The Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North-west Africa. It is largely controlled by Morocco who, in 1975, besieged the territory leading to more than 155,000 Saharawi refugees living in exile in Algeria (according to UNHCR). The international community also rejects Morocco’s claims of sovereignty over the territory.

Tesco's, the UK supermarket giant, currently sell Western Sahara tomatoes, which are illegally mislabelled as ‘Moroccan’. This is a clear violation of UK Trading Standards. Tesco’s, by default, strengthens Morocco’s claim over the Western Sahara. UK consumers are also unwittingly supporting Moroccan claims to the territory—often referred to as Africa’s last colony. Unfortunately, the Saharawi people do not profit from these agreements which is why they are referred to as 'Conflict Tomatoes'.

This petition calls upon the UK Trading Standards to pressure Tesco PLC into removing mislabelled Moroccan / ‘Conflict Tomatoes’ from all of their stores. UK Trading Standards has the authority to investigate this case because misleading consumers is illegal in the UK.

No person or company is permitted to ignore the law of the land. If we break the law we are held accountable—the same rules apply to Tesco PLC.

For more information visit:

http://www.wsrw.org/files/dated/2012-02-13/conflict_tomatoes_14.02.2012.pdf

Help us spread the word by using the Twitter hashtag: #conflicttomatoes