London, April 28, 2014 (SPS) - British holidaymakers are being urged to respond to the situation in Western Sahara by boycotting its occupier, Morocco, as a destination, wrote British national daily newspaper the Guardian in its Sunday edition by chief reporter for the Observer Tracy McVeigh.
A leading human rights activist from Western Sahara, Brahmin Dahane, 46, made the appeal after meeting members of the UK parliament to drum up support ahead of a UN security council debate on Tuesday, indicated the newspaper.
"Because Britain has few historical or cultural links with north Africa people have not really understood how bad the situation is for the Sahrawi people," Dahane said. "The UN does not recognise Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, but it is the only place where UN forces have no mandate to monitor human rights abuses," he added.
"Now MEPs are allowing Morocco to plunder our resources. They have no rights to our fish, tomatoes, phosphates or other natural resources we are so rich in, yet which are leaving the country with "Product of Morocco" on the label, and this is a falsehood. It is time for people to understand what is being allowed in their name in Brussels and boycott holidays to Morocco."
The newspaper also indicated that the head of the charity War on Want, John Hilary, is among those who have condemned the fisheries deal as making Britain "complicit" in the plundering of Sahrawi resources.
Two documentaries on the region have added to pressure on Morocco to allow self-determination. British filmmaker Louise Orton has made a film entitled Broken Families due to be broadcast on Al Jazeera this year, while Spanish actor Javier Bardem caused a diplomatic storm with his film Sons of the Clouds: the Last Colony, said the newspaper. (SPS)
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