title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: WHO referred to the incident as one of the largest food safety events it has had to deal with, and stated it would be difficult to restore the confidence of Chinese consumers in baby formula. It saw regulation failing to keep pace with the rapid development of the food and industrial production as opening the gates to all types of misbehaviour and malfeasance. The spokesman said the scale of the problem proved it was "clearly not an isolated accident, [but] a large-scale intentional activity to deceive consumers for simple, basic, short-term profits".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: WHO Director-General Margaret Chan reminded Chinese mothers that breastfeeding was the best way to provide nutrition to infants while avoiding a risk of melamine exposure. She noted that the scandal showed "the impact and power of globalisation" in food distribution and highlighted "the importance of seamless cooperation from farm to consumer".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The case has brought anger and resentment towards milk producers and sowed uncertainty and confusion amongst the population. Queues formed outside Sanlu's offices for refunds. The Sanlu website was hacked several times and its name as displayed in the header bar changed to 三聚氰胺集团 ("The Melamine Group") in a play of words on the character "三" (number 3), which is the first word of Sanlu's Chinese name: 三鹿 (Three Deer); "Melamine" was also added as a product name by a hacker. As has been increasingly common practice, web users vented their anger on internet bulletin boards. Prevalent food scares have increased the number of online parodies circulated by netizens.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Before the government began offering free medical treatment, some parents had reportedly spent small fortunes on medical care for their sick children. Children who fell ill before the scandal broke on 12 September were not entitled to free medical care offered by the State. Parents of two such victims, one from Henan and one from Guangdong, filed writs against Sanlu despite government pressure. Parents of the Henan child had claimed ¥150,000 for medical, travel and other expenses incurred after their child developed kidney stones. On 20 October, the parents of one baby who died from contaminated milk appealed to New Zealand for justice on TV ONE. A total of nine cases were filed against Sanlu in Shijiazhuang. Following weeks of discussions, and in the absence of a compensation plan, a group of 15 lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 100 families against Sanlu, seeking medical and other expenses as well as compensation for trauma and for death of an offspring.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Resentment increased towards the country's leaders due to the perception that they were not troubled by the food security turmoil faced by ordinary citizens. In August 2008, Zhu Yonglan (祝詠蘭), Director of the State Council Central Government Offices Special Food Supply Centre (CGOSFSC), disclosed in a speech that her firm had been set up in 2004 to source high-quality, all-organic foodstuffs from farms working under the strictest guidelines, for supply to top political leaders, their families and retired cadres.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Premier Wen Jiabao apologised to the nation, saying he felt "extremely guilty" about the poisoned milk products, in the same way he had previously asked the people's pardon for the deaths of coal miners, polluted drinking water, and train passengers stranded by the authorities' inadequate response to the severe snowstorm during the New Year.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Author Qin Geng (秦耕) said: "The big picture in this case was the interest of one-party rule above anything, not that they would put the safety of the people first". Qin concluded that the Chinese public were told by state-controlled media that the contamination of milk was a well orchestrated process, and they "are very sad, very frightened and very concerned".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Poorer consumers reliant on local infant formula, which was approximately half the price of imported brands, had been left without alternatives to feed their children. Many had lost faith in local brands, with others unsure of which brands were safe. Supermarket shelves had been swept bare from product recalls. Shops in Hong Kong reported a rush for imported formula from cross-border shoppers, with some retailers reportedly rationing their stocks. Some mainlanders were also reportedly rushing to import infant formula from Kinmen. Wet nurses enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in major cities. Some media reports have documented that Chinese sailors and expatriates have been buying local dairy produce in Australia to send back to relatives in China. It had been estimated in 2018 that up to 80% to 90% of infant formula purchased in Australia was destined for China. Following widespread complaints and appeals by exasperated Australian parents unable to find formula for their children, Coles supermarkets resorted to locking baby formula tins away behind the Service Counter, like tobacco products, in order to regulate their sale. The two major supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, placed a two item limit on baby formula purchases to curb the growing practice of bulk purchasing by predominantly Chinese customers known as "daigous", or "personal shoppers". These people would often travel in large, organised groups from supermarket to supermarket, clearing the shelves of baby formula, then make substantial profits by sending the formula to China to be sold at a significant markup.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The melamine food scare became a focal point against the warming relations between Taiwan's government and the Chinese government, and a major demonstration was held by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party on 25 October 2008 to voice dissatisfaction with Taiwan's increasingly closer ties with Beijing, notably related to the incident. Protesters fearful at reunification blamed the Kuomintang for the melamine scare, and criticised it for failing to stand up to China over the contamination. One citizen voiced concern that President Ma Ying-jeou's promise for closer ties with China would bring in more tainted products to Taiwan. The Minister of the Department of Health, Lin Fang-yue, was heavily criticised for raising the legally acceptable limit of melamine in food products from zero to 2.5 ppm. The public outcry subsequent to the move forced Lin to resign. His successor, Yeh Ching-chuan, announced a return to the original zero-tolerance policy to melamine.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: AQSIQ announced the revocation of all exemptions from inspection previously granted to dairy producers, who were asked to cease citing the privilege in their advertisements. The State Council ordered an overhaul of the dairy industry, and promised to provide free medical care to those affected. Formally, the State Council released its initial findings, and a top-level official apology of the incident both came on 21 September. Wen Jiabao apologised while visiting victims in hospitals.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 1 October, CPC general secretary Hu Jintao noted the importance of food safety to the public, and said that "Chinese companies should learn from the lessons of the Sanlu tainted milk powder incident."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 6 October 2008, putting the blame on "illegal production and greed", the country's "chaotic dairy production and distribution order", and the "gravely absent supervision" for the crisis, the State Council announced new dairy industry regulations. In response to the crisis, the State Council of China issued the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Dairy Product Quality and Safety" on October 10, 2008 to regulate the production, processing, packaging and sales of dairy products, thereby ensuring content and quality compliance. On November 19, 2008, the State Council promulgated the "China Dairy Industry Reorganization and Revitalization Plan" to rectify the chaos in China's dairy industry.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 9 October 2008, in an attempt to control the damage to Chinese dairy exports, officials at a World Trade Organization meeting insisted that contamination had been "accidental", directly contradicting the WHO observations. Chinese trade representatives criticised countries which have imposed blanket bans on Chinese food products. They urged member states to base import restrictions on scientific risk assessments, and to use official WTO notification mechanisms. On 11 October, Deputy Health minister Liu Qian stated that all the foreign companies' application for compensation for dairy products recall would be dealt with on a commercial basis, although government may use diplomatic channels if necessary, if problems were encountered.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: According to a senior quality inspectorate official, the government aimed to establish nearly 400 product testing centres within the next two years, and 80 of these would be food testing centres. Working groups were established in nearly every single province in order to set up new food testing centres and replace outdated equipment.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 24 September 2008, China's newly appointed AQSIQ chief Wang Yong said that the government would "carry out 'forceful' measures to deal with the chemical contamination", and stated that inspectors had removed 7,000 tonnes of melamine-contaminated dairy products from shops all over China.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 4 October, the Ministry of Agriculture announced it had drawn up an emergency rescue plan with the Ministry of Finance to give special subsidies to dairy farmers seriously affected by the lack of demand following the contamination scandal; local governments had already drafted policies to stabilise the dairy industry; 150,000 officials had been sent to overhaul the entire supply chains from cattle feed to milk collection; 18,803 milk-collecting stations had been registered and checked by these officials. The ministry was reported to have investigated 98 dairy producers and farms, banned 151 illegal companies and indicted three manufacturers for feed containing melamine. During an investigation into melamine contamination at Yili and Mengniu in Hohhot, police arrested six more people for allegedly selling and mixing melamine into raw milk. The AQSIQ announced on 5 October that all tests showed all milk produced after 14 September were free from contamination. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine stated all dairy products made before 14 September will be tested for melamine. They gave notice to all supermarkets, shops, and all city, town and village-level vendors to urgently remove and seal up all powdered milk and liquid milk made before 14 September, pending further testing.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Five government agencies, including the Ministry of Health, issued a joint statement on 9 October setting the legally acceptable level of melamine content in infant formula at 1 ppm (1 mg/kg), and at 2.5ppm in other dairy products (including milk) - in line with standards recognised by the World Health Organization and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. A researcher at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said that any amount exceeding 1 ppm would give reason to suspect its presence was intentional.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 26 September 2008, in order to quell the disquiet over the speech by Zhu Yonglan of the CGOSFSC regarding leaders' insulation from the food-security issues faced by the general population, Xinhua issued a brief statement, in Chinese, denying the existence of the centre, the award, or any person named Zhu Yonglan, saying these were "purely rumours".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 16 September, the AQSIQ tests on baby milk powder produced by 109 companies showed 69 batches from 22 companies to be melamine-contaminated; the State Council attempted to reassure that formula produced by most companies in China was safe. It said: "the number of companies with melamine-tainted milk accounted for 20.18% of the total of powdered milk companies in China; the number of tainted batches accounted for 14.05% of the total batches tested." On 30 September, the AQSIQ said its tests on 265 batches from 154 companies showed that "only 18%" had tested positive for melamine: "of the 290 dairies nationwide 154 dairies, representing 87% market share, 134 of these dairies had tested negative for melamine."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 16 September, the AQSIQ published results of tests on 408 liquid milk producers, and found "most dairy products were safe to drink", although the test results showed nearly 10 percent of batches from Mengniu, Yili and Bright were contaminated.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The government stressed that no new cases of melamine-related illnesses had been detected since 20 September, and that test results on samples from 31 brands of baby formula, 84 brands powder for adult consumption, and 75 domestic brands of liquid milk produced after 14 September did not contain melamine, the AQSIQ said. To demonstrate that its emergency measures had been effective, the Ministry of Agriculture said the rate of raw milk dumping because of the contamination scandal has decreased from 23.6% on 22 September to 4.6% on 1 October.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: During the scandal, China's media was ordered to tone down coverage of the unfolding scandal to prevent unrest. News editors were told to adhere to the official copy provided by China's state news agency, "Xinhua News Agency", and to emphasize other news instead. China Central Television shifted its reporting emphasis to the launch of Shenzhou VII, with the announcement of the AQSIQ test results relegated to the final item on the CCTV evening news. As a result of media suppression, Chinese consumers were ill-informed about the extent of global recalls. According to Chinese journalists, discussion of the causes of the crisis, government responsibility, questions about government complicity with dairy companies, was forbidden.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 2 January, a website created by individuals protesting against Sanlu was also blocked by the authorities. A group of parents whose children were rendered ill by melamine-contaminated milk held a news conference to draw attention to the plight of their sick children; five were allegedly detained by police and taken to a labour camp outside Beijing. They were released a day later.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In 2012, Jiang Weisuo, a 44-year-old general manager of a dairy products plant in Shanxi province, was rumoured to have been murdered in Xi'an city. It was Jiang who had first alerted authorities to the scandal. According to the Xi'an Evening News, Jiang died in hospital on 12 November from knife wounds inflicted by his wife, Yang Ping, but the purported murder by his wife was subsequently reported to be incorrect.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: A group of 90 lawyers from Hebei, Henan and Shandong—the three worst affected provinces—had made "pro bono" offers to assist victims, and a list of their names was published. Organisers of the group declared that they had come under pressure from officials to not get involved in the issue. The Beijing Lawyers' Association, a part of the Communist Party apparatus, asked its members "to put faith in the party and government". Other members of the group have reportedly received less subtle requests. Authorities are said to fear social unrest if lawsuits were unleashed. Pro-Beijing Hong Kong journal "Ta Kung Pao" reported that central authorities, fearful of the effect of mass lawsuits, held a meeting with lawyers' groups on 14 September, asking them to "act together, and help maintain stability".