Western Sahara Resource Watch

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Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) is a network organization working on the natural resource situation in Western Sahara.

Contents

WSRW consists of organizations and campaigners from more than 40 countries researching and campaigning against the companies working in partnership with the Moroccan government in occupied Western Sahara. The organization was established in 2004, and works in solidarity with the Polisario. The organization believes that the occupation of Western Sahara will continue as long as Morocco profits from it.

A part of Western Sahara is controlled by Morocco. The United Nations (UN) Legal Counsel, Ambassador Hans Corell expressed in 2002 that the natural resources management in Western Sahara only would be in line with international law if it took into account the "wishes and interests of the people of Western Sahara". [1]

WSRW works to inform international companies about the UN Legal Opinion and of the ethical aspects of business practice in the territory. The organization also launches campaigns, encouraging multinational companies and governments not to invest and participate in trade in the occupied territories of Western Sahara until a peaceful solution to the conflict has been found.

Previous campaigns

WSRW has previously carried out campaigns against the phosphate, oil and fish industries. Since 2006, the organization has worked to prevent the European Union entering agreements with Morocco covering the territory of Western Sahara, most importantly its Fisheries Partnership Agreements. In 2011 the EU parliament terminated the last Fisheries Partnership Agreements with Morocco for the waters of Western Sahara. [2]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Sahara</span> Disputed territory in North-western Africa

Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North-western Africa. It has a surface area of 272,000 square kilometres (105,000 sq mi). Approximately 30% of the territory is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is occupied and administered by neighboring Morocco. It is the most sparsely populated country in Africa and the second most sparsely populated country in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at 618,600. Nearly 40% of that population lives in Morocco-controlled Laayoune, the largest city of Western Sahara.

The history of Western Sahara can be traced back to the times of Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator in the 5th century BC. Though few historical records are left from that period, Western Sahara's modern history has its roots linked to some nomadic groups such as the Sanhaja group, and the introduction of Islam and the Arabic language at the end of the 8th century AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Western Sahara</span>

The politics of Western Sahara take place in a framework of an area claimed by both the partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Western Sahara</span>

The majority of the territory of Western Sahara is currently administered by the Kingdom of Morocco. As such, the majority of the economic activity of Western Sahara happens in the framework of the economy of Morocco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political status of Western Sahara</span>

Western Sahara, formerly the Spanish colony of Spanish Sahara, is a disputed territory claimed by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro, which is an independence movement based in Tifariti and Bir Lehlou. The Annexation of Western Sahara by Morocco took place in two stages, in 1976 and 1979, and is considered illegal under international law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polisario Front</span> Military and political organisation in Western Sahara

The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, is a Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to establish a Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic for the Sahrawi people through the means of self-determination and armed resistance in the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Sahara</span> Former Spanish colony and province

Spanish Sahara, officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958, then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was occupied and ruled by Spain between 1884 and 1976. It had been one of the most recent acquisitions, as well as one of the last remaining holdings, of the Spanish Empire, which had once extended from the Americas to the Spanish East Indies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green March</span> 1975 military event

The Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government and military, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan province of Spanish Sahara to Morocco. The Spanish government was preparing to abandon the territory as part of the decolonization of Africa, just as it had granted independence to Equatorial Guinea in 1968. The native inhabitants, the Sahrawi people, aspired to form an independent state. The demonstration of some 350,000 Moroccans advanced several kilometers into the Western Sahara territory. Morocco later gained control of most of the former Spanish Sahara, which it continues to hold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madrid Accords</span> 1975 treaty between Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania to end Spanish presence in the Sahara

The Madrid Accords, formally the Declaration of Principles on Western Sahara, was a treaty between Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania setting out six principles which would end the Spanish presence in the territory of Spanish Sahara and arrange a temporary administration in the area pending a referendum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baker Plan</span> 2000 UN-proposed solution to the Western Sahara conflict

