STATEMENT
FreedomSun Defenders Organization for the Protection of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders strongly condemns the recent report issued by the European Commission on the so-called ‘benefit’ of the 2019 agreement with the Moroccan occupation. The report is biased, filled with falsified facts and systematic fraud, and ignores the legal status of Western Sahara as a distinct and separate region from the Kingdom of Morocco.
Despite the ruling of the European Court of Justice that the Union must respond to the condition of the consent of the Sahrawi people through their sole and legitimate representative, the Polisario Front, before raising the issue of ‘taking advantage’, the report serves only to legitimize the occupation and accelerate the pace of plundering Western Sahara’s natural resources.
Therefore, FreedomSun Defenders affirms that the report not only ignores the legal status of Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory recognized by the United Nations since 1963, but also the suffering of thousands of Sahrawis who are facing unemployment and repressive actions by Moroccan repressive forces that stifle public freedoms and prevent the Sahrawis from their right to freedom of assembly, demonstration, and movement.
Furthermore, the report treats with some kind of disregard the decision of the European Court of Justice on the legal capacity of the Polisario Front to plead before the European judiciary as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people recognized by the United Nations.
In conclusion, FreedomSun Defenders Organization for the Protection of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders calls on the international community to reject the report’s biased and misleading claims and to support the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and their permanent sovereignty over natural resources.
The Executive Office of FreedomSun Defenders Organization for the Protection of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders
February 24, 2023/Western Sahara.