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Chang Boyang, one of the group of volunteer lawyers, said he had filed one suit in Guangdong against Sanlu on behalf of the parents of one victim, and another suit in Henan. According to Chang, the justice department of Henan ordered 14 Henan lawyers to drop their cases and "follow the arrangements set out by the government". He said they were told that if they did not, "the lawyer and the firm will be dealt with." Zhang Yuanxin, lawyer and officer in the Xinjiang Lawyers' Association said that these government actions have "set back the development of the legal profession," and called this interference in citizen lawsuits "intolerable".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: An official said that central government had issued instructions placing the cases on hold, pending a decision on how to handle the cases in a unified manner. Furthermore, that court was instructed not to give any written replies or accept Sanlu-related cases in the meantime.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Stratfor believed that the act of adulterating milk and baby food in full knowledge of potentially severe sanctions, including execution, seemed like "an act of desperation". It noted that in 2008 dairy farmers became squeezed by growing costs of livestock, feed, facilities, and government-imposed price caps. Mengniu's share price had fallen 12% since October 2007 because of higher costs of raw milk (due partly to rising costs of cattle feed) and price controls—anti-inflation measures targeted at the dairy sector announced on 16 January. Milk suppliers accordingly resorted to subtler cost-cutting methods to preserve diminishing profits.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Joseph Sternberg of "The Wall Street Journal" said that Beijing's failures of food-safety act are "much more pernicious, and disgraceful, than at first it appears ... [not only has this] milk poisoned thousands of infants with melamine, it also poisons the society at large with fear". Lawyer Bill Marler, speaking at a food safety conference in Beijing, said that this food scare has harmed the "made in China" brand abroad. He remarked: "If this product had gotten into the United States, it would have been 'game over' for a lot of products in China."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: An op-ed in "The New York Times" compared this to the "swill milk scandal" in New York in the 1850s in which 8,000 children reportedly died when cows were fed swill and the milk produced was then whitened with plaster of Paris, thickened with starch and eggs, and hued with molasses.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: An article published in the "San Francisco Chronicle" likened the regulatory failures of the milk scandal to the distressed assets in the subprime mortgage crisis, and questioned whether regulators in either case ever understood or truly monitored the extent of the danger.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Louis Klarevas, a professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs, said of the products on the list of potentially harmful products reaching the US in recent years were exclusive to China: "Yet as more large-scale labor markets compete for their share of international trade, the incentives to cut corners will increase and the temptation to overlook hazardous goods might become a more common occurrence."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In 10 November 2008 issue of the Singaporean newspaper"Today", Bill Durodié, then a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies responded to the possibility of more such incidents in the future due to the more liberal trading relations with China by saying: "exposing the Chinese to the world market is probably the fastest way of addressing these issues."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The structure of the Chinese government was criticized for contributing to the scandal. "Time m"agazine cited analysts saying the party's need to maintain control of the economy and of information undermines the independence of any regulatory system. One analyst, Willy Lam, a Senior Fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, indicated that CCP's pervasive control over political and economic resources has resulted in a lack of accountability in government systems.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Hu Xingdou (胡星斗), a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, said: "There hasn't been an effort to establish a moral foundation to the market economy, and this incident is the inevitable result." Hu urged the leadership to transform the way of thinking, to repair the system, rather than dealing with problems as they arise. A Beijing-based consultancy, Dragonomics, concurred that "the problem was rooted in the Communist Party's continued involvement in pricing control, company management and the flow of information". Independent regulation was lacking or ineffective as local industries were so intertwined with local officialdom.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: "The Times" reported that while one child in 20 in Shanghai could have kidney damage as a result of drinking contaminated formula milk, on the other hand, "like the emperors of old, the new communist elite enjoy the finest produce from all over China, sourced by a high-security government department."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Access Asia, a Shanghai-based consumer consultancy, said Fonterra was an example of western executives in China "believ[ing] advice in business books that they must avoid making their local partners 'lose face' at all costs". It suggested that Fonterra paid the price for this both financially and in damage to their reputation.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: "Caijing" said the crisis revealed that there had been a "serious dereliction of duty" at the AQSIQ, and that the government had failed as a "night watchman". Citing public consensus that government should limit itself to a supervisory role, it urged the construction of a regulatory system which addressed the role of regulators watching over the production process, avoiding over-regulation, 'regulatory capture' and abuse of power by regulators. "Keeping the market in order and ensuring independent law enforcement should be part of the mandate."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: David Bandurski, journalist and researcher at China Media Project, criticised the state's control of the media for suppressing "information critical to the well-being of ordinary Chinese". He asserted that increased press freedom needs to be a component of any strategy to deal with this and other future food-security lapses in China. Bandurski cited warnings in 9 October 2008 issues of "Nanfang Daily" and the "Information Times" for consumers to be aware of that problematic dairy stock (that produced before 14 September) have reappeared in some stores under cover of aggressive promotions.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Former senior party official Bao Tong said "the more dark secrets are exposed, the better. You can't cure the disease, or save the Chinese people, until you get to the root of the problem." "If the Chinese government tries to play down this incident, there will be no social stability in China, let alone harmony ... It will mean that this government has lost the most basic level of trust."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: As a reaction to and comment on the scandal, Chinese artist and video animation producer Pi San created "Little Rabbit, Be Good" as part of his popular Kuang Kuang video series. Though officially banned or forbidden by the Chinese government, clever use of Chinese web services such as Baidu allows Chinese citizens to access this and many other forbidden materials.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Because of the high Chinese demand for quality Australian products, major Australian retailers implemented tin limits to control sales of baby formula, but reports of daigou shoppers flouting the system with people taking multiple tins of the formula before they'd been placed on shelves, and the daigou shoppers stripping shelves in groups of up to eight people, before Australian mothers could access the baby food. This daigou activity has been facilitated by the Chinese Navy and its warships.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The search widened when some manufacturers tested positive despite reportedly not using Chinese milk. The Sri Lankan manufacturer of Munchee Lemon Puff biscuits, having tested positive in Switzerland, categorically stated that its powdered milk or milk products were sourced only from Australia, the Netherlands and Canada; similarly, Pokka products without milk or its derivatives from China were found by Vietnamese authorities to be contaminated.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Japanese and South Korean authorities' tests on imported powdered eggs from China found melamine contamination. Japan found melamine in frozen fried chicken imported from China. The South Korean supplies were traced to two companies in Dalian. On 26 October, Hong Kong authorities discovered 4.7ppm melamine in eggs from Dalian. Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health, York Chow, suspected the melamine came from feed given to the chickens that laid the eggs. On 29 October, Hong Kong authorities discovered a third batch of eggs containing excessive melamine. The Taiwanese Department of Health said that six batches of protein powder from Jilin and Dalian were found to contain 1.90 to 5.03ppm of melamine.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Agriculture officials speculated that adulterated feed given to hens could explain melamine in eggs. The Web sites of "Xinhua" and "People's Daily" both carried a story from the "Nanfang Daily" that mixing melamine into animal feed was an "open secret" in the industry: melamine scrap was mixed into an inexpensive "protein powder" resold to feed suppliers. People in the trade interviewed by "BusinessWeek" also confirmed it was common practice, and had been going on for "years", with most believing it to be non-toxic to animals. Melamine dealers said after Sanlu, the government started clamping down on melamine sales to food processing companies or to manufacturers of animal feed.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Malaysian authorities determined that ammonium bicarbonate, not milk, imported from China was the source of contamination at Khong Guan and Khian Guan biscuit factory.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Malaysian authorities said it was probable cross contamination of batches from Chinese companies Broadtech Chemical Int. Co Ltd, Dalian Chemical Industries and Tianjin Red Triangle International Trading Co, and did not suspect adulteration. On 19 October, Taiwanese authorities detected melamine in 469 tons of baking ammonia imported from China. Samples tested showed up to 2,470ppm of melamine.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Jorgen Schlundt, head of food safety at the WHO criticised China's food-safety system for being "disjointed", saying that "poor communications between ministries and agencies may have prolonged the outbreak of melamine poisoning."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Public concerns have resulted in demand and egg prices falling throughout the country. Prices at a large Beijing wholesale market dropped 10%, and prices fell by 10% the day after news of the contamination broke in Hong Kong. Wholesalers have refused to stock products without melamine inspection certificates. The "Beijing Youth Daily" reported that farmers had been forced to slaughter tens of thousands of chickens.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In 2008, Zhao Lianhai (赵连海), a Chinese man whose son was sickened by tainted milk earlier that year, started a website called "Home for the Kidney Stone Babies" (结石宝宝之家, jieshibaobao.com), which helped families with children affected by tainted milk share their experiences, in part by maintaining a database of medical records. The website upset Chinese authorities, who detained Zhao in November 2009 and arrested him in December 2009.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The Chinese government said that producers violating the law "could have their licenses revoked and be handed over to law enforcement organs". A senior Agriculture Ministry official said that of a quarter of a million feed-makers and animal farms inspected for melamine contamination, inspectors found more than 500 engaged in "illegal or questionable practices". Some 3,700 tonnes of feed with excessive melamine were seized.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Hong Kong regulators have requested certification of exported eggs, but the central government has not yet mounted a centralised response; although mainland authorities already require eggs to be certified as free of avian influenza and Sudan red dye prior to export following previous food-safety scares, the AQSIQ has declined nationwide testing. Local government, for example Guangdong authorities, have increased random inspections at poultry farms. They declared to "harshly crack down on the unlawful behaviour of illegally manufacturing, selling and using melamine".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 2 December 2009, China detained three employees of Shaanxi Jinqiao Dairy Company in northwest China suspected of selling 5.25 tons of melamine-laced powdered milk to Nanning Yueqian Food Additive Company, in Guangxi. On 30 December 2009, Xinhua reported continuing problems: powder and flavouring products sold by another company involved in the original scandal–the Shanghai Panda Dairy Company–were found to contain illegal levels of melamine; the dairy was closed and three of its executives arrested. On 25 January 2010, it was reported that three food companies from Hebei, Liaoning and Shandong provinces had produced melamine tainted products in March and April 2009 and that the three companies were banned from selling products in Guizhou. On 10 February 2010 China's state council announced a food safety commission, consisting of three vice premiers and a dozen minister-level officials, to address the nation's food regulatory problems. The group aims to improve government coordination and enforcement and to solve systemic food safety problems. As part of its ongoing effort to find and destroy any melamine-tainted milk remaining on the market, the Chinese government announced that it was recalling 170 tons of powdered milk laced with the industrial chemical which was supposed to have been destroyed or buried in 2008 but has recently found to have been repackaged and placed back into the marketplace.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In July 2010, Xinhua reported that authorities had seized 64 tonnes of dairy product contaminated with melamine from Dongyuan Dairy Factory, in Minhe County, in Qinghai, after authorities in Gansu discovered the contaminated powdered milk. Approximately 38 tonnes of raw materials had been purchased from Hebei, raising the possibility that traders had bought tainted milk that was supposed to have been destroyed after the 2008 scandal. Police have detained the owner and production director of the factory. Powdered milk produced in the plant was mainly sold in Zhejiang and Jiangsu, with only a small amount sold in Qinghai. Also, in Jilin, authorities were testing samples of suspect powdered milk produced in Heilongjiang.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: At the end of June 2010, Beijing lowered the minimum protein level for raw milk, from 2.955 to 2.8%, to discourage dairy farmers from attempting to falsify the passing of protein tests. Wu Heping, secretary general of the Heilongjiang Dairy Industry Association noted that between 75% and 90% of raw milk in some provinces had failed to reach the old protein level standard (in place since 1986) in 2007 and 2008. He said that the new standard reflected "the reality of the domestic dairy farm industry". However, insiders believe this will not stop adulteration because milk price still depends on protein content.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: For verification purposes, the following are relevant citations in Chinese from the "Caijing" article dated 29 September 2008


