News
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More photos of injured demonstrators from occupied Western Sahara.
Published 29 April 2013
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The Western Sahara liberation movement, Frente Polisario, publishes its position on human rights monitoring.

Published 08 April 2013
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Sultana Khaya, who visited Norway last year, has once again been assaulted by the police during a demonstration. Amnesty expressed concern about the assaults on peaceful demonstrators.

Published 07 April 2013
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Norwegian owned shipping company admits carrying out shipments from Western Sahara. In two recent articles in a Norwegian newspaper, the company received heavy criticism. “When Norwegian government urges companies to stay away from Western Sahara, one should try to follow those advice”, said competitor.

Published 29 March 2013

UN is attempting once again to kick life into the negotiations on the much-debated desert region. For four decades the inhabitants have been waiting in vain to decide the future of their occupied homeland. Aftenposten, 4 Feb 2012.

Published 12 February 2013
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The EU is planning to enter a new unethical fisheries agreement with Morocco in 2013. Once more, the EU intends to fish in the waters offshore occupied Western Sahara, in violation of international law. Protest by signing this petition!
Published 11 December 2012
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A group of four Norwegian youth politicians were expelled from Western Sahara yesterday. Their goal was to meet with Saharawi human rights activists to learn more about the conflict, and the excessive human rights violations. 
 

Published 07 November 2012
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Norway's biggest film festival picked yesterday the film 'Sons of the Clouds' as the best film.
Published 23 October 2012
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When Manu Chao entered the stage at City Hall Square on Saturday, he had a message about the world’s injustice. As always. published in Dagsavisen, 27 August 2012.

Published 29 August 2012
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The French Spanish musician Manu Chao played at a music festival in Oslo on 25 August - with the Western Sahara flag on stage.

Published 26 August 2012

Christian Democratic Party asks Norwegian Minister for Agriculture about Norway's work to recycle phosphates.

Published 13 August 2012

Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs was in April 2012 asked about the Norwegian government's position regarding expansion of the mandate of the UN operation in Western Sahara, to also include human rights monitoring.

Published 13 August 2012
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Norwegian company DNV, certified by the UN Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to evaluate projects seeking CDM-funding, has issued a negative opinion on the Moroccan King's envisioned windfarm project in occupied Western Sahara - precisely for taking place in a politically controversial territory.

Published 26 July 2012

The Norwegian representatives in Geneva today underlined the need for Morocco respecting that Saharawi organisations are allowed to formally register.

Published 22 May 2012
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Human rights activits Sultana Khaya thanked the Green Party of Norway for the support for the Saharawi cause at the annual meeting in Bergen, Norway, 15 April.

Published 16 April 2012
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The eight political youth parties of region of Hordaland, Norway, together organised a full day conference on Western Sahara at the University of Bergen.
Published 16 April 2012
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France objects to human rights in Western Sahara. Some twenty people demonstrated for respect of human rights in front of France's embassy in Oslo today.

Published 14 April 2012
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FMC Corporation states that they have stopped importing phosphates from Western Sahara to Spain and that they should never have been kicked out of the Norwegian government's pension fund for lack of ethics.

Published 23 December 2011
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The Norwegian fertilizer firm Yara states their position remains unchanged, and that they do not purchase phosphates from Western Sahara. Yara's new agreement with Moroccan phosphate firm specifically excludes purchases from Western Sahara, according to the company.

Published 19 December 2011
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Covington & Burling, the US lobby law firm that lobbies for the Moroccan phosphate trade from occupied territory of Western Sahara travelled all the way to Oslo to explain to an investor how the Saharawis supposedly benefit from the trade. Still, the firm refuse to talk to Saharawis or civil society about the industry.

Published 08 December 2011
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Asria Mohamed Taleb, journalist from Western Sahara currently living in Norway, today launched a book on the conflict. Download the book here.

Published 01 December 2011

Demonstrators kicked out of the protest camp in, have been demonstrating in the city of El Aaiun. Demonstrators put fire on several houses. 

Published 08 November 2011
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At a conference in Bergen 27 October, former UN Special Representative to Western Sahara aired his disappointment over the international community’s inability to solve the last colonial issue in Africa.

Published 06 November 2011

7 March 2011, Swedish national TV was supposed to have screened the film ‘Stolen’. The TV station took the film off the programme after taking into consideration the wishes of the main character of the film.

Published 03 November 2011
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Former Rafto laureate criticised lack of openness in Moroccan courts at a seminar in Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Bergen, Norway. He was himself denied access to a court last month.

