1) Four MEPs were denied entry into Morocco and prevented from traveling to Western Sahara for a human rights fact-finding mission. 2) The authors question how the EU monitors human rights in Western Sahara given that past delegations have been refused entry and reports find increasing human rights issues in Morocco and Western Sahara. 3) The authors ask the Commission to answer questions about EU delegations to Western Sahara, if the Commission will undertake its own fact-finding mission, how it ensures human rights are respected in agreements with Morocco, and how it reacted to the expulsion of the four MEPs.

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AUTHOR(S): Isabella Lövin, Raül Romeva i Rueda, Norbert Neuser, Marco Scurria, Ivo Vajgl, Willy
Meyer, Åsa Westlund, Vincente Miguel Garcés Ramón, Fancisco Sosa Wagner, Jill
Evans
SUBJECT:
(please specify)
EU monitoring of Human rights in Western Sahara
TEXT:
On 6 March 2013, Isabella LÖVIN, Ivo VAJGL, Willy MEYER and Vicente GARCÉS RAMÓN – members of the Intergroup
for Western Sahara that is supported by over 60 MEPs – were on their way to El Aaiún in Western Sahara on a human
rights fact finding mission but were denied entry into Morocco at Casablanca airport.
In view of this incident as well as the facts that a) in 2010 the PECH Committee did not get permission from Morocco
to organise an official delegation to Morocco including Western Sahara; b) previously other MEPs, as well as national
politicians have been refused entry; c) the Commission is now negotiating both a fisheries agreement and a free
trade agreement with Morocco; and d) a 2013 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture finds an increase in
torture and ill-treatment during detention and arrest processes in Morocco, something which was confirmed in a
recent report of the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation; we would like the Commission to answer each of these
questions:
1) How many official EU delegations have in recent years visited the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara,
and in what ways have these delegations investigated the human rights situation?
2) Does the Commission intend to undertake an official fact finding mission of its own to Western Sahara, with a
programme to meet with all the relevant stakeholders, and if not, why not?
3) In what way does the EU make sure that the protection of human rights and the respect for the rule of law laid
down in the EU-Morocco Association Agreement are properly met?
4) How has the Commission formally reacted to the expulsion of four MEPs from Morocco on 6 March 2013?
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EN