WSRW comments on European Parliament report

Statement from Western Sahara Resource Watch, 24 March 2009.


The report was debated at the European Parliament on the 17 March 2009:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/oj/773/773839/773839es.pdf

Western Sahara Resource Watch
24 March 2009

Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) notes the European Parliament’s report concerning human rights in Western Sahara, and would like to express the following:

1. WSRW welcomes the European Parliament’s commitment in respect of the human rights situation in Western Sahara, be it in the area occupied by Morocco or the area controlled by the SADR.

2. WSRW welcomes the European Parliament’s recognition of the reality of systematic violations of human rights perpetrated by Morocco in the occupied territory of Western Sahara.

3. WSRW applauds the European Parliament's stance that considers the violation of the Sahrawi people’s human right to self-determination as the root of all violations, and deems it impossible to consider the human rights violations in the occupied area whilst ignoring the fundamental cause of these infringements.

4. WSRW regrets that the European Parliament, in its report on human rights in Western Sahara, ignores a right of crucial importance, namely the right to enjoy the natural resources of the territory, as recognized in the first article of the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights and in the International Convenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This is all the more regrettable since the European Union is an active accomplice in the plundering of those resources (above all through the illegal Fisheries Agreement between the EU and Morocco), which WSRW continually denounces.

5. WSRW demands that the European institutions immediately put on hold the ongoing procedures regarding the granting of an “advanced status” to Morocco, taking into account that the European Parliament, the European institution with the highest democratic legitimacy, has established that the Moroccan authorities violate the human rights of a territory under its control.

Western Sahara Resource Watch is an international non-governmental organisation with members from more than 30 countries that defends the respect for international law upholding the decolonisation of Western Sahara and the sovereignty of the Saharawi people over their natural resources. More on: www.wsrw.org .

For questions, contact:
Cate Lewis
International Coordinator
Western Sahara Resource Watch
lewis.cate@gmail.com
+61 407 288 358
http://www.wsrw.org