LONDON – APS.dz.- The British NGO Western Sahara Campaign (WSCUK) has declared that it has taken its challenge to the UK-Morocco Association Agreement, which applies to occupied Western Sahara, to court.
The agreement in question applies to the products and resources of occupied Western Sahara, over which Rabat claims territorial “sovereignty”, despite the fact that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that there is no link between Morocco and the occupied territory since 1975.
The UK Western Sahara Campaign argued last year that by extending the agreement to Western Saharan assets and resources, the UK government “violates its obligations under international law”.
In 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in favour of WSCUK in a case against the Royal HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in relation to the implementation of an earlier version of the EU-Morocco Partnership Agreement and the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement. This decision was confirmed by the High Court (England and Wales), recalls the London law firm Leigh Day in its press release.
The courts ruled that the EU agreements could not apply to Western Sahara, and that Morocco could not be understood as exercising “jurisdiction” over the occupied territory, as this would violate the principle of self-determination and the rule of international law, according to which a treaty cannot impose rights or obligations on a third party without the consent of the third party.
Western Sahara Campaign UK is an independent voluntary organisation founded in 1984 to support the inalienable right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence, and to raise awareness of Morocco’s illegal occupation of Western Sahara since 1975.