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: For verification purposes, the following are relevant citations in Chinese from the "Nanfang Daily" article dated 9 October 2008


title: Pallet

text: A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a front loader, a jacking device, or an erect crane. A pallet is the structural foundation of a unit load, which allows handling and storage efficiencies. Goods in shipping containers are often placed on a pallet secured with strapping, stretch wrap or shrink wrap and shipped. Since its invention in the twentieth century, its use has dramatically supplanted older forms of crating like the wooden box and the wooden barrel, as it works well with modern packaging like corrugated boxes and intermodal containers commonly used for bulk shipping. In addition, pallet collars can be used to support and protect items shipped and stored on pallets.


title: Pallet

text: While most pallets are wooden, pallets can also be made of plastic, metal, paper, and recycled materials.


title: Pallet

text: Containerization for transport has spurred the use of pallets because shipping containers have the smooth, level surfaces needed for easy pallet movement. Many pallets can handle a load of . In 2020 about half a billion pallets are made each year and about two billion pallets are in use across the United States alone.


title: Pallet

text: Pallets make it easier to move heavy stacks. Loads with pallets under them can be hauled by forklift trucks of different sizes, or even by hand-pumped and hand-drawn pallet jacks. Movement is easy on a wide, strong, flat floor: concrete is excellent. The greatest investment needed for economical pallet use is in the construction of commercial or industrial buildings. Ability to pass through standard doors and buildings make handling more convenient. For this reason, some modern pallet standards are designed to pass through standard doorways, for example the europallet (800 mm × 1,200 mm) and the U.S. military .


title: Pallet

text: Organizations using standard pallets for loading and unloading can have much lower costs for handling and storage, with faster material movement than businesses that do not. The exceptions are establishments that move small items such as jewelry or large items such as cars. But even they can be improved. For instance, the distributors of costume jewelry normally use pallets in their warehouses and car manufacturers use pallets to move components and spare parts.


title: Pallet

text: The lack of a single international standard for pallets causes substantial continuing expense in international trade. A single standard is difficult because of the wide variety of needs a standard pallet would have to satisfy: passing doorways, fitting in standard containers, and bringing low labor costs. For example, organizations already handling large pallets often see no reason to pay the higher handling cost of using smaller pallets that can fit through doors.


title: Pallet

text: Due to cost and a need to focus on core business, pallet pooling becomes more and more common. Some pallet suppliers supply users with reusable pallets, sometimes with integral tracking devices. A pallet management company can help supply, clean, repair, and reuse pallets.


title: Pallet

text: Heavy-duty pallets are a form of reusable packaging and are designed to be used multiple times. Lightweight pallets are designed for a single use. In the EU, government legislation based on the Waste Framework Directive requires the reuse of packaging items in preference to recycling and disposal.


title: Pallet

text: Wooden pallets typically consist of three or four stringers that support several deckboards, on top of which goods are placed. In a pallet measurement, the first number is the stringer length and the second is the deckboard length. Square or nearly square pallets help a load resist tipping.


title: Pallet

text: Pallet users want pallets to easily pass through buildings, to stack and fit in racks, to be accessible to forklifts and pallet jacks and to function in automated warehouses. To avoid shipping air, pallets should also pack tightly inside intermodal containers and vans.


title: Pallet

text: Though some major standards exist, there are no universally accepted standards for pallet dimensions. Companies and organizations utilize hundreds of different pallet sizes around the globe. While no single dimensional standard governs pallet production, a few different sizes are widely used.


title: Pallet

text: The standard 48×40 North American pallet, or GMA pallet, has stringers of 48 inches and deckboards of 40 inches, and was standardized by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).


title: Pallet

text: Lightweight plastic pallets can weigh as little as , while heavier models may weigh up to . Standard GMA pallets can hold up to .


title: Pallet

text: Heavy duty International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Pallets are approximately wide by long, have three wood stringers that are a nominal high by wide timber, and weigh about . Their deck is fully covered by plywood, and is painted in blue in European and Russian countries.


title: Pallet

text: Four-way pallets, or pallets for heavy loads (or general-purpose systems that might have heavy loads) are best lifted by their more rigid stringers. These pallets are usually heavier, bigger and more durable than two-way pallets.


title: Pallet

text: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) sanctions six pallet dimensions, detailed in "ISO Standard 6780:2003 Flat pallets for intercontinental materials handling — Principal dimensions and tolerances", which was reviewed and confirmed in 2014:


title: Pallet

text: Of the top pallets used in North America, the most commonly used by far is the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) pallet, which accounts for 30% of all new wood pallets produced in the United States. The ISO also recognizes the GMA pallet footprint as one of its six standard sizes.


