Western Sahara and the EU-Morocco
Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA)
1 Conclusion
•
•
A renewed FPA may make the EU and its member states liable for a violation of international law,
namely as a recognition of and assistance to serious breaches of international law by Morocco.
An FPA with Morocco that covers waters outside WS
must
conform with the following conditions:
o
The agreement should make clear that it does not cover WS as a part of the territory of
Morocco
o
The agreement must be in accordance with the wishes and interests of the people of WS
A negotiating mandate for the Commission – including a mandate for a short extension of the
protocol to the FPA – should include the conditions related above and
must
– as an absolute
minimum -- include a clause providing that the agreement shall be in conformity with international
law.
Before any new negotiations are undertaken, the Government of Morocco should provide an answer
in public
to the
two
question how the FPA has benefitted the people of WS
and
if it is according to
the wishes of that people.
•
•
2 Legal
analysis
2.1 The
legal
status
of
Western
Sahara
In 1963 Western Sahara was listed as non-self-governing territory by the United Nations. In 1966 the United
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Nations General Assembly adopted its first resolution on the territory, urging Spain to organize, as soon as
possible, a referendum under UN supervision on the territory’s right to exercise its right to self-
determination. In 1975, the ICJ rendered an advisory opinion on the Western Sahara question, concluding by
14 votes to two, that while there had been pre-colonial ties between the territory of Western Sahara and
Morocco, these ties did not imply sovereignty. "Thus the Court has not found legal ties of such a nature as
might affect the application of resolution 1514 (XV) in the decolonization of Western Sahara and, in
particular, of the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the
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peoples of the Territory." Shortly thereafter, on 6 November, Morocco occupied and later annexed Western
Sahara, through the famous “Green march”. The same day, the UN Security Council, in Resolution 380,
called upon Morocco “immediately to withdraw … all the participants in the march.” Shortly thereafter,
Morocco, Mauretania and the colonial power, Spain, entered into an agreement which in convoluted terms
transferred the administration of the territory to Morocco and Mauretania. The agreement did not, however,
transfer sovereignty explicitly. (Mauretania later rescinded and left the whole territory to Morocco.)
Western Sahara is not a part of Morocco and Morocco has no legal title or claim on the territory The
people of Western Sahara (the Saharawis) have a right to self-determination, which can be fulfilled by the
creation of a fully sovereign state, if they so choose. The Moroccan occupation and annexation of the
territory is a serious breach of International Law. Morocco has an obligation to respect the right of the
people of Western Sahara to self-determination and to end its illegal annexation and occupation of Western
Sahara.
2.2 Use
of
natural
resources
Since Morocco has no legal right to govern the territory, she has no legal title to the natural resources of
Western Sahara. Consequently, Morocco has no right as a sovereign to dispose of such natural resources for
her own purposes. Furthermore, any agreement that Morocco enters into with other countries cannot cover
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2
UN General Assembly, 1966, Resolution 2229 (XXI).
ICJ Reports, 1975, p. 68, para. 162.