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Thursday, August 16, 2018
Human rights group GLAN files complaint against Irish oil company drilling in annexed Western Sahara
Embargoed until 16 August 2018, 6am (Irish Standard Time).
The Global Legal Action Network has submitted a formal complaint against San Leon Energy PLC today (16/08/2018) for violating the human rights of the people of annexed Western Sahara. It is alleged the company failed to ensure the consent of the Western Saharan people before drilling for oil on their land.
San Leon Energy, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, is an Irish based multi-national oil and gas exploration enterprise which has operations in areas of Western Sahara controversially seized by Morocco during the mid-1970s. As the company is headquartered in Dublin, the legal complaint was made to Ireland’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which oversees corporate human rights issues.
According to GLAN’s Legal Advisor Valentina Azarova: “San Leon’s activities in Western Sahara contribute to the maintenance of an illegal annexation and denial of the internationally-recognised right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination in their territory. Companies like San Leon benefit from Morocco’s illicit economy in Western Sahara and contribute to the severity of ongoing human rights violations.”
GLAN’s complaint is supported by three non-governmental organisations from Western Sahara: the Sahrawi Campaign Against the Plunder (SCAP), the Association for the Monitoring of Resources and for the Protection of the Environment in Western Sahara (AMRPENWS) and the Sahrawi Committee for the Protection of Natural Resources (CSPRON). GLAN’s complaint is also supported by the Polisario Front – the international representative of the Sahrawi people.
GLAN asserts that international law categorically requires companies like San Leon to ensure that any business dealings in the Western Sahara can only occur with the prior consent of the Sahrawi people. This requirement for consent was applied by the Court of Justice of the EU in cases dealing with EU-Morocco relations in 2016 and 2018. San Leon has, by its own admission, failed to comply with this basic legal requirement and has publicly referred to the territory as Morocco’s ‘Southern Provinces’.
In addition to displacing most of the Sahrawi people from their territory Morocco has also criminalised speech and actions offending its control over Western Sahara leading to the targeting for Sahrawi rights. According to GLAN, this makes it impossible for any company to do business in a manner that is lawful under international law.
The legal complaint also highlights the untenable position of the Irish government on this issue. While vocally support for the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people they simultaneously tolerate Irish companies operating in breach of this right.
According to GLAN’s Legal Advisor Valentina Azarova: “Morocco’s serious breaches of international law create obligations for third states like Ireland to take proactive steps to end the involvement of Irish companies in illicit transactions related to its annexation of the territory of Western Sahara.”
GLAN legal advisor Ioannis Kalpouzos added, “Ireland’s OECD National Contact Point was created to ensure Irish corporations do not enable violations of fundamental rules of international law. San Leon’s unlawful exploitation of Western Sahara’s natural resources is exactly the sort of case that should activate its use”.
The complaint is being submitted in the wake of the Irish Senate’s approval of the Economic Activity in Occupied Territories Bill 2018, which aims to prohibit business activities that contribute to the illegal use of land and other natural resources in the Occupied Territories.
This key legislative initiative could mean that the Irish government will prevent such transnational business activities, when the corporation is headquartered in Ireland, in all cases of ongoing occupation and annexation.
Mohamed el Baikam, Vice President of AMRPENWS, said San Leon Energy should “urgently stop violating international and European law by putting an end to its operations in Western Sahara.”
He added, “the people of Western Sahara suffer a deplorable reality and do not benefit from our wealth. Despite the presence of Morocco in Western Sahara for 43 years, we have no educational or cultural institutions, and all investments benefit Morocco’s security, army and settlement, so they must stop immediately.”
Jalihenna Mohamed, the coordinator of SCAP, said: “The Irish National Contact Point should urgently enforce San Leon Energy’s legal obligations and responsibilities by holding it accountable for conducting such activities without consent from the Sahrawi people as required by international law.”
“San Leon must immediately halt its activities in occupied Western Sahara and apologise to the Sahrawi people for ignoring them all this time and dealing with Morocco instead”, he stated
A spokesperson for CSPRON stated “The widespread exploitation of Sahrawi natural resources and its extraction by foreign multi-international companies for a long time demonstrates how these powers benefited so greatly from these resources while leaving the Sahrawi people with nothing.” Not even their consent was sought nor were they consulted about such economic activities. This is a serious breach of the international law”
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