Monthly Archives: August 2010

BHP urged to dump unethical phosphate trade in its takeover of PotashCorp

Australia Western Sahara Association
Press Release, 25 August 2010

The Australia Western Sahara Association today urged BHP-Billiton to suspend PotashCorp’s trade in phosphate from Western Sahara if its takeover bid is successful.

President of AWSA, Lyn Allison, said “If BHP cares anything for business ethics, social responsibility and international law, it will not allow the Canadian fertiliser corporation to buy further Western Saharan phosphate from Morocco.”
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Human Rights Watch call for Morocco to Release or Try Sahrawi Activists Held 10 Months

Seven Facing Charges in Military Court After Visiting Tindouf Refugee Camps
August 2, 2010
(New York) – Moroccan authorities should release three well-known Sahrawi activists held since October 8, 2009, on charges of “harming state security,” or provide them with a prompt and transparent trial, Human Rights Watch said today.

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The Image and its Discontent: The 29th Sundance Film Festival and the 18th Pan African Film and Arts Festival

Festival Reports in Issue 55
by Bérénice Reynaud
….The controversial Australian documentary Stolen (which received PAFF’s Best Feature Documentary Award) argues that slavery still exists in the Polisario camps in Western Sahara – an assertion that was violently criticised during the post-screening panel discussion, that unfortunately degenerated into a screaming match between (and among) the Festival’s organisers and some members of the audience. (….continued)
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