The Baker Plan is a United Nations initiative to grant self-determination to Western Sahara. It was intended to replace the Settlement Plan of 1991, which was further detailed in the Houston Agreement of 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Zone (region)</span> Region of Western Sahara

The Free Zone or Liberated Territories is a term used by the Polisario Front government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a partially recognized sovereign state in the western Maghreb, to describe the part of Western Sahara that lies to the east of a 2,200-kilometre (1,400 mi) border wall flanked by a minefield, often referred as the Berm, and to the west and north of the borders with Algeria and Mauritania, respectively. It is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, as opposed to the area to the west of the Berm, which is controlled by Morocco as part of its Southern Provinces. Both states claim the entirety of Western Sahara as their territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Western Sahara</span>

The Government of Morocco sees Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. The Moroccan government considers the Polisario Front as a separatist movement given the alleged Moroccan origins of some of its leaders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Sahara conflict</span> Armed conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front

The Western Sahara conflict is an ongoing conflict between the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic/Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco. The conflict originated from an insurgency by the Polisario Front against Spanish colonial forces from 1973 to 1975 and the subsequent Western Sahara War against Morocco between 1975 and 1991. Today the conflict is dominated by unarmed civil campaigns of the Polisario Front and their self-proclaimed SADR state to gain fully recognized independence for Western Sahara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morocco–European Union relations</span> Bilateral relations

Morocco is a neighbouring and associated country of the European Union. The nation has a territorial land border with EU member Spain in the exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. It also has a maritime border with Spain through the Gibraltar Strait and Exclusive Economic Zone borders with EU member Portugal in the Atlantic. The relations between the two are framed in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the Union for the Mediterranean. Among the ENP countries, Morocco has been recognised an advanced status, opening up to high levels of political cooperation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahrawi nationality law</span>

Sahrawi nationality law is the law of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic's (SADR) governing nationality and citizenship. The SADR is a partially recognized state which claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, but only administers part of it. The SADR also administers Sahrawi refugee camps.

The EU-Moroccan Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) is a fisheries agreement between the European Community (EC) and Morocco that allows European fishing vessels to fish off the shores of Morocco. The FPA allows community vessels from 11 Member States to fish in Moroccan waters and can be considered as one of the major fisheries agreement for the EC. It was signed on 28 July 2005, concluded on 22 May 2006 and entered into force on 28 February 2007. The agreement is set to expire on 27 February 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Leon Energy</span>

San Leon Energy plc is an independent oil and gas exploration company and is Europe's leading shale gas company by acreage. San Leon has built up a portfolio of assets located in Poland, Morocco, Western Sahara, Albania, Ireland, Spain and Italy. The company's portfolio across these geographies is made up of both conventional exploration and shale assets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic</span> Partially recognized state in the western Maghreb

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state, located in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only the easternmost one-fifth of that territory. It is recognized by 46 UN member states and South Ossetia. Between 1884 and 1975, Western Sahara was known as Spanish Sahara, a Spanish colony. The SADR is one of the two African states in which Spanish is a significant language, the other being Equatorial Guinea.

The Western Sahara peace process refers to the international efforts to resolve the Western Sahara conflict. The conflict has failed so far to result in permanent peace between Morocco and the Polisario Front. The standing issues of the peace process include Sahrawi refugees, and human rights in Western Sahara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annexation of Western Sahara</span> Forcible acquisition by Morocco and formerly Mauritania

The annexation of Western Sahara occurred in two stages: 1976 and 1979. Shortly after Spain gave up control over Spanish Sahara in 1975, both Mauritania and Morocco occupied the territory. On 14 April 1976, the two countries annexed it between themselves via the Western Sahara partition agreement. However, on 14 August 1979, Mauritania renounced all territorial claims to Western Sahara and withdrew its troops, prompting Morocco to extend its annexation to formerly Mauritanian-controlled areas.

References

  1. Letter dated 29 January 2002 from the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, the Legal Counsel, addressed to the President of the Security Council
  2. Morocco bans EU fishing vessels amid Western SaharaBBC News 14.12.2011.