ACHRS Statement: EU Annuls Trade Agreements Over Occupied Western Sahara

In a court ruling, the EU General Court has decided to annul two trade and fisheries agreements between the EU and Morocco, since they included the territories of occupied Western Sahara. ACHRS warmly welcomes the EU Court decision. However, we fear that this will not change the EU’s and Morocco’s practice of including occupied Western Sahara in trade agreements.

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In a court ruling on the 29th of September, the EU General Court annulled the trade and fisheries agreements between the EU and Morocco, as the agreements included the territories of occupied Western Sahara but failed to gain the consent of the people of Western Sahara. The vast majority (92%) of the fishing included in the fisheries agreement take place on the coast of occupied Western Sahara.

Western Sahara has been occupied by neighbouring Morocco since 1975. From 1975-1991, a war was waged between Morocco and the Polisario Front, Western Sahara’s independence movement. In 1991, a ceasefire agreement was brokered by the UN. This ceasefire agreement promised a referendum on the independence of Western Sahara, facilitated by the UN’s MINURSO mission. However, the referendum has yet to come. In November 2020, the parties resumed violent conflict. The resumption of violent conflict over the territory did not, however, change the EU’s and Morocco’s practices of including resources from the occupied territories of Western Sahara in bilateral trade agreements.

The recent EU Court ruling follows two similar rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union from 2016 and 2018, but in stronger wording than the two previous ones. However, the two previous rulings have had no significant impact on the practice of including Western Sahara in bilateral agreements between Morocco and the EU, thus neglecting the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and freedom to participation.

In 2016, The European Court of Justice ruled that Western Sahara cannot be included in trade deals between Morocco and the EU unless there is an expressed consent from the people of the territory. In 2018, the Court came to the same conclusion, anulling the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement’s application in Western Sahara. This led to amendments to the agreements, but with very little change in practice: the former implicit inclusion of Western Sahara in the trade and fisheries agreements changed to an explicit inclusion. Furthermore, the amendments to the agreements were negotiated with Morocco rather than with the Polisario Front.

In the September 29th ruling, the EU Court explicitly finds that the Polisario Front is “recognized internationally as representative of the people of Western Sahara”, meaning that the trade agreements were not negotiated with the consent of the people of Western Sahara. Therefore, the two agreements do not adhere to the right to self-determination.

ACHRS warmly welcomes the EU General Court’s annulment of the trade and fisheries agreements. It sees the decision as an important step for the right to self-determination and the freedom of participation of the Sahrawi people. However, ACHRS condemns the EU and Morocco for continuously including the occupied territories of Western Sahara in their trade and fisheries agreements without consent, despite several rulings calling for a change in their practices. ACHRS sees the EU’s practice of defying its own court as a blow to international rule of law and calls for its immediate change in practice.

ACHRS recommends the EU and Morocco immediately change their practices of including resources from occupied Western Sahara and the waters adjacent to it in their trade and fisheries agreements. We recommend that Morocco end the occupation of Western Sahara and for the UN and its MINURSO-mission to facilitate a complete referendum on the independence of Western Sahara, as agreed upon with the establishment of MINURSO under the 1991 ceasefire.

Image Source: Environmental Justice Atlas