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No Conditionality for Human Rights: An Analysis of Human Rights Prevalence in Morocco’s Bilateral Investment Treaties

Holm, Maja LU (2024) MRSM15 20241
Human Rights Studies
Abstract
Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara is being justified by Morocco attracting investments to the Western Sahara territory without the consent of the people of Western Sahara. This comes with numerous human rights violations, to which the investments contribute. The prevalence of human rights and the conditionality for it in investment treaties has been discussed by scholars and proven to be nearly absent, although possibly increasing. This thesis investigates the prevalence of human rights conditionality in Morocco’s bilateral investment treaties (BITs), if there is any at all. The thesis puts these aspects of interests for human rights vs. economic interests and the general lack of human rights conditionality in the context of... (More)
Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara is being justified by Morocco attracting investments to the Western Sahara territory without the consent of the people of Western Sahara. This comes with numerous human rights violations, to which the investments contribute. The prevalence of human rights and the conditionality for it in investment treaties has been discussed by scholars and proven to be nearly absent, although possibly increasing. This thesis investigates the prevalence of human rights conditionality in Morocco’s bilateral investment treaties (BITs), if there is any at all. The thesis puts these aspects of interests for human rights vs. economic interests and the general lack of human rights conditionality in the context of occupation and exploitation of Western Sahara. This leads to the argument that the lack of human rights interest regarding business on Western Sahara territory has its roots in postcolonialism and imperialism which is also illustrated by World System Theory. This could be reflected in a potential lack of human rights conditionality in Morocco’s BITs, which makes searching for human rights conditionality in the BITs of analytic relevance. To conduct the investigation, the thesis utilizes a comparative content analysis. Although this thesis finds some inclusion of references to human rights, it does not find Moroccan BITs expressing human rights conditionality. As this interprets into economic interests being prioritized, it mirrors the dynamics of postcolonialism, imperialism and World System Theory. The BITs and the involved State parties are legitimizing Morocco’s behavior and allow Morocco to escape conditionality. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Holm, Maja LU
supervisor
organization
course
MRSM15 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Bilateral investment treaties (BITs), human rights, conditionality, postcolonialism, imperialism, content analysis, comparative analysis, Morocco, Western Sahara.
language
English
id
9173784
date added to LUP
2024-09-17 14:04:16
date last changed
2024-09-17 14:04:16
@misc{9173784,
  abstract     = {{Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara is being justified by Morocco attracting investments to the Western Sahara territory without the consent of the people of Western Sahara. This comes with numerous human rights violations, to which the investments contribute. The prevalence of human rights and the conditionality for it in investment treaties has been discussed by scholars and proven to be nearly absent, although possibly increasing. This thesis investigates the prevalence of human rights conditionality in Morocco’s bilateral investment treaties (BITs), if there is any at all. The thesis puts these aspects of interests for human rights vs. economic interests and the general lack of human rights conditionality in the context of occupation and exploitation of Western Sahara. This leads to the argument that the lack of human rights interest regarding business on Western Sahara territory has its roots in postcolonialism and imperialism which is also illustrated by World System Theory. This could be reflected in a potential lack of human rights conditionality in Morocco’s BITs, which makes searching for human rights conditionality in the BITs of analytic relevance. To conduct the investigation, the thesis utilizes a comparative content analysis. Although this thesis finds some inclusion of references to human rights, it does not find Moroccan BITs expressing human rights conditionality. As this interprets into economic interests being prioritized, it mirrors the dynamics of postcolonialism, imperialism and World System Theory. The BITs and the involved State parties are legitimizing Morocco’s behavior and allow Morocco to escape conditionality.}},
  author       = {{Holm, Maja}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{No Conditionality for Human Rights: An Analysis of Human Rights Prevalence in Morocco’s Bilateral Investment Treaties}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}