ConfliCttomatoes
Report:
The European Union is about to con-clude a trade agreement opening upfor large EU imports of agriculturalproducts from Morocco.Morocco, however, is an occupa-tion power. And the deal can be usedby plantation companies in occupiedWestern Sahara to export fruits andvegetables to EU supermarkets free of tariffs.This report documents the massiveboom of the Moroccan agriculture in-dustry in the territory it brutally andillegally occupies, and documents howthe EU trade with the occupied terri-tory is already taking place.
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The Moroccan agriculture industry in occupiedWestern Sahara and the controversial exportsto the EU market
Morocco is illegally occupying its neighbouring coun-try, Western Sahara. While the people of WesternSahara are legitimately struggling for liberty, theterritory is treated by the UN as the last remainingcolonial issue in Africa. The Moroccan occupationis in violation of the Opinion from the InternationalCourt of Justice in The Hague, and in violation of more than 100 UN resolutionsthat call for the self-determi-nation for the people of West-ern Sahara.The Moroccan occupationof the former Spanish colonytook place in a highly violent manner. AsMoroccan air forces bombed local WesternSahara settlements with napalm bombs,a majority of the indigenous Saharawis
were forced to leave their homes, and ed
to the Algerian desert. There, they stilllive. The Saharawis remaining on the oc-cupied land are subjected to severe hu-man rights violations if they speak out fortheir legitimate demands for liberation. Atthe time this report was published, thesecretary-general of the Saharawi asso-ciation that works for the protection of natural resources in Western Sahara hasbeen in military jail for 15 months, stillwithout a trial.Morocco is today turning the agricultureindustry into a driving force behind populat-ing the territory with settlers. In 2008, theagricultural sector around Dakhla employed around4.000 seasonal workers with 10-month contracts,and approximately 200 permanent employees. In2010, the total number of workers in Dakhla’s agri-business had reached 6.480. Most of the workersare of Moroccan origin. As we will see later: Theoutlook for the future growth is highly worrisome.
occupied colony
western sahara - occupied colony
“t G aby dpy dp gg- u ug cudccup W s by mcc”.
Westernsahara
The EU is a main aid contributor, and ally, of Moroc-co. The continued occupation of Western Sahara israrely part of the EU’s talks with the kingdom. TheEU systematically ignores the matter in trade talkswith Morocco, in deep contrast to other states andinstitutions.In 2012, a new EU-Morocco Free Trade Agree-ment could lead to a further liberalisation of the
EU’s imports of agricultural and sheries products
from Morocco. It provides for the immediate liber-alisation of 55% of the EU’s imports from the occu-pying power. Fruit and vegetables account for 80%of these imports. The agreement which is about to beconcluded with Morocco fails to clearly exclude pro-duction currently taking place in Western Sahara.By comparison, the United States’ free tradeagreement with Morocco clearly excludes West-ern Sahara from its application. “Morocco does nothave the right to exploit the area’s resources as if they were its own”, stated Norwegian Minister forForeign Affairs on Western Sahara trade. Norwayand the rest of the European EFTA free trade co-operation do not consider Western Saharan pro-duce included in their trade agreements with Mo-
rocco. In 2011, a Norwegian rm received a 1,2million Euro ne for having falsely applied the EFTA
free trade agreement with Morocco to import pro-duce from occupied Western Sahara. No state inthe world has recognised the Moroccan claims overthe territory.Yet, the EU, which carries out strict control ongoods from Palestine, fails to do so with regardsto occupied Western Sahara. The former UN legal
counsel has stated that the former EU sheries ac
-tivities in Western Sahara are in violation of inter-national law. The European Parliament put a halt tothe practice in December 2011. A free trade agree-
ment for agriculture produce from identied plan
-tations on the occupied land would surely fall intothe same category: violating international law.
disrespectinginternational law
eu worst in class – disrespecting international law
eU - Worstin Class
All over Europe, the tomatoes from Western Sahara are labelled “fromMorocco”. These Azura products are observed in Sweden.
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Report: Conflict Tomatoes (WSRW)
Western Sahara Resource Watch publishes a report about stealing natural resource by Morocco
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