occupation. In six months time, it might be too late to stop the company.

Published 10 March 2014
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Agrium Inc, the Canadian company that started importing phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara just a few months ago, claims to have both the law and the principles of corporate responsibility on its side.
Published 06 March 2014
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French energy firm Greensolver has agreed to cooperate on Morocco’s solar and wind projects. WSRW has asked them to clarify whether their work will be confined to Morocco proper, or will also cross the border into occupied Western Sahara.

Published 05 March 2014
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A law proposed by the European Commission on responsible sourcing of minerals has been watered down to apply only to imports of processed and unprocessed tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold. Accordingly, it will not include phosphate rock – occupied Western Sahara's white gold that Morocco is profiteering on.

Published 05 March 2014
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US oil firm Kosmos Energy plans to start exploration drilling in occupied Western Sahara in October or November this year, writes Upstream Online today.
Published 21 February 2014
WSRW has asked Cairn Energy to reconsider its involvement in occupied Western Sahara. Through its partnership with American oil firm Kosmos Energy, Cairn will take part in further exploration works in the territory, including exploratory drilling.
Published 21 February 2014
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Eleven EU states have received fishing rights offshore occupied Western Sahara as part of the concluded Fisheries Partnership Agreement with Morocco. The owners of the fish, living under acute humanitarian conditions, receive emergency aid from the EU worth only a fraction of what these eleven states will harvest.
Published 11 February 2014
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Yesterday, the Moroccan Parliament unanimously adopted the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement. No wonder. Through the agreement, the EU will pay Morocco to fish in the waters offshore the territory Morocco is illegally occupying: Western Sahara.
Published 11 February 2014
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The plans of Kosmos Energy and Total in occupied Western Sahara angers The Saharawi natural resources group, Observatorio Saharaui de Recursos Naturales in a statement today.
Published 07 February 2014
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Several big European investment banks have indicated that they will not finance renewable energy projects in occupied Western Sahara. As a result, Morocco is forced to look for other, less ethically inspired funders.

Published 06 February 2014
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Morocco and India have signed two cooperation agreements in the fields of fisheries and environment. India is also said to show a big interest in Morocco's phosphate imports.
Published 05 February 2014
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The French oil multinational confirms having renewed for 12 months its licence offshore "the Sahara region". The company keeps following the terminology of the occupying power of Morocco - their partner.

Published 03 February 2014

The EU Commission and Morocco have had a third round of talks to agree on a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. Such an agreement aims at integrating Morocco’s economy into the EU single market – and, if failing to exclude it, also the illegitimate economy of occupied Western Sahara.

Published 28 January 2014
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Yet another mineral appears to be illegally exploited by Morocco in occupied Western Sahara: quartz.

Published 27 January 2014
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One of China's giant state-owned fishing firms, Shanghai Fisheries General Corp, is looking to become a major presence in "Moroccan waters".

Published 27 January 2014
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The Dutch government has asked the European Commission to provide clarifications on its imports of tomatoes from Western Sahara, says the Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister.
Published 15 January 2014
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A Russian trawler that has been fishing offshore occupied Western Sahara much of last year, has now been seized by the Senegalese authorities for illegal fishing.
Published 09 January 2014
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French oil multinational Total, with the biggest licence offshore occupied Western Sahara, says it will only disclose in mid-January whether it has renewed or not its licence in the territory.
Published 20 December 2013
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The Moroccan government has opened up for another oil block further offshore the territory it holds under occupation.

Published 19 December 2013
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The choice of the EU to enter into a deal with Morocco for the plundering of the natural resources of occupied Western Sahara cause heavy reactions from the people of the territory.

Published 12 December 2013

Footage of this protest yesterday in El Aaiun was taken two hours after the European Parliament consented to the EU-Morocco fisheries protocol, which allows for EU fishing in occupied Western Sahara. The people of Western Sahara have not been asked for their approval.

