The EU Court this morning issued a ruling stating that the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement is only valid if it does not apply to the waters of Western Sahara.

At 11:45 today, Saharawi refugees are celebrating that the Court of Justice has ruled that EU cannot continue fishing offshore Western Sahara in partnership with the country that occupied their homeland. 
 

The High Court of South Africa today confirmed that the owner of the cargo of phosphate rock aboard the detained vessel, NM Cherry Blossom, is the Saharawi Government, and not Morocco's state-owned phosphate company which was not entitled to sell the commodity. Major victory for the Saharawis in an African Court.

The European Parliament has voted to rein in toxic fertilizers that are high in carcinogene heavy metals. Morocco stands to lose a major market for its high in cadmium fertilizer products, which it exports also from occupied Western Sahara.

The European Commission will today brief the Parliament's International Trade Committee. The Western Sahara intergroup of the Parliament expressed today its deep concern of the Commission's approach.

"Sweden considers that the proposed mandate does not meet the requirements of international law", the official government statement reads.

Is Kosmos Energy undertaking a last survey on the Boujdour Maritime licence before it waves goodbye to occupied Western Sahara? Or has an unknown company taken over the licence? Last week, seabed petroleum surveys started at the place where Kosmos drilled in 2014.

The EU's foreign affairs department has invited WSRW to take part in a consultation process regarding EU-Morocco trade talks covering Western Sahara. Though in principle always open to dialogue, WSRW had to decline.

17 years of US private company engagement in exploring the oil potential of Western Sahara has come to an end.

The European Commission has failed to obtain consent from the Saharawi representatives before deciding to include Western Sahara in trade deal with Morocco. In a statement today, 89 organisations in and from Western Sahara condemn the EU Commission for its sham consultations.

Why did you not seek permission from my people?, a Saharawi refugee asked at Siemens AGM. Company fails to answer questions why it operates on occupied land.

The European Commission and Morocco yesterday initialed an agreement covering trade in goods originating in Western Sahara without the consent of the people from the territory, contrary to the orders of the EU Court of Justice.

The national liberation movement of Western Sahara threatens to claim 240 million Euro in compensation of the EU's illegal fisheries in occupied Western Sahara and sends a warning to importers of goods from the territory to halt their imports.

The company that certified energy infrastructure in occupied Western Sahara, claims that a UN body had found the company not to breach human rights.

Canadian company Nutrien announced last week that its multi-million dollar imports of conflict minerals to Vancouver is stopping. Nutrien is now reconsidering what to do with its "PotashCorp" imports to the US.

Two important members of the S&D group in the European Parliament this week expressed strong criticism of the Commission’s approach to EU-Morocco trade negotiations in relation to Western Sahara. This might reflect a significant shift ongoing in positions in the Europarliament.
 

The final assets that Glencore held in oil exploration in occupied Western Sahara have been sold.

The German government has clarified that no export credit guarantees can be given to projects in Western Sahara.

The Danish government has started arguing for its own fishing interests in occupied Western Sahara and challenges the recent developments in the Court of Justice of the EU. A request to continue EU fisheries in Western Sahara was issued to Danish legislators just one day after the EU Court's General Advocate found that practice invalid.

In an opinion issued this morning, the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the EU stated that the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement is invalid because it applies to Western Sahara waters. Judgement expected in a few months. 

Read reaction from Frente Polisario on the opinion.

Not awaiting the EU Court of Justice's verdict on the legality of the current fisheries protocol with Morocco over the inclusion of Western Sahara's waters, the EU Commission is already thinking out loud about its successor.
 

A new Canadian company accounts for half the purchases of conflict minerals from occupied Western Sahara. WSRW calls on investors to immediately blacklist the new company for breach of basic ethics.

While the highest Court of the EU has stipulated that no trade arrangement with Morocco can be applied to Western Sahara, the EU Commission this month visited the occupied territory to update the list of companies authorised to export their products to the EU.

WSRW has again asked Siemens to clarify how they’ve obtained the consent of the people of Western Sahara to their involvement in literally all of Morocco’s wind power plans in the occupied territory.

For a third consecutive year, Morocco has spent most of the EU’s fisheries sectoral support on further developing the fishing industry in occupied Western Sahara – with the explicit approval of the Union.

While Morocco presses on with its renewable energy projects in occupied Western Sahara, the EU's Foreign Affairs Chief has clarified that the EU will not provide any financial contributions.

Fresh leaks from international tax-havens provide more information about who is behind the Glencore oil operations in occupied Western Sahara.

Even more wind farms are being planned in occupied Western Sahara, and all of them are in the portfolio of the Moroccan monarch's company NAREVA.

“I think this incident should alert people about these EU-Morocco trade negotiations on products from Western Sahara: they are not transparent at all”, says Jytte Guteland, socialist Euro-parliamentarian from Sweden.

Morocco and Siemens press on with their plans to generate energy in the human rights black-spot that is Western Sahara: the first controversial wind farm near Boujdour is expected to be operational in December 2018, built by a UK company.

Over the past 24 hours, WSRW has observed a resumed seabed exploration north of Dakhla, in the block operated by American oil company Kosmos Energy in collaboration with Scotland's Cairn Energy.

Both the EU and Morocco seem keen conclude the negotiations to keep occupied Western Sahara within the territorial scope of their bilateral trade deal - in spite of a judgment by the EU's highest Court ruling this out.

Opposition referred to the inclusion of Western Sahara, which they say renders the deal illegal under EU law.

For the umpteenth time, the EU's self-contradiction in relation to Western Sahara surfaces.

Finnish energy company Wärtsilä has struck a deal with the Moroccan government to supply a power plant to Dakhla - a town located well outside of Morocco, and inside occupied Western Sahara.

... precisely in the territory that the highest Court of the European Union considers "distinct and separate" from Morocco.

The EU Commission puts the trade flow from Western Sahara into the Union at "just €7000" for the entire year of 2016. "Beggars belief", WSRW states.

Sweden is known for paying lip-service to Saharawi self-determination, but is it putting its money where its mouth is? Check out our newly published report on Sweden's involvement in the taking of occupied Western Sahara's natural resources.

"Seeking to circumvent the ECJ’s ruling, directly challenges the credibility of the EU, and significantly damages the potential for progress through the UN-led negotiation process", Saharawi groups qualify the EU's talks with Morocco regarding Western Sahara trade, in their letter to the EU's Foreign Affairs Chief.

Verdict comes after years of accusations that the trials were politically motivated, imprisoning activists who stood up against Morocco's social and economic deprivation of Saharawis.

The Moroccan government has today initiated draft regulations aimed at incorporating the waters of Western Sahara into its own territorial waters.

“We call on the EU to abide by the judgment of its own Supreme Court, and to cease all trade talks regarding Western Sahara with the occupying state, Morocco. As a champion for rule of law and human rights, the EU should respect the rights of the Saharawi people and negotiate trade in goods from Western Sahara with their representatives, the Polisario Front.” 

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