title: Pallet

text: The Australian standard pallet is a pallet size commonly found in Australia but rarely found elsewhere. It is a square pallet originally made of hardwood in size which fits perfectly in the RACE container of the Australian Railway. They are ill-suited for the standard 20 feet (6.1 m) and 40 feet (12 m) ISO shipping containers used around the globe. Australian standard pallets are usually manufactured in hardwood, but 1165 × 1165 mm pallets can also be manufactured using lighter timber suitable for use as disposable pallets using 16 millimeter boards. Extensively used in storage and warehousing, they are popular pallets for racking, with the right shape and size to be removed from transport and directly onto warehouse racking for storage.


title: Pallet

text: The Australian Standard Pallet dates back to World War II, while ISO containers date to the late 1950s. Although the pallet's dimensions pre-date the ISO containers, it requires less dunnage, is square, and leaves less wasted space than other pallets, including the GMA pallet. In 2010, Australia adopted the globally accepted ISPM 15 wood packaging material regulations (before this time it was hardwood and more expensive).


title: Pallet

text: A number of different organizations and associations around the world work towards establishing and promulgating standards for pallets. Some strive to develop universal standards for pallet dimensions, types of material used in construction, performance standards, and testing procedures. Other organizations choose to focus on pallet standards for a specific industry (such as groceries) or type of material (such as wood).


title: Pallet

text: ISO TC 51 states its scope of work entailing the "standardization of pallets in general use in the form of platforms or trays on which goods may be packed to form unit loads for handling by mechanical devices". The Technical Committee works in conjunction with other Technical Committees focused on transportation infrastructure to develop interrelated standards. TC 51 is responsible for developing "ISO Standard 6780: Flat pallets for intercontinental materials handling—Principal dimensions and tolerances" as well as sixteen other standards related to pallet construction and testing.


title: Pallet

text: The National Wood Pallet and Container Association (NWPCA) is a trade organization based in the United States representing the interests of wood pallet and container manufacturers.


title: Pallet

text: This organization maintains MIL-STD-1660, the standard description of palletized unit loads for the U.S. Military and some allies.


title: Pallet

text: DOD Unit loads generally use pallets, are less than , weatherproof, and stack high. They often use steel pallets, steel straps with notched seals, outdoor plywood, and plastic film. The standard describes tests for stacking, transport, sling, forklift and pallet jack, impact, drop tests, tip, water-retention, and disassembly.


title: Pallet

text: In addition to the other standards it publishes, the European Committee for Standardization, also known as the Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN), produces standards for pallets. While the standards are voluntary in nature, many companies and organizations involved in transportation have adopted them. The major standard for pallets produced by CEN is "ICS: 55.180.20 General purpose pallets"


title: Pallet

text: Due to the International Plant Protection Convention (abbreviated IPPC), most pallets shipped across national borders must be made of materials that are incapable of being a carrier of invasive species of insects and plant diseases. The standards for these pallets are specified in ISPM 15.


title: Pallet

text: Pallets made of raw, untreated wood are not compliant with ISPM 15. To be compliant the pallets (or other wood packaging material) must meet debarked standards, and must be treated by either of the following means under the supervision of an approved agency:


title: Pallet

text: Treated wood pallets must be stamped on two opposite sides, indicating either HT for heat treated or MB for methyl bromide treatment.


title: Pallet

text: Pallets made of non-wood materials such as steel, aluminum, plastic, or engineered wood products, such as plywood, oriented strand board, or corrugated fiberboard do not need IPPC approval, and are considered to be exempt from ISPM 15 regulations.


title: Pallet

text: The cheapest pallets are made of softwood and are often considered expendable, to be discarded as trash along with other wrapping elements, at the end of the trip. These pallets are simple stringer pallets, and able to be lifted from two sides.


title: Pallet

text: Slightly more complex, hardwood block pallets, plastic pallets and metal pallets can be lifted from all four sides. These costlier pallets usually require a deposit and are returned to the sender or resold as used. Many "four way" pallets are color-coded according to the loads they can bear, and other attributes. Wood pallets can pose serious bio-hazard risks as they are susceptible to bacterial and chemical contamination, such as "E. coli" problems in food and produce transportation, and even insect infestation, and thus the need for ISPM 15.


title: Pallet

text: Wooden pallet construction specifications can depend on the pallet's intended use: general, FDA, storage, chemical, export; the expected load weight; type of wood desired: recycled, hard, soft, kiln dried or combo (new & recycle); and even the type of fasteners desired to hold the pallet together: staples or nails.


title: Pallet

text: The price of wooden pallets reached a record high during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to increases in the prices of supplies and labor.


title: Pallet

text: Although pallets come in all manner of sizes and configurations, all pallets fall into two very broad categories: "stringer" pallets and "block" pallets. Various software packages exist to assist the pallet maker in designing an appropriate pallet for a specific load, and to evaluate wood options to reduce costs.


title: Pallet

text: Stringer pallets are one of the original models of wooden pallets. They use a frame of three or more parallel pieces of timber (called stringers). The top deckboards are then affixed to the stringers to create the pallet structure. Stringer pallets can have a notch cut into them allowing "four-way" entry. Forklifts can lift a stringer pallet from all four directions, though lifting by the stringers is more secure. Stringer pallets can be made of both wood and plastic.


title: Pallet

text: Block pallets utilize both parallel and perpendicular stringers to better facilitate efficient handling. A block pallet is also known as a "four-way" pallet, since a pallet-jack may be used from any side to move it.


title: Pallet

text: Flush pallets are pallets with deck boards that are flush with the stringers and stringer boards along the ends and sides of the pallet.


title: Pallet

text: All stringer and some block pallets have "unidirectional bases," i.e. bottom boards oriented in one direction. While automated handling equipment can be designed for this, often it can operate faster and more effectively if the bottom edges of a pallet have bottom boards oriented in both directions. For example, it may not need to turn a pallet to rack it, and operation is less sensitive to pallet orientation.


title: Pallet

text: The least expensive way to improve a pallet is usually to specify better nails. With non-wood pallets, a controlled coefficient of friction is often helpful to prevent the pallet from slipping from forks and racks. Stiffer pallets are more durable, and are handled more easily by automated equipment. If a pallet does not need to be lifted from all four sides, two-way pallets with unnotched stringers may be used, with the additional benefits of added rigidity and strength. Specifying tolerances on flatness and water content may help the supplier meet target requirements. Inspection of pallets, whether in person or by a third-party (such as "SPEQ" inspected pallets) offer additional assurance of quality.


title: Pallet

text: Plastic pallets are often made of new HDPE or recycled PET (drink bottles). They are usually extremely durable, lasting for a hundred trips or more, and resist weathering, rot, chemicals and corrosion. The benefits of plastic pallets over wood pallets include the ability to be easily sanitized, resistance to odor, fire retardancy, longer service life span, durability and better product protection, non-splintering, and lighter weight, thus saving on transportation and labor costs and making them safer and more environmentally friendly. They often stack. Plastic pallets are exempt by inspection for biosafety concerns, and easily sanitize for international shipping. HDPE is impervious to most acids, and toxic chemicals clean from them more easily. Some plastic pallets can collapse from plastic creep if used to store heavy loads for long periods. Plastic pallets cannot easily be repaired, and can be ten times as expensive as hardwood, so they are often used by logistics service providers who can profit from their durability and stackability. The large supply chains have increased the use of plastic pallets as many organisations seek to reduce costs through waste, transport and health & safety. Pallets and dollies can be combined (for example the Pally), eliminating pallet instability and the need for additional lifting equipment along with creating valuable space in busy operating environments. They also deliver significant time and cost savings by reducing supply chain handling. Plastics' reusability has contributed to an increase in usage of plastic pallets.


title: Pallet

text: Plastic pallets are produced and used widely in the U.S. and Europe, spurred by the adoption of the ISPM 15. A full comparison of wood vs plastic can be made by a life cycle analysis. Plastic pallets can cost 10 times as much as hardwood pallets and even more expensive compared to cheap expendable softwood pallets. RFID chips can be molded into the pallets to monitor locations and track inventory.


title: Pallet

text: Paper pallets, also referred to as "ecopallets", are often used for light loads, but engineered paper pallets are increasingly used for loads that compare with wood. Paper pallets are also used where recycling and easy disposal is important. New designs of ecopallets have been made from just two flat pieces of corrugated board (no glue/staples) and weigh just , offering dramatic freight savings. Ecopallets are also ISPM 15 exempt, negating fumigation and barrier "slip" sheets. They are cleaner, safer, and provide a cost-saving eco-friendly alternative to other pallet materials. Some engineered Corrugated pallets offer a significant reduced height, providing substantial freight cost reduction. Low profile hand pallet trucks allow picking up pallets as low as 25 mm.


title: Pallet

text: Steel pallets are strong and are used for heavy loads, high-stacking loads, long term dry storage, and loads moved by abusive logistic systems. They are often used for military ammunition. Metal pallets make up less than 1% of the market. Materials include carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. Of these, carbon steel offers excellent durability at the lowest cost. Stainless steel doesn't require a paint coating, and is preferred for such applications as clean room environments. Carbon steel units are expensive compared to wood, and stainless and aluminum cost about 2–3 times that of carbon steel. Long term costs, however, can be lower than wood. General advantages of metal pallets are high strength and stiffness, excellent durability, resistance to bugs, the absence of splinters, sanitization, and recyclability. Disadvantages include a higher initial price, significant weight, low friction, and susceptibility to rusting (in the case of carbon steel). Metal is primarily used in captive or closed loop environments where durability and product protection are key performance requirements. Metal units today are increasingly price competitive and lighter in weight. Primary industries that use metal pallets include automotive, pharmaceutical, lawn tractors, motorcycles, and tires.