Published 11 December 2013
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Today, the European Parliament decided to back up the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, opening for fishing in the waters of Western Sahara, a territory of which large parts have been occupied by Morocco since 1975. "A sad day for international peace and human rights" states WSRW. The deal was inked on the 1 year anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize - and on the International Day of Human Rights.
Published 10 December 2013
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"I want to see a free society in Western Sahara – where we are able to decide for ourselves how we will share our natural resources with the world, and where the economic benefits will come to my people, not to the settlers who come with the support of the King and the Moroccan army to take our territory and property", leading Western Sahara human rights activist Aminatou Haidar stressed in a letter to the European Parliamentarians today.
Published 09 December 2013
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Saharawis protesting against the EU's provocative plans to pay Morocco for fishing rights in occupied Western Sahara were attacked by Moroccan police yesterday. President-in-exile asked in a letter today UN secretary general for intervention vis-à-vis Morocco's "repeated assaults against the peaceful and defenseless Sahrawi citizens" and to prevent illegal EU fisheries deal.
Published 08 December 2013

Saharawi social media are boiling over of videos and images of the demonstration yesterday against the EU plans to partner with Morocco to exploit the fish resources of the occupied territory. We have gathered some of it.

Published 08 December 2013
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Several Saharawis were injured by Moroccan police in a demonstration against the EU's plans to fish in occupied Western Sahara, Saturday evening. European Parliament will on Tuesday vote on an illegal fisheries agreement with Morocco, covering the occupied territory. The local people of Western Sahara are frustrated, not having been consulted as the UN and international law require.

Published 07 December 2013
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EU plans to pay Morocco to fish offshore occupied Western Sahara. Saharawis are mobilising everywhere to prevent the scandal: in the refugee camps, in occupied territories and on social media.

Published 07 December 2013
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The aspects of international law that was of concern to the European Parliament back in 2011 have not been answered to in the new proposed fisheries agreement, state 21 jurists.

Published 05 December 2013
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A large coalition of European and Western Sahara groups asks the European Parliament not to pay Morocco to fish in the waters it occupies. 16.189 individuals have joined the letter, including thousands of refugees from Western Sahara.
Published 05 December 2013
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In a critical letter dated 1 December 2013, the president of the Pan-African Parliament calls on the European Parliament's president, Mr. Martin Schulz, to vote against fisheries agreement with Morocco offshore the coast of the AU member state, Western Sahara.

Published 04 December 2013
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Though a divided EU Council backed the deal last month, several EU Member States issued statements of concern on the inclusion of Western Sahara. Read the statements of Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Ireland, UK and the Netherlands here.
Published 03 December 2013
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Greenpeace International today launched a report documenting the increasing private Moroccan fleet in Western Sahara. The combination of that fleet with a new European fisheries agreement with Morocco is not sustainable, according to Greenpeace, calling for the European Parliament to reject renewed EU fisheries in the occupied waters.
Published 02 December 2013
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Saharawi Natural Resource Watch - the local group of Saharawis investigating the plunder of their own country - today issued the report 'Poor People in a Rich Country'.
Published 26 November 2013
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The Saharawi Natural Resources Watch (SNRW) has called on all European Parliamentarians, to reject the new EU-Morocco fishing agreement, which will be voted in December in the European Parliament so as to “honor Europe and its peoples”.

Published 24 November 2013
The Saharawi government has today issued a press release on the plans of petroleum firms Cairn Energy PLC and Kosmos Energy LLC for exploratory drilling in the waters of occupied Western Sahara in 2014. Read their statement here.
Published 20 November 2013
While the European Parliament still has to vote on the newly proposed EU-Morocco fish deal, the EU Member States and Morocco have already inked the text.
Published 19 November 2013
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When the vessels come in with too much fish to El Aaiun harbour, the surplus is trown away at a waste dump nearby. New and fresh images show tonnes of fish dumped onshore.

Published 19 November 2013
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An increasingly large fleet of foreign vessels work offshore Western Sahara. This shocking series of new images show how the fisheries are managed in the waters that Morocco occupies.

Published 19 November 2013
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The company behind the massive discards of sardines in Western Sahara is certified by Friend of the Sea for sustainable sardine fisheries. UPDATE: Friend of the Sea state company no longer is certified.
Published 19 November 2013
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The oil journal African Energy published in its latest issue a large story about Kosmos Energy’s oil programme in Western Sahara. Kosmos defends its operations.
Published 19 November 2013
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On Sunday 17 November, dozens of Saharawis took to the streets of El Aaiun to protest against the involvement of Total, Siemens and the EU in the illegal exploitation of their occupied country's natural resources.

