PRESS & MEDIA

 

Life is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara

  • Forty years after being promised freedom by departing Spanish rulers, the Western Sahara remains Africa's last colony, and the Sahrawi people have lived under the oppressive occupation of Morocco since 1975. With a UN ceasefire halting all armed opposition in 1991 the Sahrawi have adopted a non-violent approach to resistance; defying their occupiers through art and music in the hope that a cultural revolution will bring them the freedom they so desire.

PAST WEBINARS :

  • Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal vs. Independence - Wednesday, June 8, 2022

  • Webinar: Violations of International Law in Western Sahara Africa's Last Remaining Colony: on February 9, 2022 at 7 pm EST.

  • Webinar: A Lifetime Away from Home: Life and Gender Dynamics in Sahrawi Refugee Camps: on February 11, 2022 at 6 pm EST.



TIMELINE:

FEBRUARY 2022

DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022

NOVEMBER 2021

SEPTEMBER 2021

  • Press Release: Statement - Sultana Jaya, September 30, 2021


A delegation from the US Embassy begins today a visit to Western Sahara and which will last for one day to monitor the reality of the people of Western Sahara to the human rights, economic and social aspect. The delegation contacted me through mediators to meet me and learn about my circumstances as a human rights activist from Western Sahara a where I live under house arrest in my home in Boujdour. Western Sahara. This is so because of my human rights positions, as I am a victim of many violations such as rape, torture and raiding of my house several times accompanied with confiscation of everything from furniture, electricity meter, clothes, phones and appliances, add to that : the destruction of what is left, throwing garbage at us, splashing toxic foul-smelling substance in front of the house, etc.

Incredible things in the twenty-first century are happening here right under the nose of the MINURSO while the whole world watches in silence and complicity.

However, the American officials succumbed to Moroccan pressure to prevent them from visiting me and seeing my reality with my family. In fact an embassy official asked to meet me in El-Ayoun, Western Sahara, a kind of denial of the reality in which I live in, and in response to this and for the sake of credibility, I . . . (have) videos recorded on 09/29/2021 - 09/30/2021 to show you the siege of the house and the unmasked reality which Moroccan occupation tries to hide.


These videos show is a proof of the realistic documentation of my daily routine on the basis of holding me, being monitored, and preventing me from moving outside my home for more than 319 days. The videos are shot from inside my house in Boujdour in Western Sahara, and the individuals surrounding the house are officers from the various security services deployed on four sides of my family's house.


I want to inform the international organizations and the press about these facts, nd I consider this my testimony about my daily ordeal vis-a-vis the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. . . .

. . . We have great hope in the Biden government to form a voice that defends human rights activists in the world, especially in Western Sahara.

My Regards,

Sultana Jaya

President of the Sahrawi League for Human Rights and Wealth Protection in Boujdour, Western Sahara

30/09/2021

  • European Union Court Decision

 On September 29, 2021, the European Union General Court annulled the decision of the European Council concerning the agreement between the European Union and Morocco amending the tariff preferences granted by the European Union to products of Moroccan origin and as well as the EU-Morocco Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement that had allowed fishery products from Western Sahara to be included.

 This is the latest in a line of European court decisions which have supported the rights of the people of Western Sahara to control over the use of the natural resources in the territory.

 The first was Case T-512/12 Front Polisario v. Council, in which the Polisario asserted that an accord between the EU and Morocco concerning agricultural products should be annulled insofar as it included products from Western Sahara.  After holding that the Polisario had standing to initiate the suit as the recognized representatives of the Sahrawi people, the  court on December 10, 2015 annulled the accord insofar as it included products from Western Sahara, holding inter alia, that the Council had failed to fulfill its obligation, prior to the conclusion of that agreement to examine whether there was any evidence of the exploitation of the resources of that part of the territory controlled by Morocco which was liable to adversely affect its inhabitants and their fundamental rights.

This decision was appealed to the EU Court of Justice, which held on December 21, 2016, that the accord could not be interpreted to permit the inclusion of products from Western Sahara. It first noted that Western Sahara was not within the territory over which Morocco exercised sovereignty.  It then affirmed that under international law the right to self-determination by the peoples of a non-self –governing territory must be respected by all nations, affirmed the fact that Western Sahara was such a non-self-governing territory, and concluded that it would be against international law for the agreement to apply to Western Sahara without the consent of its “people”, the Sahrawis, which was not given.

 The second case was brought in 2015 by a British NGO, Western Sahara Campaign United Kingdom (WSCUK). It filed an action in an English High Court alleging that products originating in Western Sahara were being imported into the United Kingdom under the EU-Morocco Association Agreement contrary to international law, and that the Revenue and Customs Service would be acting unlawfully by giving preferential tariffs to products allegedly originating in Morocco but actually originating from Western Sahara. In addition, it argued that the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) should be annulled as contrary to international law. In October of 2015 an English court referred the case to the European Union’s courts, stating with regard to both the fisheries and the agricultural agreements that “there is an arguable case of a manifest error by the [European] Commission in understanding and applying international law relevant to these agreements.”

