The big European energy project Desertec has announced it will not invest in occupied Western Sahara for "reputational reasons".
Every Thursday, the old Saharawi phosphate miners demand their rights from the Moroccan controlled phosphate company, OCP. They were under contracts with the Spanish, but lost their rights when Morocco illegally invaded the territory and took control of the mine.
Norwegian fish oil importer GC Rieber today announced that they have stopped all imports of fish oil from Morocco and occupied Western Sahara. After their biggest customer did not longer want to buy the controversial oil, the importer has chosen to stop further purchases from the region. Norwatch, 14 April 2010.
"It is inconceivable that MINURSO should remain the only contemporary UN peace mission lacking a mandate to monitor human rights", WSRW stated in a letter to the Security Council yesterday. WSRW asked for the UN to monitor both the human rights violations and the illegal plundering of natural resourecs in the territory.
UN has said that looking for oil in Western Sahara is illegal. But the Irish firm San Leon Energy moves steadily forwards. Drilling underway next year.
Life, the largest health store chain in Scandinavia, has decided to stop new orders of Omega 3-supplements for its brand Biomega, Swedish and Norwegian media report.
Read also: The German Corporation Cognis Cuts All Purchases from Morocco
In advance of next week’s first ever EU-Morocco summit, Polisario urges the EU Commission to halt illegal fisheries offshore occupied Western Sahara.
Uruguay imported 2, or perhaps 3, shipments from occupied Western Sahara last year. The shipments were labelled as "Moroccan", and had a total value of 4,4 million dollars.
The Polish Ministry of Economy says that there is no need to “differentiate between the territory of Morocco and that of Western Sahara”. However, such a position is inconsistent with international law and resolutions of the UN General Assembly adopted over the last 40 years, said representative of Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW).
Brussels, 23 February 2010 - In a previously confidential legal opinion, the European Parliament’s Legal Service has declared fishing by European vessels in Western Sahara’s waters to be in violation of international law. Press release.
WSRW can today present the 11 page statement from the European Parliament’s Legal Service. The statement – concluding that EU fisheries in occupied Western Sahara under its current shape is in violation of international law - has been kept from the public for 7 months.
A report from the Moroccan state and mining company ONHYM from September 2009 reveals that Morocco is exploring the uranium potential in occupied Western Sahara.
Since July 2009, a legal opinion written by the European Parliament’s legal service has been held outside of public knowledge. The extraordinary text concludes that the EU fisheries in Western Sahara under its current shape must stop.
The Australian fertilizer producer Incitec Pivot imports phosphate from occupied Western Sahara in violation of international law. Australian Council of Trade Unions, and Australia Western Sahara Association protested at the company's annual general meeting.
"It is a violation of international law for the natural resources of Western Sahara to be exploited in this way. But the EU continues to buy permits from Morocco for EU fishing vessels which allows them to fish in Western Saharan waters. The people of Western Sahara have never given their permission for this to happen", stated MEP Jill Evans in a press release.
Today an international campaign was launched to make the EU withdraw its vessels from the waters offshore the occupied territory of Western Sahara. Press release, 6 November 2009.
Western Sahara human rights activist Aminatou Haidar hopes for increased attention to the EU plundering of occupied Western Sahara.
WSRW and Defense Forum Foundation repeats question to the USTDA as to what is being done to prevent US funds from being used by the Moroccan government in Western Sahara.
Arriving first week of November.
An Australian fertilizer firm has announced a phasing out of phosphate imports from occupied Western Sahara. Norwatch recently wrote that the Norwegian Government’s pension fund was part owner in the company’s mother firm, Wesfarmers. Norwatch, 23 October 2009.
As the unemployed 32 year old Abdellah El Boukzati demonstrated against the plundering of Western Sahara, Moroccan police intervened.
In this video, recorded 28 september 2009, the former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez, claims that there is currently no plunder of Western Sahara - since there is "no economic activity" taking place there. He also claims that the area used to be part of Morocco before the occupation in 1975.
The two Irish oil companies that are looking for oil in occupied Western Sahara are about to merge. The firms are undermining international law.
In a statement last week, the EU Commission again omitted a central point from the UN opinion on natural resources in Western Sahara : the Sahrawis’ wishes.
At the UN Fourth Committee on Decolonization held in New York on 6-12 October, WSRW called for the United Nations to send a Mission of Observation to Western Sahara, to monitor the natural resource exploitation from the territory.
The fertiliser producer Incitec Pivot states in Australian Farm Journal that they are fully dependent on phosphate from occupied Western Sahara.
The Norwegian Government Pension Fund has invested billions of Norwegian kroners in companies that participate in the plunder of Western Sahara. An examination carried out by Norwatch shows that Pension Fund companies are behind two-thirds of all phosphate purchases in the occupied country. Norwatch, 06 October 2009.
The Norwegian seismic services company PGS has entered in on the ownership side of the Irish oil company San Leon Energy. The funds placed by PGS will help enable increased oil exploration in occupied Western Sahara.
From 1999 till today, Moroccan authorities have massively opened for oil exploration in occupied Western Sahara.
The Turkish vessel Yasa Gulten is soon to arrive New Zealand with phosphates from occupied Western Sahara. It will be the second time in less than a year.