title: Pallet

text: Aluminum pallets are stronger than wood or plastic, lighter than steel, and resist weather, rotting, plastic creep and corrosion. They are sometimes used for air-freight, long-term outdoor or at-sea storage, or military transport.


title: Pallet

text: Skids date back to Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia, at least as far back as the 1st millennium B.C.


title: Pallet

text: The development of the forklift and the needs of World War II logistics operations led to substantial use of pallets.


title: Pallet

text: References to the early modern pallets types are slim with a string of patents showing parts of the development. The earliest may be a U.S. patent on a skid from 1924 describing Howard T. Hallowell's "Lift Truck Platform". In the late 1930s, pallets became more commonplace with the newer forklift types. George G. Raymond and William C. House filed for a patent in 1937 (granted US Patent 2178646 in 1939) for a pallet designed to complement a new pallet jack design; the essential features of both are still in common use today. A 1939 patent from Carl Clark shows a type of pallet with steel stringers. Wartime developments were often patented just after the war, so there is a patent from Robert Braun on a four-way pallet in 1945, and a patent from Norman Cahners (a U.S. Navy supply officer) shows a disposable pallet in 1949. The principle of a modern four-way pallet is described by Darling Graeme in 1949.


title: Pallet

text: Both wood and plastic pallets are possible fire hazards. The National Fire Protection Association requires that both types "shall be stored outside or in a detached structure" unless protected by fire sprinklers.


title: Pallet

text: Items made from pallet wood are likely to be durable and demonstrate good weather resistance due to these treatments. However, close contact with pallet wood or inhalation of dusts from sanding or sawing can be a source of exposure to pesticide and fungicide chemicals. It is likely that the January 2010 recall of Johnson and Johnson Tylenol and other drugs was due to their being stored on wooden pallets that had been treated with the fungicide/pesticide 2,4,6-tribromophenol. This chemical can be degraded by molds to produce 2,4,6-tribromoanisole whose strong, musty odor caused consumers to complain. There is no acute or chronic health data on 2,4,6-tribromoanisole, but it is believed that the contaminated drugs caused nausea and other health effects in some people.


title: Pallet

text: Wood pallets used to transport food can possibly harbor pathogens such as "E. coli" and Listeria. A press release by the National Consumers League announced the testing of 70 wood pallets and 70 plastic pallets that have been loaded with perishable products and shipped to an end user was shipped overnight to an independent microbiology lab for testing. The results came back with 10 percent of the wood pallets (7 pallets) positive for "E. coli" and 1.4 percent (1 pallet) positive on the plastic pallets.


title: Pallet

text: An 'Air Cargo Pallet' is a detachable and interchangeable airworthy floor panel. It can be loaded and unloaded on aircraft to transport air cargo Most less than thick, for a Cargo aircraft. Many civilian types have evolved over 6 decades from the thicker military '463L Master Pallet'. When combined with a cargo net, an air cargo pallet becomes a aircraft 'Unit Load Device' and must be inspected for integrity before use in an aircraft. It is handled on dedicated roller or ball-mat ground equipment and vehicles (fork-lifting is prohibited especially when the pallet is loaded)


title: Pallet

text: Pallet boxes are pallets with four pallet walls on top and possibly a lid. Unlike pallets, pallet boxes can be stacked when they are fully loaded. They may also be fitted with a lid during stacking for stability reasons.


title: Pallet

text: By stacking pallet boxes on each other space can be used more efficiently, thus are able to save warehouse space and truck load capacity.


title: Pallet

text: Another advantage of pallet boxes is that the goods are stored safely and are not easily damaged during logistic movements and transport.


title: Pallet

text: Furthermore, there are collapsible pallet boxes from which the pallet walls can be laid flat on the pallet. In this way, less space is required during empty return transport.


title: Pallet

text: Discarded wooden pallets should not be used for firewood or crafts unless it has been determined that the wood in these pallets has not been treated with wood preservatives, fungicides and/or pesticides. Various pyrethrins and propiconazole are common treatments for wooden pallets. In addition, imported palletized goods are routinely fumigated with highly toxic pesticides. During use, harmful materials or chemicals also may spill on the pallet wood and be absorbed.


title: Pallet

text: Craft publications have advised readers to use pallets to build a skateboarding obstacle called a manual pad, barricades during amateur paintball games, or other sport-related items. Other publications have suggested using pallet wood for small animal cages or fences. Pallet wood has been recycled for use as furniture wood by at least one company.


title: Pallet

text: The acoustic guitar maker Taylor Guitars once produced a high quality "pallet guitar" made from pallet wood, in order to demonstrate the importance of construction technique versus expensive exotic woods.


title: Pallet

text: I-Beam Design, an architecture and interior design firm based in New York, NY won an award in a 1999 competition sponsored by Architecture for Humanity for their submission of “The Pallet House”, a design solution to house the returning refugees of Kosovo. Full-scale prototypes of The Pallet House were featured in the "Casa per Tutti" Exhibit at the Milan Triennale and the Earth Awards in HRH Prince Charles’ Royal Gardens as part of The Prince's Charities Foundation's Conference on a Sustainable Future organized in collaboration with IBM and The Financial Times. The Pallet House is an affordable transitional home that can become permanent over time. It can be used as refugee housing or as affordable housing as well. Due to the nature of the Pallet module, the wall cavity can be insulated with a variety of materials that are accessible to the user.


title: Pallet

text: The two Austrian students "Andreas Claus Schnetzer" and "Gregor Pils" from the University of Vienna created a home entitled "Pallet house" and as the name suggests, reused pallets to form a modular, energy efficient and affordable housing. The idea was born in 2008 during a competition and the Pallet house has been exhibited in several European cities including Venice, Vienna, Linz and Grenoble. It could become a clever approach to low income housing.


title: Pallet

text: In 2014, Denver, Colorado was host to an Inaugural Pallet-Fest festival, which showcased the versatility of pallets and included large art structures made with upcycled materials, a pallet maze, a pallet amphitheater with live musical performances, sustainable living demonstrations, an upcycled fashion show, vendors and artists selling upcycled goods, and a parkour course. The event was crowdfunded and organized by Upcycle Events.


title: Wicker man

text: A wicker man was purportedly a large wicker statue in which the druids (priests of Celtic paganism) sacrificed humans and animals by burning. The main evidence for this practice is a sentence by Roman general Julius Caesar in his "Commentary on the Gallic War" (1st century BC), which modern scholarship has linked to an earlier Greek writer, Poseidonius.


title: Wicker man

text: There is some archaeological evidence of human sacrifice among Celtic peoples, although it is rare. The ancient Greco-Roman sources are now regarded somewhat skeptically, considering it is likely they "were eager to transmit any bizarre and negative information" about the Celts, as it benefited them to do so.


title: Wicker man

text: The British horror film "The Wicker Man" (1973) brought the wicker man into popular culture. In recent times, a wicker man (without human or animal sacrifices) has been burned at some neopagan ceremonies, and festivals such as Burning Man. It has also been referenced in music and art.


title: Wicker man

text: While other Roman writers of the time described human and animal sacrifice among the Celts, only the Roman general Julius Caesar and the Greek geographer Strabo mention the wicker man as one of many ways the druids of Gaul performed sacrifices. In the mid-1st century BC, Caesar wrote in his "Commentary on the Gallic War" that a large wickerwork figure with limbs was filled with living men and set on fire. He says that criminals were the preferred victims, but that innocent people might also be burned if there were no criminals. Writing slightly later, Strabo says in his "Geographica" that men and animals were burned in a large figure of wood and straw, although he does not make clear whether the victims were burned alive. He adds that the ashes were believed to help the crops grow.


title: Wicker man

text: Also in the 1st century BC, Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote in "Bibliotheca historica" that the Celts sacrificed human and animal captives by burning them on huge pyres along with the first fruits. It has been suggested that both Diodorus and Strabo got their information from the earlier Greek historian Posidonius, whose work has not survived.


title: Wicker man

text: In the 1st century AD, Roman writer Lucan mentioned human sacrifices to the Gaulish gods Esus, Toutatis and Taranis. In a commentary on Lucan—the "Commenta Bernensia" dating from the 4th century and later—an unnamed author added that sacrifices to Taranis were burned in a wooden container.


title: Wicker man

text: There is some archaeological evidence of human sacrifice among Celtic peoples, although it is rare. There is also evidence of Celtic animal sacrifice, sometimes by burning. Some modern historians and archaeologists stress that the ancient Greco-Roman accounts should be viewed with caution, as Greeks and Romans "had good reason to dislike a long-term enemy" and it may have benefited them to "transmit any bizarre and negative information" about the Celts. Their desire to depict Celtic peoples as "barbarians" may have "led to exaggeration or even fabrications".


