sustainable development

Politics & The World

One year after the historical Paris Agreement, the climate change deal has officially entered into force on November 4th. The signatory states meet again from the 7th – 18th of November for the COP22 in Marrakesh.  Media attention will be on politicians, their goals and if COP22 can keep up with the ambitious targets set in Paris. Rather inconspicuous is what happens in the shadows of COP22 in Marrakesh. The conflict between Morocco and the autonomous region West Sahara has an additional controversy to it that is worth to be illuminated in the light of the UN climate conference.

What is happening at COP22?

In Paris, the major target was set to limit global warming to at least 2°C until 2100 or preferably even 1,5°. These numbers mark the tipping point for extreme, uncontrollable and irreversible effects of climate change. So far, the EU and more than 60 other signatories, responsible for more than 58% of global emissions have ratified the treaty. Now, the signatories have to come up with concrete plans until 2018 – a basis which could be set in Marrakesh. However, not many states have a plan. Even ambitious countries such as Germany will arrive at COP22 without any climate action strategy at all. And that is not the only problem. Looking at Europe, one sees that the EU does not act together (as one). Many eastern European states boycott the climate goals. Also, the EU is no leading force with its weak plan of only reducing 40% of emissions until the year 2030. This plan is remote from the 2C-formula. From the perspective of climate politics COP22 will not nearly be as exciting as COP21 in Paris was. It is very likely that participants will celebrate that the Paris Agreements has entered into force, but any concrete progress should not be expected, simply due to the fact that most countries will come to Marrakesh with empty hands. In the shadow of all these celebrations and embarrassments, politicians seem to ignore what happens right next to them in Western Sahara. A region that is de facto occupied by Morocco and in which the human rights situation is very critical.

The Western Sahara Conflict

In the south of Morocco, one can witness the so called Western Sahara conflict that already lasts for decades. It is a conflict between the Kingdom of Morocco and the so called ‘Frente Polisario’. After Spain lost its former colony Western Sahara, many parties claimed that the region should be theirs, most prominently Morocco. For that reason the ICJ ruled that the local Sahrawi population should hold a referendum to decide upon their faith. However, this referendum was never executed and Morocco simply occupied the region. Years of violent conflict between Morocco and the Frente Polisario followed. Polisario is a political and military organization that fights since the 1970s for the independence of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Frente Polisario still calls for the referendum up until today. The Moroccan government tries to settle people from the north of the country in the Western Sahara, trying to make the referendum unnecessary.

The SADR is only recognized by very few other countries, none of which is part of the EU. The UN and many EU member states acknowledge that Morocco has annexed the region but at the same time do not recognize the SADR. Morocco is continuously criticized by human rights organizations for its treatment of the local population in Western Sahara. As a matter of fact, 150.000 Sahrawi refugees live in Algeria because of the conflict. Quite controversial, considering the practice of many EU states that declare Morocco a safe state and based on that declaration deny political asylum to many Moroccans fleeing their country.

The EU’s role in the Conflict

Economically, the EU is the most important trade partner of Morocco and both have a free trade agreement. This is a very delicate detail, because the official UN status of the Western Sahara region is “non-autonomous”. According to international law the ruling entity of a non-autonomous area is only permitted to use the resources of the area, if the local population agrees and benefits from it. In the case of Western Sahara this is not the case because the Sahrawi people are de facto suppressed by the Kingdom of Morocco. Consequently, Frente Polisario went to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) claiming the free trade agreement between the EU and Morocco unlawful because Morocco is exporting goods from the Western Sahara. This is controversial because it means that the EU would recognize the annexation of Western Sahara by Morocco as valid in order not to threaten its trade interests. Once again the EU would appear as ambivalent and hypocritical, one of the reasons for widespread eurosceptism. In 2015, the ECJ ruled that based on the human rights situation, the claim of Frente Polisario is valid. The reaction from Morocco was outrage and a cut of the diplomatic relations to the EU in February 2016. To cool down the emotions, the Council of Europe declared that it does not accept the ruling of the ECJ. Currently, the ECJ deals with the case Council of Europe vs. Frente-Polisario and the parties negotiate if Morocco is entitled to export products from Western Sahara. A ruling is expected in December of this year.

