March 6, 2013
Africa, Press releases

NGO denounces Siemens wind farm project in Western Sahara

Sahara Press Service | March 06, 2013 | www.spsrasd.info

Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) denounced Tuesday the launch of a wind farm project by the German company Siemens in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.

In its website the WSRW estimated that “up to now 9 vessels have been involved in transporting the windmill parts and related infrastructure material from Germany since end of December 2012” and “The construction parts have arrived in the territory on a caravan of vessels over the last weeks.”

WSRW explained that “Siemens’ partner in the project is the Nareva holding – a Moroccan industrial and financial group that will own and operate the wind farm. Nareva is said to belong to the Moroccan royal family; the same royal family that invaded and occupied part of Western Sahara in 1975.”

“It is saddening to observe that companies in this way fail to take their corporate social responsibility commitment seriously”, stated Sara Eyckmans, coordinator of Western Sahara Resource Watch.

“Siemens should know better. To assist the Moroccan royal family to enrich themselves by cooperating on projects in a territory that same that royal family invaded, is in breach of any minimum ethical standard that you would expect an international company to uphold. Activists who would normally have spoken out against the company’s behaviour are facing life sentence in jail. What incentive would the Moroccan king have to be serious in the peace talks, if he can benefit from such project with Siemens?” stated Eyckmans.

She noted that WSRW has sent numerous letters to Siemens to get clarifications on how they interpret their adherence to UN Global Compact, an initiative for companies supporting a set of principles on business ethics. The company claims on its webpages that the project is located in “Morocco”. (SPS)

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/03/06/ngo-denounces-siemens-wind-farm-project-in-western-sahara/