title: Wicker man

text: There are accounts of large wickerwork figures being burnt in France during the 18th and 19th centuries. Wilhelm Mannhardt recorded that a wickerwork giant was burnt each Midsummer Eve in Brie. Until 1743, a large wickerwork figure of a soldier or warrior was burnt every 3 July on the Rue aux Ours in Paris, as the crowd sang "Salve Regina". At Luchon in the Pyrenees, snakes were burnt alive in a tall wickerwork column decked with leaves and flowers on Midsummer Eve. Young men with torches danced around the burning column, and the townsfolk and clergy sang hymns. An Englishman who watched the ceremony in 1890 said the figure was somewhat "shaped like a mummy" and stood about 20 feet tall.


title: Wicker man

text: The British horror film "The Wicker Man" (1973) brought the wicker man into modern popular culture. In recent times, a wicker man (without human or animal sacrifices) has been burnt at some neopagan ceremonies, folk festivals, as well as festivals such as Burning Man in the United States and the former Wickerman Festival in Scotland.


title: Wicker man

text: In Northern Portugal, the traditional Caretos Festival ends with the burning of a gigantic human effigy with horns while young people run around it.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Western Sahara conflict is an ongoing conflict between the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic/Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco. The conflict originated from an insurgency by the Polisario Front against Spanish colonial forces from 1973 to 1975 and the subsequent Western Sahara War against Morocco between 1975 and 1991. Today the conflict is dominated by unarmed civil campaigns of the Polisario Front and their self-proclaimed SADR state to gain fully recognized independence for Western Sahara.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The conflict escalated after the withdrawal of Spain from the Spanish Sahara in accordance with the Madrid Accords. Beginning in 1975, the Polisario Front, backed and supported by Algeria, waged a 16-year-long war for independence against Mauritania and Morocco. In February 1976, the Polisario Front declared the establishment of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which was not admitted into the United Nations, but won limited recognition by a number of other states. Following the annexation of Western Sahara by Morocco and Mauritania in 1976, and the Polisario Front's declaration of independence, the UN addressed the conflict via a resolution reaffirming the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people. In 1977, France intervened as the conflict reached its peak intensity. In 1979, Mauritania withdrew from the conflict and territories, leading to a stalemate through most of the 1980s. After several more engagements between 1989 and 1991, a cease-fire agreement was reached between the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government. At the time, most of the Western Sahara territory remained under Moroccan control, while the Polisario controlled some 20% of the territory in its capacity as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, with additional pockets of control in the Sahrawi refugee camps along the Algerian border. At present, these borders are largely unchanged.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Despite multiple peace initiatives through the 1990s and early 2000s, the conflict reemerged as the "Independence Intifada" in 2005; a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots, which broke out in May 2005 in the Moroccan-held portions of Western Sahara, and lasted until November of that same year. In late 2010, the protests re-erupted in the Gdeim Izik refugee camp in Western Sahara. While the protests were initially peaceful, they were later marked by clashes between civilians and security forces, resulting in dozens of casualties on both sides. Another series of protests began on 26 February 2011, as a reaction to the failure of police to prevent anti-Sahrawi looting in the city of Dakhla, Western Sahara; protests soon spread throughout the territory. Though sporadic demonstrations continue, the movement had largely subsided by May 2011.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: To date, large parts of Western Sahara are controlled by the Moroccan Government and known as the Southern Provinces, whereas some 20% of the Western Sahara territory remains controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), the Polisario state with limited international recognition. The questions of mutual recognition, establishment of a possible Sahrawi state and the large numbers of Sahrawi refugees displaced by the conflict are among the key issues of the ongoing Western Sahara peace process.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In 1884, Spain claimed a protectorate over the coast from Cape Bojador to Cap Blanc. Later, the Spanish extended their area of control. In 1958, Spain merged the previously separate districts of Saguia el-Hamra (in the north) and Río de Oro (in the south) to form the province of Spanish Sahara.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Raids and rebellions by the indigenous Sahrawi population kept the Spanish forces out of much of the Spanish-claimed territory for a long time. Ma al-Aynayn the Saharan pro-Moroccan caïd of Tindouf and Smara named by the Moroccan sultan started an uprising against the French in 1910 in response to French attempts to expand their influence and control in North-West Africa. Ma al-Aynayn died in October 1910, and his son El Hiba succeeded him. El Hiba's forces were defeated during a failed campaign to conquer Marrakesh, and in retaliation French colonial forces destroyed the holy city of Smara in 1913. The city was promptly rebuilt, and Sahrawi resistance continued for the following twenty years. The rebellious territory was finally subdued in 1934, after joint Spanish and French forces destroyed Smara for a second time. In 1956, the Ifni War, initiated by the Moroccan Army of Liberation, marked renewed conflict in the region; after two years of war, the Spanish forces regained control, again with French aid. However, unrest lingered among the region's population, and in 1967 the Harakat Tahrir arose to challenge Spanish rule peacefully. After the events of the Zemla Intifada in 1970, when Spanish police forcibly disbanded the organization and "disappeared" its founder, Muhammad Bassiri, Sahrawi nationalism again swung towards militarism.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In 1971, a group of young Sahrawi students in the universities of Morocco began organizing what came to be known as "The Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro". After attempting in vain to gain backing from several Arab governments, including both Algeria and Morocco itself, the movement only succeeded in obtaining support from Libya and Mauritania. As a result of this ambivalence, the movement eventually relocated to Spanish-controlled Western Sahara to start an armed rebellion. Women in Western Sahara are prominent members of the Polisario Front as soldiers and activists.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Polisario Front was formally constituted on 10 May 1973 in the Mauritanian city of Zouirate, with the express intention of militarily forcing an end to Spanish colonization. Its first Secretary General was El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed. On 20 May he led the Khanga raid, the Polisario's first armed action, in which a Spanish post manned by a team of Tropas Nomadas (Sahrawi-staffed auxiliary forces) was overrun and a cache of rifles seized. The Polisario gradually gained control over large swaths of the Western Saharan desert, and its power grew steadily after early 1975 when the Tropas Nomadas began deserting en masse to the Polisario Front, bringing their weapons and training with them. At this point, the maximum extent of the Polisario Front's manpower included perhaps 800 men, but they were backed by a larger network of supporters. The 1975 United Nations visiting mission to Spanish Sahara, headed by Simeon Aké, concluded that Sahrawi support for independence (as opposed to Spanish rule or integration with a neighboring country) amounted to an "overwhelming consensus" and that the Polisario Front was by far the most powerful political force in the country.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Western Sahara War was an armed conflict, lasting from 1975 to 1991, fought primarily between the Polisario Front and Morocco. The conflict erupted after the withdrawal of Spain from the Spanish Sahara in accordance with the Madrid Accords, by which it agreed to give administrative control of the territory to Morocco and Mauritania. The Polisario Front, backed by Algeria and Libya, desiring instead the establishment an independent Sahrawi state in the territory, fought both Mauritania and Morocco in quick succession, in an attempt to drive their forces out of the region. In 1979, Mauritania withdrew its forces from the disputed territory, and the Polisario Front and Morocco reached a ceasefire agreement in 1991. The war resulted in somewhere between 14,000 and 21,000 casualties between both sides.. Some 40,000–80,000 Sahrawi refugees were displaced as a result of the conflict; at present, most still reside in various Sahrawi refugee camps throughout the Tindouf province of Algeria.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The First Sahrawi Intifada began in 1999 and lasted until 2004, transforming into the Independence Intifada in 2005. The First Sahrawi Intifada formed a part of the wider and still ongoing Western Sahara conflict.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Independence Intifada or the "Second Sahrawi Intifada" ("intifada" is Arabic for "uprising") and also "May Intifada" is a Sahrawi activist term for a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots which broke out in May 2005 in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara. During the events one civilian was killed and hundreds wounded.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Gdeim Izik protest camp was established in Western Sahara on 9 October 2010 and lasted into November, with related incidents occurring in the aftermath of its dismantlement on 8 November 2010. According to Human Rights Watch, the Moroccan security forces moved to dismantle the Gdeim Izik tent camp. Approximately 6,500 tents Sahrawis had erected in early October to protest their social and economic conditions in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. While protests were initially peaceful, they were later marked by clashes between civilians and security forces. Eleven security officers and at least two civilians were killed, by official count. Many public and private buildings and vehicles were burned in the city.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In 2011, new protests erupted again on 26 February, as a reaction to the failure of police to prevent anti-Sahrawi looting and rioting in the city of Dakhla, Western Sahara, and blossomed into protests across the territory. These protests are considered the Western Saharan branch of the Arab Spring series of popular demonstrations and uprisings. Despite an initial outburst of support, the 2011 protests largely subsided on their own by May 2011.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: On 14 November 2020, SADR president Brahim Ghali announced that he had signed a decree bringing the 29 year old ceasefire to an end, citing an incident two days prior in which the Moroccan army forcibly entered a crossing within the buffer zone that was being blocked by protesters - acts which the SADR considered a declaration of war. The SADR claims the Moroccan-built road is illegal, as it was built after the 1991 United Nations-brokered truce. Morocco, however, claims that it will still abide by the ceasefire and alleges that the army was simply trying to re-open the road to traffic. The Sahara Press Service later said that Polisario fighters had attacked Moroccan positions along different parts of the frontline, which stretches hundreds of miles across the desert. The Moroccan government has not yet commented on these claims.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Algeria sees itself as an "important actor" in the conflict, and officially supports the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. The efforts invested by Algeria in the Western Sahara conflict, especially at the level of its international relations, are comparable to the ones of an involved party such as Morocco.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Morocco's position is that Algeria is part of the conflict and uses the Sahara issue for geopolitical interests that date from the Cold War, claiming that this country in its official communication to the United Nations "presents itself sometimes as 'a concerned party,' other times as an 'important actor,' or as a 'party' in the settlement of the dispute". The United Nations has only ever officially considered Morocco and the Polisario Front parties to the conflict, however acknowledges that other interests may also be involved.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Although the United Nations officially considers Morocco and the Polisario Front as the main parties to the conflict, former UN Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan viewed Algeria as a stakeholder in the Western Sahara conflict and has invited Algeria, "to engage as a party in these discussions and to negotiate, under the auspices of my Kofi Annan's Personal Envoy". In an interview with the Public Broadcasting Service, in August 2004, James Baker, former personal envoy of the United Nations Secretary to Western Sahara, identified Morocco and Algeria as being both the "two chief protagonists" of the conflict. Some third parties have called for both Morocco and Algeria to negotiate directly to find a solution for the conflict. Since the end of 2016, the UN has gathered stakeholders around roundtables organized in Geneva. The main novelty is that Algeria has been invited to these round tables. Algeria has refused to qualify itself as a "stakeholder" and has defined itself as an "observer". The first roundtable was held on 5 and 6 December, while a new roundtable was scheduled for 21 and 22 March.