In a judgment dated February 27, 2018, Case C-266/16, Western Sahara Campaign UK, EU:C:2018:11. the European Court of Justice, echoing its earlier decision on the agricultural accord, found that the territory of Western Sahara is not covered by the concept of ‘territory of Morocco’ within the meaning of the Agreement, declaring “if the territory of Western Sahara were to be included within the scope of the Fisheries Agreement, that would be contrary to certain rules of general international law .  .  .  [including] the principle of self-determination.” It went on to say that, as Western Sahara does not form part of the territory of Morocco, the waters adjacent to Western Sahara “are not part of the Moroccan fishing zone referred to in the Fisheries Agreement.”

 In 2019, after referring to the February 27, 2018 ruling of the European Court, the English High Court issued a declaratory judgment in favor of the WSCUK.

 These various court decisions, however, did not dampen the enthusiasm of the European Council and Morocco to draft new agreements, this time merely delineating the boundaries of the zones covered without referring to territory over which Morocco exerts “jurisdiction” or “sovereignty,” and offering evidence that certain groups within the territory allegedly representing the Sahrawis, which excluded any pro-independence groups, had been “consulted.”

 In 2019 the Polisario brought suit in the EU General Court requesting the annulment of  the decisions of the European Council to approve these agreements. Again in Case T-279/19 and in Joined Cases T-344/19 and T-356/19 (Front Polisario v. Council) the Court ruled these agreements contrary to international law.  Reiterating the earlier court decisions, the court found that the Polisario are the representatives of the people of Western Sahara and had the capacity to bring an action before the court to defend the right of the people to self-determination.

Concerning the merits of the Polisario’s arguments, the court noted that the Court of Justice in its previous case inferred from the principle of self-determination and the principle of the relative effect of treaties clear, precise and unconditional obligations towards Western Sahara in the context of its relations with Morocco, namely both to respect its separate and distinct status and to secure the consent of its people in the event of the implementation of agreements in that territory.

The Court upheld the Polisario’s argument that the requirement relating to the consent of the people of Western Sahara had not been respected, noting that in view of the legal definitions of ‘people’ and ‘consent’ in international law, the ‘consultations’ conducted by the institutions with the ‘people concerned’ did not amount to an expression of the consent of the people of Western Sahara. It further rejected the Council’s argument that if benefits to the territory accrued from the agreements, the Council had a measure of discretion as to whether such consent was required and how it might be obtained.

  • Media Announcement

    • The Campaign to End the Moroccan Occupation of the Western Sahara formally announces its formation as a US-based advocacy coalition in support of the right to national self-determination for the indigenous Sahrawi population of the former Spanish colony. Check out our blog to view the full announcement.


International Coverage

AUGUST 2021

  • Congress – Senate

    • Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma speaks on floor of Senate, August 10. Watch video BELOW.

JULY 2021

JUNE 2021


EARLIER MEDIA COVERAGE

US President

European Union

  • European Union - Commission - (High Representative, Vice-President Borrell, April 7, 2021)

“The EU and its southern neighbours should also intensify their support for efforts to reach a solution to the issue of the Western Sahara within the UN-led process” (February 9, 2021). EU supports the UN-led peace process in the Western Sahara. “All the regional actors should exercise self-restraint and use their best endeavours to contribute to the de-escalation of regional tensions, the restoration of calm and the preservation of the 1991 ceasefire, with a view to working jointly towards regional stability, security and development. The free movement of goods and people in the Maghreb region and towards the wider Sahel region should be upheld.”

African Union

  • Letter from the Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations to the Secretary-General on the United Nations (December 29, 2020)

“EXPRESSES deep concern over the escalating military tensions between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi Republic that have developed in Al-Guerguerat, the narrow Buffer Strip in Western Sahara, leading to the violation of the 1991 Ceasefire Agreement, including the military agreement Number 1, and the unfortunate resumption of war; in this context, CALLS FOR the revitalization of the Troika Mechanism in accordance with the Decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 693 (XXXI), and REQUESTS the Peace and Security Council at Heads of State and Government level, to make the expected contribution of the African Union in support of the efforts of the United Nations and in line with the relevant provisions of its Protocol, to engage the two parties, both of whom are Member States of the AU, to address the unfolding situation in order to prepare conditions for a new cease-fire and to reach a just and durable solution to the conflict, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara in line with the relevant AU-UN decisions and resolutions and the objectives and principles of the Constitutive Act of the African Union…”

United Nations and Non-Governmental Organizations


Letters and Petitions