This is not the end of the dubious story between Morocco and the EU. By looking closely one can see that the Western Sahara-controversy also found its way into COP22. As the host of the climate conference, Morocco wanted to show off its success of renewable energy projects. Therefore, Germany’s Siemens and Italy’s Enel seized the occasion to present the windparks they are currently constructing in Morocco. Their joint project is supposed to serve as an example of successful cooperation of EU businesses and the Kingdom of Morocco. Notably, however, these windparks were and currently still are built in Western Sahara.  Twenty-two windmills produce the energy that is then used to further exploit the resource rich Western Sahara by mining precious phosphate. Human rights organizations, such as medico and the Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) criticize this vehemently.

Europe needs to restore its credibility

The European engagement with the situation in Western Sahara is a perfect example for the ambivalence of the EU’s foreign relations. The image of a Janus faced Europe is often painted by critics of the Union and in the case at hand rightly so. At the COP22, European politicians should therefore use the international platform they have to draw attention to the political situation of Western Sahara and call for the execution of the referendum. In these times of crisis, in which populism is surging both within the EU and beyond the Atlantic, the EU needs to do anything it can to at least restore its credibility and faith in its own values.

picture from: ccl_flickr

Pitching Europe

When the goal of your organisation is to ‘end extreme poverty’ the task can sometimes seem quite daunting! With over 7 million supporters, however, it gets a little bit easier. The ONE Campaign, an international campaigning and advocacy organisation, channels these unified voices to put pressure on world leaders to eradicate extreme poverty, fight hunger and ensure good health and well-being for all.

Because if we work together, it can be done! Over the last 20 years, extreme poverty has dropped by 66% – from 37.1% in 1990 to 12.7% in 2012 and it could be potentially eliminated by 2030. World leaders will need continuous pressure over the next fifteen years from people like you and us in order to keep up this momentum.

That is why ONE’s 7 million members, coming from every walk of life and from across the political spectrum, take action day in, day out — organising, mobilising, educating, and advocating so that people will have the chance not just to survive, but to thrive. ONE also has a team of over 300 Youth Ambassadors based in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium who will take part in the year-long scheme to help fight extreme poverty. Youth Ambassadors are engaged, motivated, young volunteers who work together to organise events, lobby politicians and get their stories heard in the media.

All of these campaigns work towards achieving the Global Goals for Sustainable Development by 2030. The 17 Global Goals were agreed upon last year by world leaders and aim to provide a better life for all of us. It is one of the most incredible to-do lists ever written and provides a multifaceted approach to sustainable development, equality and justice for all.

In Belgium, ONE’s Youth Ambassadors will be putting pressure on the European Union institutions to keep aid promises, secure new agreements on financial transparency, and deliver ambitious new funding to tackle malnutrition.

In the next months they will be using all their ingenuity and creativeness to help raise awareness about malnutrition, which is linked to the deaths of almost 3 million children under five each year. As less than 1% of development aid is currently devoted to nutrition-specific programmes, we really need to put pressure on political leaders to increase funding. Research shows that a significant increase in funding for nutrition will be needed by 2020 to reach Global Goal 2: zero hunger.

So far the Youth Ambassadors have held a Flash Pub Quiz in Place Luxembourg to challenge people’s knowledge on nutrition and recently they made their own fortune cookies to distribute at upcoming events to help #EndMalnutrition.

While grassroots campaigning is one aspect of their work, the Youth Ambassadors also engage with political decision-makers. On April 25th, for example, our activists attended the European Commission’s High Level Event on Innovative Ways for Sustainable Nutrition, Food Security and Inclusive Agricultural Growth. At the event they asked each expert for their views on how to tackle malnutrition. At the end of the day, they collected all the recommendations and presented them to Klaus Rudischhauser, acting Director General for Development Cooperation at the European Commission.

After the success of our 2014 and 2015 Youth Ambassador programmes, where the ONE Youth Ambassadors convinced more than half of the European Parliament to join the fight against extreme poverty, and where they ensured the EU aid budget was not cut, it will be brilliant to see what they can achieve in 2016. Coming from 26 different countries and possessing countless different skills and experiences, the sky is the limit!

As the Youth Ambassadors have proved, your actions really can make a change. So please join ONE and stand with 7 million ONE members to help fight extreme poverty by signing up at https://www.one.org/international/

 

Watch out for the Belgium Youth Ambassadors at the Poverty is Sexist karaoke night on the 11th May at Pangaea in Leuven, on the 28th May on the Esplanade of the European Parliament for the European Institutions Open Doors Day and on the 15-16th June for the European Development Days.