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The refugee camps are located in Algeria and the country has armed, trained, and financed the Polisario for more than thirty years. More than two thousand Moroccan prisoners of war were previously detained on Algerian soil in Polisario camps, but all POWs have since been released.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In response to the Green March and the ongoing disputed status of Western Sahara, Algeria has expropriated the property of and forcibly expelled tens of thousands of Moroccan civilians since 1975. This remains a source of much tension between the two countries.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Even though Algeria has no official claim to Western Sahara, some experts see that the Sahara conflict represents a domestic political issue for the country. Stressing the role played by Algerian officers in allegedly interrogating and torturing the Moroccan POWs, France Libertés states in its report on The Conditions of Detentions of the Moroccan POWs Detained in Tindouf (Algeria) that "the involvement of Algeria in the conflict is well known". In March 2003 Khaled Nezzar, an Algerian retired general, referred to the conflict as being an issue only between Morocco and Algeria.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In January and February 1976, there were direct battles in Amgala between the armies of these two countries.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Morocco claims to have captured "dozens of Algerian officers and non-commissioned officers and soldiers" during these confrontations, but has released them to Algerian authorities.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In 2011, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez called for a U.N. committee to evaluate the security situation in the Polisario-controlled refugee camps in Tindouf (Algeria) and probe possible corruption in the distribution of international aid there. The statement by Jiménez came two days after two Spanish aid workers and one Italian were kidnapped by suspected al-Qaeda members in Tindouf, which is under the control of Polisario Front, which seeks the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Efforts to gain support in the Arab World for the idea of a Greater Morocco did not receive much support despite efforts in the early 1960s to enlist the Arab League for its cause. Morocco's expansionist ambitions caused strains, including a temporary rupture of relations with Tunisia. The Moroccans have been more successful regarding the Western Sahara. Unlike the Organization of African Unity which has strongly backed Western Sahara's right to self-determination, the Arab League has shown little interest in the area.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Morocco has argued that the Polisario Front receives support from Hezbollah, Iran, and al-Qaida. There is no third-party substantiation of these claims.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In March 2020 Liberia opened a consulate for Morocco in the city of Dakhla, becoming the 10th African country to establish a diplomatic mission to Morocco in Western Sahara effectively recognizing the Moroccan mission in the region. The opening of the consulate was condemned by international representatives of both the Polisario Front and Algeria.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Members of European Parliament passed the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) in February 2019 which established an agreement for European Fishing vessels to fish in Moroccan territory and laid out plans for a transition towards a sustainable fishing model. Although the Polisario Front was not involved in the negotiations, the SFPA explicitly allows for European Vessels to fish in the disputed coast of the Western Sahara territory. The NGO Human Rights Watch penned a letter to European Members of Parliament seeking a vote against the proposition, arguing that Morocco has no legal basis to make agreements regarding a disputed territory and is thus illegal under international law. While the text of the agreement claimed that the fisheries will have no impact on the ongoing conflict, the agreement was denounced by various Saharawi groups. After the passing of the agreement a petition signed by leading Saharawi activist organizations in the region was penned to the EU condemning the decision, and the Polisario Front announced it will challenge the vote in the European Court of Justice stating it was in clear violation of international law. This move galvanized Morocco who then passed a law in January 2020 extending its recognized borders across Western Saharan waters.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Obama administration disassociated itself from the Moroccan autonomy plan in 2009, however, reversing the Bush-backed support of the Moroccan plan, and returning to a pre-Bush position, wherein the option of an independent Western Sahara is on the table again.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In April 2013, the United States proposed that MINURSO monitored human rights (as all the other UN mission since 1991) in Western Sahara, a move that Morocco strongly opposed, cancelling the annual African Lion military exercises with U.S. Army troops. Also in mid-April, United States Ambassador to Morocco Samuel L. Kaplan declared during a conference in Casablanca that the Moroccan autonomy plan "can't be the only basis in these negotiations", referring to the UN sponsored talks between the Polisario Front and Morocco.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: On 10 December 2020, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would officially recognize Morocco's claims over Western Sahara, in exchange for Morocco agreeing to normalize relations with Israel.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The cease fire ending hostilities was officially signed in 1991. Further attempts have since been made to resolve the conflict, but no lasting resolution has been achieved to date. The ceasefire was upheld until 13 November 2020 when the Moroccan army entered into the demilitarized town of Guerguerat, and the Saharawi authorities responded by declaring that the ceasefire was broken and the SPLA armed forces attacked Moroccan army positions along the Moroccan Western Sahara Wall.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The referendum, originally scheduled for 1992, was intended to give the local population of Western Sahara the option between independence or affirming integration with Morocco, but it quickly stalled. In 1997, the Houston Agreement attempted to revive the proposal for a referendum, but likewise has not met with had success. , negotiations over the terms of any potential referendum have not resulted in any substantive action. At the heart of the dispute lies the question of who qualifies as a potential voter; the Polisario has insisted on only allowing those found on the 1974 Spanish Census lists (see below) to vote, while Morocco has insisted that the census was flawed by evasion and sought the inclusion of members of Sahrawi tribes which escape from Spanish invasion to the north of Morocco by the 19th century. Consequently, both sides blame each other for the stalling of the referendum, and little progress is likely to be made in the near future.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Efforts by the UN special envoys to find common ground between both parties did not succeed. By 1999 the UN had identified about 85,000 voters, with nearly half of them in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara or Southern Morocco, and the others scattered between the Tindouf refugee camps, Mauritania and other locations throughout the world. The Polisario Front accepted this voter list, as it had done with the previous list presented by the UN (both of them originally based on the Spanish census of 1974), but Morocco refused. As rejected voter candidates began a mass-appeals procedure, the Moroccan government insisted that each application be scrutinized individually. Continuing disputes between the two factions once more brought the process to a halt.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: According to a NATO delegation MINURSO election observers stated in 1999 that "if the number of voters does not rise significantly the odds were slightly on the SADR side". By 2001, the process had reached a stalemate, and the UN Secretary-General asked the parties for the first time to explore other solutions. Indeed, shortly after the Houston Agreement (1997), Morocco officially declared that it was "no longer necessary" to include an option of independence on the ballot, offering instead autonomy. Erik Jensen, who played an administrative role in MINURSO, wrote that neither side would agree to a voter registration in which they believed they were destined to lose.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Baker Plan (formally, Peace Plan for Self-Determination of the People of Western Sahara) was a United Nations initiative led by James Baker to grant self-determination to Western Sahara, and was formulated in the year 2000. It was intended to replace the Settlement Plan of 1991 and the Houston Agreement of 1997, which had effectively failed to make any lasting improvement. Since early 2005, the UN Secretary-General has not referred to the plan in his reports, and by now it seems largely dead. No replacement plan exists, however, and worries persist that the political vacuum will result in renewed fighting. Morocco continues to propose autonomy for the territory as the solution to the conflict, while the Polisario Front insists on nothing other than complete independence.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In 2006 the Moroccan Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) proposed a plan for the autonomy of Western Sahara and made visits to a number of countries to explain and gather support for their proposal. Citing the Spanish approach to regional autonomy, the Moroccan government plans to model any future agreement after the cases of the Canary Islands, Basque Country, Andalusia or Catalonia. The plan was presented to the UN Security Council in April 2007, and has received the backing of both the United States of America and France.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: On 30 April 2007, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1754, which both urged the involved parties to "enter into direct negotiations without preconditions and in good faith." and extended the MINURSO mission until 31 October 2007. As a result of the passage of this resolution, the parties involved met in Manhasset, New York to once again try and settle the dispute. The talks between the Moroccan government and the Polisario Front were considered the first direct negotiations in seven years between the two parties, and hailed as a landmark in the peace process. Also present at the negotiations were the neighboring countries of Algeria and Mauritania, a nod to the role they play in the ongoing conflict. The first round of talks took place on 18–19 June 2007, during which both parties agreed to resume talks on 10–11 August. After another inconclusive round of talks, the parties finally, on 8–9 January 2008, agreed on "the need to move into a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations". An additional round of talks was held from 18 to 19 March 2008, but once again no major agreement was reached. The negotiations were supervised by Peter van Walsum, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's personal envoy for Western Sahara. To date, all negotiations have failed to resolve the dispute.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In 2018 the United Nations Security Counsel announced that peace talks regarding the Western Sahara territory would resume and delegates of the Polisario Front, Morocco, Algeria, and Mauritania would all be present.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In April 2020, the Polisario Front publicly condemned the state of the on-going peace talks stating that its inaction legitimized the encroachment of Morocco into the territory. The statement reiterated the Polisario Front's request that the UN organize a free referendum within Western Sahara on their self-governing status. Currently the position of United Nations envoy to Western Sahara is empty and the Security Counsel is actively seeking a replacement.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: On 6 October 2021, United Nations Secretary‑General, António Guterres, announced the appointment of Staffan de Mistura as his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara. On 13 January 2022, De Mistura commenced a round of discussions starting with Morocco's Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita. On 15 January 2022, de Mistura, met with Polisario's head of political organization, Khatri Addouh, in Shahid Al Hafed.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Polisario controls about 20–25% of the Western Sahara territory, as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), and claim sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on 27 February 1976, in Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara. Polisario calls the territories under its control the Liberated Territories or the Free Zone, while Morocco controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory and calls these lands its Southern Provinces. The SADR government considers the Moroccan-held territory occupied territory, while Morocco considers the much smaller SADR held territory to be a buffer zone.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In addition, the Polisario Front has a full autonomous control of the Sahrawi refugee camps. The refugee camps were set up in the Tindouf Province, Algeria in 1975–76 for the benefit of Sahrawi refugees fleeing from Moroccan forces during the Western Sahara War. With most refugees still living in the camps, the refugee situation is among the most protracted worldwide. Most affairs and camp life organization is run by the refugees themselves, with little outside interference. Women have been "responsible for much of the administration of the camps."


