The EU is planning to enter a new unethical fisheries agreement with Morocco in 2013. 267 organisations and 16.189 individuals signed this letter to the European Parliament, 5 December 2013.
No state in the world has recognised the illegal Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara. However, the EU is from 2013 considering paying millions of Euros annually to the Government of Morocco to allow EU vessels to fish in the waters offshore the territory.
Morocco continues to refuse to cooperate with the decolonization process in Western Sahara, in defiance of more than 100 UN resolutions that insist on the Saharawi people's right to self-determination. Simultaneously, Moroccan authorities commit human rights violations against Sahrawis who voice their political views.
The UN special envoy to Western Sahara has specifically placed the management of natural resources on the negotiating table to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. In this context, cooperating with Morocco in exploiting Western Sahara’s natural resources undermines the UN’s peace efforts.
According to international law the natural resources in Western Sahara can only be exploited with regard to the wishes and interests of the people of the territory. Despite of this the EU is now planning to transfer European taxpayers’ money to the Government of Morocco for access to Western Saharan waters, without even consulting the Saharawi people. It was out of these concerns that the European Parliament stopped EU fisheries in Western Sahara in 2011.
We urge the European Union to put an immediate stop to the plans of renewing the EU fisheries agreement with Morocco for Western Saharan waters. We request the EU to work within the framework of international peace, and to support the UN’s efforts to negotiate a solution to the conflict.
The Saharawi people have the right to be heard. No further EU fisheries operations should take place in Western Sahara until a peaceful solution to the conflict has been found.
The EU considers to pay Morocco to fish in occupied Western Sahara. An EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement from 2013 would be both politically controversial and in violation of international law.
The international Fish Elsewhere! campaign demands the EU to avoid such unethical operations, and go fishing somewhere else. No fishing in Western Sahara should take place until the conflict is solved.
