Category Archives: Oil and gas exploration

European Court ruling threatens Western Sahara contracts

Jan 21, 2016, Menas Associates, Sahara

A landmark ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in favour of the Polisario Front on 10 December has ordered the annulment of a trade agreement between Morocco and the European Union (EU) because it includes the territory of Western Sahara.
The March 2012 trade agreement, which failed to explicitly refer to Western Sahara, left open the possibility that the accord would apply in the disputed region, as both Morocco and the EU clearly intended.

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Global Change, Peace and Security: Western Sahara: The Role of Resources in its Continuing Occupation

untitled13 November 2015
La Trobe Law School announces the publication of the latest issue of

Global Change, Peace & Security, Special Issue: Western Sahara: The Role of Resources in its Continuing Occupation (Issue 27(3), October 2015).

To read about the right to self-determination, political and socio-economic factors that may inhibit its exercise, and the possible consequences of failure to give effect to that right in the context of the Saharawis of Western Sahara and Morocco’s exploitation of Saharawi natural resources, see this latest issue.
The journal is published by Routledge in association with La Trobe Law School.

Global Change, Peace & Security – Special issue: Contents

African Union publishes Legal Opinion on Western Sahara plunder

Western Sahara Resource Watch, 19 October 2015 16:10

The African Union has found the ongoing exploration and exploitation of the territory’s resources in violation of international law. A legal opinion that has been circulating the last weeks has been published on the AU website on 14 October 2015. The Opinion contains strong language and unambiguous conclusions with regard to the legality of Morocco’s exploration and exploitation of Western Sahara’s natural resources.

WSRW report >>

Morocco “denounces and rejects” UN recommendations

Western Sahara Resource Watch, 16 October 2015

Morocco reacts furiously to a UN Treaty Body recommending the country to respect the Saharawi people’s rights to self-determination and natural resources.

Earlier this week, the UN Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had published its conclusions after having reviewed Morocco’s compliance with those rights.

WSRW report >>

Irish company San Leon Energy has discovered gas in the disputed territory of the Western Sahara

October 2015

Irish company San Leon Energy has discovered gas in the disputed territory of the Western Sahara, violating international legal principles. The Western Sahara is the subject of a decades-long dispute between Morocco and the Polisario Front. RFI’s Daniel Finnan has more…

Listen to Daniel Finnan’s report >>

Hillary Clinton, Phosphates and Western Sahara

Professor Stephen Zunes, The Huffington Post 30 September 2015

Stephen Zunes writes of Morocco’s continuing violation of the UN codification of the rights of non-self-governing people to control their own natural resources. This longstanding international legal principle involves the nation of Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony invaded, occupied, and annexed by Morocco in 1975. (…cont.)

Professor Stephen Zunes report >>

Is Europe complicit in the plundering of Western Sahara

Johannes Hautaviita, The Empire Files 17 September 2015

Photo: Sahara Press Service

Photo: Sahara Press Service

In a recent development, which is all too familiar, an Irish oil company San Leon Energy began drilling south of Morocco’s border, on the north-western coast of occupied Western Sahara. For the oil drilling – and other resource extraction – to have legal validity, however, it ought to be carried out with the consent and in the interest of the occupied population.
The Sahrawi people have explicitly stated their opposition to San Leon’s activities.(…cont.)

Article >>

Trade Agreements, EU Law, and Occupied Territories – A Report on Polisario v Council

EJIL Analysis, July 1, 2015
Geraldo Vidigal, Senior Research Fellow at the Department of International Law and Dispute Resolution of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg

Vidigal writes “Speaking of occupied territories, an interesting judgment should soon come from the General Court of the European Union (GC) in Action for Annulment Frente Polisario v Council (Case T-512/12), a case with fascinating international law aspects. I attended the hearing last week and think it warrants a report….(cont.)”

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ACTU resolution on Western Sahara adopted on 28/5/2015

At the ACTU Congress today, 28 May, a resolution was passed on Western Sahara

The Australian Council of Trade Unions notes that
•             Morocco has occupied Western Sahara since 1975
•             UN efforts to accomplish the decolonisation process in Western Sahara have not been successful;
•             Around 165,000 Saharawis continue to live in dire conditions in refugee camps in South West of Algeria;
•             Saharawis in the occupied areas endure human rights abuses and denial of their basic rights;
•             The only just, legal and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, is to end the Moroccan illegal occupation and allow the Sahara people to exercise their right to self-determination, in accordance with the UN decolonisation doctrine;
Congress:
•             Strongly supports the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence;
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