Category Archives: Fisheries exploitation

The Responsibility of the UN Security Council in the Case of Western Sahara

Hans Corell, Former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations
International Judicial Monitor, International Law Analysis and Commentary, Winter 2015

In this Commentary Hans Corell raises the question of Western Sahara saying “that it is a situation where the Security Council risks falling short in fulfilling its mandate. Under the UN Charter the Council has a legal obligation to take action in situations like the present.” (…continued)

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A line in the sand: Fighting 40 years of exile in the desert of Western Sahara

by Nicole Crowder, photo editor for the Washington Post’s photography blog, In Sight.
10 December 2014
These striking images have been captured by photojournalist Tomaso Clavarino. In November 2014 he began documenting the Western Sahara military bases and cadets in the Sahrawi People’s Liberation Army who are fighting for Sahrawi independence in what he describes as one of the “world’s least reported crises.”

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Nowhere Land

STORY BY DAVID CONRAD
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICAH ALBERT

After 40 years of fighting in the desert for their unrecognized country, the people of Western Sahara may be on the cusp of collapsing into extremism — and it could be the thing that saves them.

IN A FORSAKEN TOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF SOUTHWESTERN ALGERIA’S HARSH SAHARA DESERT, BACHIR MEHDI STANDS IN THE ROAD AS A RUSTED TOYOTA LAND CRUISER SPEEDS IN HIS DIRECTION.

An anti-aircraft gun is mounted to the truck’s bed, where five young soldiers, dressed in loosely worn combat fatigues, the insignias torn off, are sitting with Soviet-manufactured guns strapped to their shoulders. Continue reading →

President of African Parliament calls on EU to respect Sahara rights

Published: 04.12 – 2013
In a critical letter dated 1 December 2013, the president of the Pan-African Parliament calls on the European Parliament’s president, Mr. Martin Schulz, to vote against fisheries agreement with Morocco offshore the coast of the AU member state, Western Sahara.

Letter from president of the Pan-African Parliament>>

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Western Sahara: who benefits from exporting fish and phosphates? – video

The Guardian, 28 January 2013

By Celeste Hicks who recently travelled to Western Sahara with the International Women’s Media Foundation

“Western Sahara is rich in phosphates and fish, but Saharawi activists say those resources are not being harnessed to improve the lot of the indigenous population…… They argue that exploitation of the territory’s resources should stop until a solution to the conflict is found….(cont.)

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Two EU Parliament committees reject EU-Morocco Fish Pact

Western Sahara Resource Watch,
7 November 2011

Today, the European Parliament’s Development and Budget Committee both adopted an opinion calling on Parliament to reject the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement.

The Budget Committee deplored the heavy financial yoke of this particular agreement, consuming no less than 25% of the Union’s budget line for fisheries. Of all the EU’s ongoing bilateral agreements, the accord with Morocco is the least cost-efficient, placing the heaviest relative burden on EU tax payers.

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NY City Bar Association report on legality of Moroccan natural resource use in Western Sahara

Committee on United Nations Report April 2011
The report concludes that by ” treating Morocco as an administering power in the territory – to the extent Morocco is using natural resources located within the territory of Western Sahara, unless such use is in consultation with and to the direct benefit of the people of Western Sahara, Morocco’s use of the natural resources of the territory constitutes a violation of international law”

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