PRESS RELEASE
The wealth of natural resources that Western Sahara possesses has paradoxically condemned its people to be denied their right to these resources, which have been exploited first by a colonial power (Spain) and later by an occupying power (Morocco).
Morocco is using the UN Climate Change Conferences to greenwash the occupation of the Sahara by including in its NDCs (climate measures) projects within occupied Western Sahara.
These projects are not consented to by the Saharawi population, they are used to sustain and optimise the theft of natural resources (sands, phosphates, agriculture and fisheries) and to show private support for the false Moroccanness of the Sahara.
The extracted energy is itself a resource, which is expected to be used to export to Europe, which plans for carbon neutrality by 2050 and has shown plans that include North African countries, including Morocco, as energy suppliers.
As a consequence of this occupation, the Saharawis live in the occupied territories under a colonial regime that violates their human rights, in refugee camps in extreme weather conditions, while they are excluded from UN Climate Change Conferences, and are dependent on humanitarian aid. Moreover, they are in a diaspora miles away from their country.
On the occasion of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference 2022, more commonly known as COP27, the United Nations Climate Change conference taking place from 6-18 November 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, a group of activists and defenders of human rights and respect for the environment, together with the support of different national and international organisations launched the campaign #COP27WesternSahara under the slogan: “Morocco’s green is stained with blood”.
WITH THIS CAMPAIGN WE SEEK 4 objectives:
- To make visible the struggle of the Saharawi people during Egypt’s COP27.
- To demonstrate that Morocco’s NDCs are not real, because they incorporate projects in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, as this territory is a territory pending decolonisation by the United Nations and any investment in it is a flagrant violation of international law.
- Demand that the Saharawi people have a space in the UN Climate Change Conferences.
- Denounce #GreenWashing practiced by transnational companies, such as Siemens Gamesa or Enel Energy, which have built or plan to build these mega-projects in an occupied territory, thus legitimising their occupation and perpetuating the suffering of the Saharawi people.
In this Cop27 the Saharawi people have two people who are participating in the conference, it is the first time that two people from the Saharawi civil society get accreditation to participate.
To support the campaign we have made available the following link: several organisations have already joined the campaign, we will also share all the digital content of our presence at the COP27 in our social networks: @JV_ACTIVA_SH, @wsnsorg, @sap
