Italian Network of Solidarity with the Saharawi People denounces “manoeuvres” of the Moroccan lobby in the European Parliament

Red Italiana de Solidaridad

ON THE SIDE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AGAINST CORRUPTION IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

The Network of Italian Solidarity with the Sahrawi People is dismayed by the judicial events that are overwhelming the credibility of the European Parliament.

We believe that the reprehensible acts of corruption that have in fact influenced the positions and votes of European parliamentarians have had and risk having very serious repercussions beyond Europe’s borders: on North African regional pacification, on the cohesion of the African Union, on the International Community.

It is considered useful and necessary to report on the areas in which Europe is directly involved and which have been the objects of misappropriation of votes and political assessments:

a) European Parliament votes that renewed since the 1980s the Agreements between Morocco and the European Union on the liberalisation of agricultural and fishing products that included by Morocco goods and resources from Western Sahara. These exports to the EU account for around 200 million euros per year.
In 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) reaffirmed the nullity of these agreements for failure to comply with the requirement established in 2018 by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of compliance with the international law applicable to Western Sahara for which the consent of the Saharawi people to the exploitation of natural resources is required.

b) Violation of the human rights of the Sahrawi population residing in the Western Sahara occupied by Morocco.
Since 1975 the Sahrawi population residing in occupied Western Sahara has been subjected to serious violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, including violations of Articles 31 and 32 (prohibition of coercion, corporal punishment, torture and degrading and inhuman treatment) of Article 33 (prohibition of collective punishment, intimidation, looting and reprisals); of Article 49 (prohibition of deportations, relocations and evacuations); of Article 53 (prohibition of destruction of real or personal property belonging, individually or collectively, to individuals); and of Article 76 (on the treatment of detainees).
Over the years, many parliamentarians and EU representatives have worked in support of the UN’s efforts to resolve the Western Sahara issue, but not all of them have been able to carry out the mission freely: 181 people of 17 nationalities (including 76 Spain; 5 France; 6 Italy; 1 Germany; 3 UK; 7 Sweden; 66 Norway; 1 Holland; 1 Portugal; 1 Lithuania; 2 Belgium), were blocked by the Moroccan border police from entering Western Sahara.

c) Humanitarian Aid to 173,600 (UNHCR 2018 estimate) Saharawi refugees in camps in southern Algeria, where they have been residing since 1975 thanks to external aid. Compared to a current UN estimate of $39 million, the reduction in disbursed resources was 20% in the first months of 2022. Every year, the European Union votes on the allocation of humanitarian aid to refugees, and on this front, too, proper knowledge of the situation has a significant impact on the amount and quality of the aid provided.

For decades, the Network’s associations have been following the issue of Western Sahara, a territory in north-west Africa colonised by Spain in the 19th century until 1975 when, at the insistence of the UN, it was supposed to hold a referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people, in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) of 1960, but which was not held. Since then, it was included by the UN in the list of Non-Autonomous Territories under Article 73 of the UN Charter, where it still appears today.

Since 1975, despite the deploration of the UN Security Council, Morocco invaded the territory and since then part of the population has been refugees in the south of Algeria and part is under Moroccan rule where they suffer discrimination and human rights violations.

Since 1991, the war between Morocco and the Polisario Front (the Western Sahara Liberation Front, formed in 1973) came to a cease-fire and a mission of blue berrets called MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Western Sahara Referendum) was established. The war resumed in 2020 due to the breaking of the ceasefire by Morocco.

The SAHARAWI NETWORK hopes that this highly critical situation will mean a turning point that will lead the democratically elected representatives of European states back to high moral, political and humanitarian values,

That international law follows as an inescapable guide to ensure justice and cohesion between or peoples.
Let Western Sahara find a just solution to the conflict. Let the referendum be held!