Published 18 November 2013
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The congress of the European Liberal youth organisation LYMEC this week-end called for the European Parliament to vote down a proposed fisheries agreement with Morocco covering the waters that Morocco has illegally occupied.
Published 18 November 2013
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The Swiss supermarket chain Coop in October started labelling their tomatoes from "Western Sahara".

Published 17 November 2013

Saharawi student asked Morocan state phosphate company how her people benefits from the plunder. OCP now tries to silence the stunt, by preventing it from being aired on Youtube.

Published 16 November 2013
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YEPP, the youth section of the EU parliament's conservative platform EPP, has asked the EU to not enter into deals with Morocco that also covers natural resources from the annexed Western Sahara. WSRW was just made aware of this text, originally adopted in YEPP congress in May.

Published 15 November 2013
UK oil company Cairn Energy has partnered with Kosmos Energy to drill in occupied Western Sahara. Such activities are in violation of international law, according to the UN.
Published 08 November 2013
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The European Parliament's new legal opinion states that Morocco has never claimed an Exclusive Economic Zone over the waters off Western Sahara. Read the full text of the opinion here.

Published 06 November 2013
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In today's meeting of EU Ambassadors, a majority of EU Member States indicated to favour the newly proposed EU-Morocco fisheries protocol, which opens for EU fishing in the waters of occupied Western Sahara. Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the UK and the Netherlands have announced that they will not support the proposal.
Published 06 November 2013
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The EU Member States did not come to a decision on the proposed EU-Morocco Fisheries Protocol today. The vote will be postponed a few days.

Published 30 October 2013
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Tomorrow, the Ambassadors of the EU Member States will examine whether a qualified majority favouring the new EU-Morocco Fisheries Protocol can be reached.
Published 29 October 2013
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The Tasmanian based fertilizer producer Impact has stopped its imports from Western Sahara.

Published 21 October 2013

An impact assessment ordered by the EU Commission on the effects of the envisioned EU-Morocco DCFTA confirms that Western Sahara is part of the deal's scope. But the people with the sovereign rights to the land, the Saharawis, will not even be heard as a stakeholder to the process.

Published 17 October 2013
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Agrium Inc, a Canadian agro-business, is expecting its first shipment of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara by the end of the month. The matter has attracted media attention in Canada, stating that "it could be the first import of conflict minerals coming directly into Canada since the apartheid era in South Africa".

Published 16 October 2013
Questions in the Moroccan Parliament regarding the identities of the beneficiaries of fishing licences were denied an answer by the Moroccan government. But leaks in the media indicate that it is mainly Moroccan army generals and defected Saharawis who are on the receiving end.
Published 16 October 2013

In its statement to the United Nations’ Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), Western Sahara Resource Watch drew attention to companies trading in phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara and Groupe Total's unethical seabed oil exploration in the adjacent waters.

Published 11 October 2013

The EU-Commission’s newly proposed and controversial Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) with Morocco has failed to gain support from the Danish Government and a broad majority in the Danish Parliament.

Published 08 October 2013
Former UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell states to Swedish media that the legal opinion made for the Security Council in 2002 has been misused by both the EU and investors in the oil sector.
Published 06 October 2013
The European Parliament discussed the resumption of EU illegal fisheries offshore occupied Western Sahara on 3 October.

Published 06 October 2013
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A reading of the newly public, proposed EU-Morocco fisheries protocol reveals that the Commission has failed in its efforts to take into account an important demand from the European Parliament and Council: A clause on human rights.

Published 01 October 2013
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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!

Published 01 October 2013
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The US/Canadian company PotashCorp and Australian company Incitec Pivot have been kicked out of the Swedish government´s pension funds due to imports from occupied Western Sahara.

Published 30 September 2013
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The European Commission has just released the official translation of the draft EU-Morocco Fisheries Protocol. The text, still requiring Parliament and Council's consent, fails to exclude the waters of occupied Western Sahara. Read the contentious document here.
Published 25 September 2013
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One year ago, a wind farm project that Morocco is undertaking in occupied Western Sahara was turned down when seeking to obtain UN-sponsored carbon credits. Now, that same project has been approved by another, private credit issuing agency.

