News

Yet again, a fishing vessel managed by a Moroccan ex-general is dumping tonnes of fish in occupied Western Sahara. New video reveals the environmental mismanagement.

Published 07 May 2016
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Two institutional shareholders of PotashCorp are presenting a proposal before next week's annual meeting of the company. PotashCorp is the world's largest importer of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara.
Published 05 May 2016
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After consultation with Morocco, the document that Ban Ki-Moon was drafting has been stripped of all references to UN reports highlighting Saharawi marginalisation.
Published 28 April 2016
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The Netherlands, which is against the inclusion of Western Sahara products in EU-Moroccan trade, seems unable to respect the decision from the Court of Justice from December 2015.

Published 28 April 2016
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All four members states of the EFTA free trade association - Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein - conclude in the same way as the Court of Justice of the European Union. Goods from Western Sahara cannot be included in free trade agreements with Morocco.

Published 19 April 2016
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On 10 December 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union annulled the EU-Morocco agricultural agreement in so far as it applies to Western Sahara. The entire text of the judgment is now also available in English.
Published 19 April 2016
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Morocco is spending most of the funding it receives as part of the EU-Morocco fish deal building up infrastructure in occupied Western Sahara. And the European Commission is fully aware of this.

Published 19 April 2016

On 10 December 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union annulled the EU-Morocco agricultural agreement in so far as it applies to Western Sahara. The entire text of the judgment is now also available in English on the website of the Court.

Published 18 April 2016
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One of the leaders of the protest movement of unemployed Saharawis, who for months have been targeting their campaigns against Morocco's state owned phosphate company OCP, has died after allegedly being tortured by the Moroccan police.

Published 18 April 2016
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Scotland's Cairn Energy states that its joint venture with American firm Kosmos Energy has dropped the oil exploration licence in occupied Western Sahara, but ... that it is now reapplying for part of the very same area.

Published 18 April 2016
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Dozens of Saharawis demonstrated in Smara, occupied Western Sahara, against marginalisation in their wealthy homeland. Several are said to be injured.

Published 17 April 2016
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Are three Danish municipalities and a Danish importer helping to prop up Africa’s last colonizing power in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, by buying conflict salt in violation of international law? The Danish NGO Afrika Kontakt investigates the matter.
Published 11 April 2016
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The Policy Department of the European Parliament has published a report on the need for a coherent EU policy with regard to the three occupations of Western Sahara, Palestine and Crimea. In all three cases, plunder is illegal, the report states.
Published 11 April 2016
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Two Canadian companies, Agrium and PotashCorp, were behind two thirds of all imports of phosphates from occupied Western Sahara last year. WSRW today launched its annual report of the controversial trade in Western Sahara's white gold.

Published 08 April 2016
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The US company FMC Corp is said to have sold its 33,3 percent ownership in the Venezuelan company Tripoliven which imports phosphates from Western Sahara.
Published 07 April 2016
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The Official Journal of the European Union has published the appeal brought by the EU Council against the Court of Justice of the EU’s decision to annul the EU-Morocco agricultural agreement insofar as it applies in Western Sahara.

Published 02 April 2016
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Western Sahara Resource Watch took part in a hearing on human rights in Western Sahara before the US Congress this week.
Published 26 March 2016
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The Norwegian insurance company Storebrand has blacklisted both phosphate and oil companies involved in occupied Western Sahara. Among them are the French company Total, which are now back in from the cold after they withdrew from the territory.
Published 25 March 2016
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Several EU Member States have issued statements indicating their support to Council's decision to appeal the European Court’s decision to annul the EU’s agricultural agreement with Morocco. But why is that, really?

Published 17 March 2016
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Yesterday, upon the visit of the UN Secretary-General to the Saharawi refugee camps, the Western Sahara government deposited the exact claims of its maritime zones.
Published 06 March 2016
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Today, the Norwegian government pension fund excluded San Leon Energy Plc from its investment portfolios.

Published 04 March 2016
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One of the biggest purchasers of Western Sahara phosphates during the years of occupation, the Lithuanian fertilizer producer Lifosa, has confirmed to WSRW that it will halt all further imports from the territory.