Published 02 November 2011
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Big names arriving Bergen: A former UN top official, a former Rafto Award Laureate, important academics. Come to Western Sahara conference 27 October! Conference language: English.
Published 20 October 2011
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Sigrun Henjum defended today her PhD thesis on the iodine levels in the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria.

Published 21 October 2011
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A Norwegian humanitarian organisation and a university college has cooperated on researching the nutrition levels of the Saharawi refugees. The cooperation has led to a series of publications. See the studies here.

Published 13 October 2011
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Associate Professor, Hans Morten Haugen, on a conference on Corporate Social Responsability in Norway, elaborated on how Norwegian importing firms relate to the advice of the Norwegian government to abstain from Western Sahara trade, and how they omit the proper due dilligence on human rights.

Published 10 October 2011
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"I have no problem in stating, in retrospect, that it might have been a bad idea to take this assignment”, CEO of seismic services firm Spectrum ASA told media today. Now, Irish oil minor San Leon has to find another subcontractor to process the geological data they collect from the occupied territory in violation of international law.

Published 08 October 2011

Morocco is continuing its oil programme on the Boujdour onshore block. These cars were filmed as they did geological surveys in the occupied territories.

Published 31 July 2011
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Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs underlines that the wishes of the Sahrawis must be taken into account upon undertaking business in the territory of Western Sahara.

Published 30 June 2011
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"We urge businesses to stay away from the territory since we do not recognise the annexation of Western Sahara" stated Norway's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Friday. An opening to invest in the "illegitimately annexed" territory is given under the condition it benefits the local population - "and with the local population we of course refer to the Sahrawi people", said the Deputy Minister.

Published 22 June 2011
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See Youtube video of the stone throwing Moroccan police in El Aaiun. The images shows the police attacking Sahrawi activists who demand autopsy of a Sahrawi killed by a policeman earlier this year.
Published 29 May 2011
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The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara stands in solidarity with the people of West Papua and their struggle for self determination. West Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea, is a former Dutch colony occupied by Indonesia. It borders the independent state of Papua New Guinea.
Published 31 March 2011
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The Norwegian Support Committee of Western Sahara supports the struggle for democracy across the Arab world. Dictators and security forces have for too long dominated the region and suppressed the peoples' call for freedom.

Published 31 March 2011
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"Morocco does not have the right to exploit the area’s resources as if they were its own", states Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, underlining that fisheries in Western Sahara "must be exercised in accordance with the wishes and interests of the population involved".

Published 07 March 2011
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A group of Nordic students were last night ordered to leave occupied Western Sahara by Moroccan police.

Published 30 January 2011
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Two Norwegian tourists were detained in Western Sahara today. The two men were taken by the police few minutes after meeting the mother of Sahrawi prisoner of conscience, Brahim Dahane. The formal explanation they were given by the Moroccan police for their detention and expulsion was that "speaking with the local population is not explicitly permitted with a Moroccan tourist visa".

Published 11 January 2011
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The Norwegian fish oil producer GC Rieber clarifies to the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara that their refinery Maromega in TanTan in South Morocco has stopped all purchases from Western Sahara.
Published 27 December 2010

The Spanish embassy in Oslo does not wish to respond to the question whether the word “wishes” is mentioned in the conclusion of the UN 2002 legal opinion. In order to get an answer of how Spain interprets the UN document, a national Norwegian student organisation was referred to the Saharawi delegation in Madrid.

Published 23 December 2010
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Norwegian company obliged to pay 1,2 million Euro in customs for importing fish oil from occupied Western Sahara. The importer falsely labelled Western Sahara products as Moroccan.

Published 01 December 2010
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"A government that says repeatedly that it has nothing to hide should prove that by allowing all media and nongovernmental organizations to come and to collect information without obstacles", Human Rights Watch states.

Published 27 November 2010

The International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) adopted during this week-end's general assembly in Beirut a resolution strongly criticizing Morocco's violent occupation of Western Sahara.

Published 24 November 2010
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Some 30 Sahrawis and Norwegians carried out a demonstration in front of the Spanish embassy in Oslo today to protest the Spanish government's undermining of the Sahrawi people’s rights. Spain is currently pushing the EU to try to renew an illegal fisheries agreement covering the waters offshore the occupied territories.

Published 22 November 2010
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Saharawis and Norwegians demonstrated today against the last days of human rights violations in Western Sahara. The protesters also carried out a demonstration in front of the French cultural centre. "Sarkozy, stop blocking human rights", the Sahrawis asked.

Published 10 November 2010
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Moroccan forces intervened brutally against the peaceful protest camp early this morning. Many are injured. Big demonstrations in El Aaiun all day. Some Saharawis are killed, not known how many. First image of killed Saharawi (above) circulated this afternoon.
Published 08 November 2010