Published 23 September 2013

In July, Total finished one year of seismic exploration offshore Western Sahara. A new video shows the vessels at Las Palmas harbour, just after their assigment had ended. 

Published 20 September 2013
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Western Sahara Resource Watch today launched a report on the French oil company Total’s irresponsible comeback in occupied Western Sahara. The company carries out exploration in the territory despite the UN legal office stating it would be in violation of international law.
Published 02 September 2013
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In the coming months, the European Union will decide whether or not to agree to the newly proposed fisheries accord with Morocco, allowing EU vessels to access Western Sahara's waters. The Saharawi fishermen speak out against the deal: “The agreement is an act of theft and a serious threat to the environment”. Read their official statement here.

Published 30 August 2013
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L'associazione Western Sahara Resource Watch ha pubblicato oggi stesso un rapporto che descrive come il Marocco intenda costruire impanti di energia rinnovabile di più di 1000 MW (megawatt) nel Sahara Occidentale, un territorio che il Marocco occupa parzialmente.

Published 29 August 2013
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Western Sahara Resource Watch has today launched a report detailing how Morocco intends to build over 1000 MW (megawatts) of renewable energy plants in Western Sahara, a territory that Morocco partially occupies.

Published 28 August 2013
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The Lithuanian fertilizer company Lifosa has received at least seven bulk shipments so far in 2013. WSRW asks them to terminate its voluminous imports.
Published 27 August 2013
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WSRW has received photos of the vessel 'Trio Vega' loading sand in the harbour of El Aaiun, the capital of occupied Western Sahara.

Published 27 August 2013

In early July, WSRW contacted the energy companies that are pre-qualified to build windmills in occupied Western Sahara. The response has been meager.

Published 06 August 2013
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A new fish market has been inaugurated at the port of Boujdour in occupied Western Sahara, south of the capital El Aaiun. The development expands Morocco's capacity to exploit the already damaged fish stocks even further.
Published 01 August 2013
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The European Commission has today signed a new Fisheries Protocol with Morocco, which will allow EU vessels to resume fishing in the waters of occupied Western Sahara.
Published 24 July 2013
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Two vessels that have been contracted by French oil company Total to search occupied Western Sahara's seabed for oil, are currently at anchor in the harbour of Las Palmas. See videos and photos here.

Published 22 July 2013
A solution to the problem "of a political nature" - the inclusion of occupied Western Sahara's waters through a deal with occupying power Morocco - is said to be close.
Published 09 July 2013
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Two companies - linked to each other - both claim to have ownership over the Boujdour Offshore Shallow block in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 05 July 2013
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The European Council has communicated to WSRW that it cannot disclose its legal opinion on the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement of 2006, due to its "great political sensitivity".
Published 04 July 2013
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A fishing company operating in occupied Western Sahara and a Saharawi support group in Norway have concluded an agreement under the umbrella of the OECD guidelines for multinational companies.
Published 04 July 2013
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The American company General Electric has communicated to WSRW that they are no longer participating in the tender to construct two wind farms in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 03 July 2013
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The Moroccan government's plans to develop wind farms in occupied Western Sahara have drawn the interest of 16 international companies.
Published 03 July 2013
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San Leon Energy "is offering interested parties the opportunity to acquire a material equity" in return of driling on its Tarfaya block according to a document from the company today. WSRW warns future investors from entering the uethical block.
Published 02 July 2013
Polisario has urged the UN to create a fund that will allow the Saharawi people to benefit from Morocco's plunder of Western Sahara's natural resources.
Published 14 June 2013
The US Department of Labour claims that there is reason to assume that children in Western Sahara are engaged in some of the worst forms of child labour, "particularly in dangerous forms of agriculture".
Published 13 June 2013
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The US oil company Kosmos Energy has contracted a rig from Atwood Oceanics for drilling next year. There is a large chance that drilling will take place in occupied Western Sahara, for the first time since the UN said it would be illegal.
Published 13 June 2013
The Norwegian pension scheme KLP is excluding the French oil company Total from its investments. KLP considers Total’s activities in Western Sahara unethical.
Published 04 June 2013