Published 25 February 2016
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Tomorrow, a group of Saharawi political prisoners will commence hunger strikes to make the Moroccan government respond to their request for appeal. Some are serving life sentences for their participation in the 2010 mass-protest against Morocco's marginalisation of the people of the Western Sahara territory.
Published 23 February 2016
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In December 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union annulled the trade agreement between Morocco and the European Union in so far as it was applied in Western Sahara. The Council of the European Union has now formally appealed that decision. The reasons for the appeal are still not public.
 

Published 23 February 2016
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WSRW has asked Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company to share the legal opinions that supposedly prove its activities in occupied Western Sahara are lawful with the legitimate owners of the territory’s phosphate reserves; the Saharawi people.

Published 22 February 2016
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WSRW’s repeated questions on the organisation’s structure or financial backers for the contested event on occupied land remain unanswered.

Published 19 February 2016
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"A hostile act likely to perpetuate the conflict and colonialism in Western Sahara". The Peace and Security Council of the African Union reiterates its position on the illegal exploitaiton of Western Sahara's natural resources.

Published 18 February 2016
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The municipality of Gladsaxe, Denmark, has terminated a supply contract for de-icing salt due to its connections to Western Sahara.

Published 17 February 2016
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"Coordination of Unemployed Saharawi demand benefits from the territory’s natural resources. Our resources can provide us with jobs", banners on the streets of El Aaiun read during yesterday's protests.
 

Published 15 February 2016
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Coop, one of Switzerland's largest grocery chains, has announced it will cease to provide tomatoes from Western Sahara from 2017 onwards.

Published 10 February 2016
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In December 2015, the US United Methodist Church announced it had divested from 39 companies. Five of those are involved in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 03 February 2016
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Morocco's state-owned phosphate company, responsible for the illegal exploitation of Western Sahara's phosphate reserves, was ditched over human rights issues in Western Sahara.
Published 02 February 2016
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... and they ask the European Commission to provide clarity with regard to the annulment of the EU-Morocco Free Trade Agreement.
Published 01 February 2016
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Here's what happens to peaceful demonstrations demanding basic rights to work and a decent living in Western Sahara. As protests spread from El Aaiun to other towns, the Moroccan police responded with the usual ferocity.

Published 25 January 2016
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has confirmed that it will not provide financial support to projects located in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 25 January 2016
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The Luxembourg government fund has blacklisted the American oil company Kosmos Energy and its Scottish partner Cairn Energy due to "association to illegal exploitation of natural resources (Western Sahara)".
Published 22 January 2016
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Saharawi unemployed graduates have taken their protest to the Casablanca headquarters of OCP, Morocco's state-owned phosphate company that is exploiting occupied Western Sahara's phosphate mine. Eye-witnesses report brutal police intervention and at least one Saharawi being severely injured. WSRW will update this article as news from the ground comes in.
Published 20 January 2016
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When presenting its new report on Israeli settlement products today, Human Rights Watch cited the case of Western Sahara. The NGO states that "countries should not import goods produced in Western Sahara labeled as Made in Morocco or under preferential tariff agreements with Morocco".

Published 19 January 2016
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As protests against Morocco's denial of the Saharawis' social and economic human rights have become daily news in occupied Western Sahara, eye-witnesses report a police siege targeting the hunger striking Saharawi graduates.

Published 18 January 2016
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An American and a Canadian citizen were today kicked out of occupied Western Sahara. The two wanted to interview Saharawis regarding the US-Canadian exploitation of natural resources in the territory.

Published 17 January 2016
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A New Year's gift of an estimated US $3,7 million. That's what Australia's Incitec Pivot paid the Moroccan government for its first 2016 shipment of phosphate rock sourced in occupied Western Sahara.
 

Published 12 January 2016
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A heated start of the New Year in occupied Western Sahara, as unemployed Saharawi graduates step up their protest against Morocco's discriminatory employment practices by starting a hunger strike.

Published 12 January 2016
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The French multinational oil company has announced that it is no longer pursuing oil search offshore Western Sahara. "More good news for the Saharawi people. We urge the remaining oil companies to follow suit", stated WSRW.

Published 21 December 2015
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Two Swedish fishermen are obliged to pay a half a million euro fine for fishing in occupied Western Sahara.
Published 15 December 2015
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Danish-German Siemens Wind Power and Italian Enel Green Power have won the tender to construct five wind farms in Morocco. Only, two of planned farms are located outside of Morocco, and inside occupied Western Sahara. WSRW had warned them from taking part in the tender.

Published 15 December 2015