International Law and Western Sahara’s Maritime Area

Abstract

Abstract Western Sahara’s coastal waters have become contentious because of seabed petroleum exploration and fisheries undertaken pursuant to treaties between Morocco and the European Union, Japan, and Russia. These activities have been protested by the territory’s government-in-exile, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. In 2017 Morocco announced its intention to adopt legislation to create an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on the territory’s coast. This article considers the status of Saharan coastal waters in the circumstances of decolonization and occupation. The obligations on states interested in exploring and extracting Saharan ocean resources are considered and are argued to be restrictive regardless of the status of the territory’s coastal waters and recognition of a Saharawi state.