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Western Sahara Berm, also known as the Moroccan Wall, is an approximately 2,700 km-long defensive structure consisting primarily of sand running through Western Sahara and the southeastern portion of Morocco. It acts as a separation barrier between the Moroccan-controlled areas and the Polisario-controlled section of the territory (the SADR). According to maps from MINURSO or the UNHCR, part of the wall extends several kilometers into internationally recognized Mauritanian territory. According to Pascal Bongard, program director at Geneva Call, between five and ten million land mines have been laid in the areas around the wall.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: As early as 1979, the idea of a defensive wall has been an obvious one for the Moroccan authorities. Constructed in six stages, from 1980 to 1987, five 'breaches' along the wall allow Moroccan troops the right of pursuit. The Polisario call the Berm the "wall of shame" while Morocco calls it a "defensive wall", "wall of sand" or "security wall".


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Western Sahara conflict has resulted in severe human rights abuses, most notably the aerial bombardments with napalm and white phosphorus of the Sahrawi refugee camps, the exodus of tens of thousands of Sahrawi civilians from the country, and the forced expropriation and expulsion of tens of thousands of Moroccan expatriate civilians by the Algerian government in reaction to the Green March. The conflict has witnessed numerous violations of human rights and serious breaches of the Geneva convention on the part of all involved parties; the Polisario Front, the Moroccan government and the Algerian government among them.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Several international human rights organizations have accused the Moroccan government of imposing a media blackout in the region by targeting protestors and journalists. A report by French non-profit Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which tracks the suppression of journalism around the world reported on a systematic targeting of journalists within Western Sahara and argued that the blocking of foreign media access to the region has made it difficult to receive accurate and consistent reporting from inside the disputed territory.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In 2019 Amnesty International called for an investigation into a violent crackdown on protestors that took place on 19 July, in the city of Laayoune. The protests began as celebrations for Algeria's win in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, and eventually escalated into demonstrations for Sahrawi self-determination and clashes with Moroccan security forces. Footage from the clashes shows security forces using rocks, tear gas and live ammunition to disperse protestors. The clashes led to the arrest of dozens of protestors and one death.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: Human Rights Watch has also been critical of the treatment of journalists during this conflict. In 2019 they accused the government of using Article 381 of Morocco's penal code to restrict freedom of the press. Article 381 restricts citizens from claiming a profession without meeting the necessary qualifications. Human Rights Watch called on the Moroccan government to amend the article to ensure it did not apply to journalists. on 4 December 2018 Moroccan forces arrested Nezha El Khalidi under Article 381 for live-streaming a Sahrawi protest and subsequently failing to meet the qualifications of a journalist. Spanish news agency Europa Press later criticized Moroccan authorities for expelling international observers from the public trail.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: in June 2019, a video of Moroccan authorities violently dragging and beating prominent Sahrawi journalist Walid Al-Batal circulated across the internet. The video inspired condemnation from international rights groups who called for an investigation to be made and for Al-Batal to be released. Moroccan authorities rebutted the condemnation saying Al-Batal had crashed into a police car and resisted arrest, however these claims were disputed in an investigation on the incident published by "The Washington Post". Al-Batal was sentenced to six years in prison.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: The Polisario Front has also been accused of suppressing media freedoms within its territories. In July 2019 the Polisario Front arrested three Saharawi activists within the refugee camps for criticizing the Polisario Front's governance in Facebook Posts. Human Rights Watch called for the release of the political prisoners reporting that they had been held in harsh conditions and tortured to sign confessions, a direct violation of international law.


title: Western Sahara conflict

text: In the 2020 World Press Freedom Rankings reported on the treatment of journalists and independent media outlets in Morocco and Western Sahara rating it 133rd out of 180 countries. The country received a low score of 42.88 out of 100 citing the continued "judicial harassment" of the media.


title: More Than Words

text: "More Than Words" is a song by American rock band Extreme, released as the fifth track and third single from their second album, "Pornograffitti" (1990), in March 1991. It is a ballad built around acoustic guitar work by Nuno Bettencourt and the vocals of Gary Cherone (with harmony vocals from Bettencourt). The song is a detour from the funk metal style that permeates the band's records. As such, it has often been described as "a blessing and a curse" due to its overwhelming success and recognition worldwide, but the band ultimately embraced it and plays it at every show.


title: More Than Words

text: The song is a ballad in which the singer wants his lover to do more to prove her love other than saying the phrase "I love you." Bettencourt described it as a warning that the phrase was becoming meaningless: "People use it so easily and so lightly that they think you can say that and fix everything, or you can say that and everything's OK. Sometimes you have to do more and you have to show it—there's other ways to say 'I love you.'"


title: More Than Words

text: "That song gave us the freedom to make the record we really wanted to make when we started recording our third disc," Cherone told KNAC. "It got us doing huge tours all over the states and around the world... As the nineties went on, however, we really started to resent the song. We were tagged 'the More Than Words guys'. We didn't like the perception the song created about the band. I remember being on tour with Aerosmith in Poland... it was on that tour we decided we would not play the song. We just didn't do it. A couple nights into the tour, Steven Tyler writes in big letters on our dressing room door, 'Play the fucking song!' His attitude was almost father-like. He was like, 'Look, this is your first time in Poland. When do you think you will be back? They want to hear it, so play it!'"


title: More Than Words

text: AllMusic editor William Ruhlmann noted that on the song, the band pursued "acoustic balladry". Kira L. Billik from "Associated Press" described it as a "sweet, pure acoustic ballad" "whose message is that the words "I love you" are becoming meaningless." It was also labeled as a "nontraditional love song".


title: More Than Words

text: Larry Flick from "Billboard" constated that this "tender, sparsely produced rock/love ballad proves that sometimes less really is more. The spotlight here is on the band's striking vocal harmonies, as well as its shimmering acoustic guitar work." The Daily Vault's Sean McCarthy said that it is a "beautiful, minimal acoustic number [that] made the band huge" and added that "for the band, "More Than Words" is the song that will still get airplay."


title: More Than Words

text: Diane Cardwell from "Entertainment Weekly" called it "a simple, almost folkie ballad using just two voices and a single acoustic guitar." Kirsten Frickle from "El Paisano" described it as an "all-acoustic ballad that is so beautiful it will make your hair stand on end".


title: More Than Words

text: Pan-European magazine "Music & Media" labeled the song as "folky" and "a calming piece of music, aptly produced by Michael Wagener." They added, "It shows the band from a totally different angle. And it must be said, they handle this ballad extremely well."


title: More Than Words

text: Alan Jones from "Music Week" stated that it is "a subdued, lilting acoustic workout that suggests nothing more than Simon & Garfunkel in its more angelic passages." Carrie Borzillo from "Record-Journal" called it an "Everly Brothers-style" song.


title: More Than Words

text: A reviewer from "Sandwell Evening Mail" wrote, "If ever a song could be unrepresentative of a band's output, Extreme's worldwide smash hit ballad More Than Words is it." Marc Andrews from "Smash Hits" said it is "eye-moistening".


title: More Than Words

text: Tom Nordlie from "Spin" noted it as "a love ballad that sounds like the Everly Brothers or early Beatles." He added, "Singer Gary Cherone harmonizes with himself as guitar-friend Nuno Bettencourt strums clean, jazzy chord accompaniment, and that's it. No sudden escalation to bombast in the middle, no reneging on the song's original promise."


title: More Than Words

text: Chad Bowar writing for LiveAbout placed the song on his list of the "Best 20 Hair Metal Ballads of the '80s and '90s".


title: More Than Words

text: On March 23, 1991, "More Than Words" entered the US "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 81 and soon after reached number one. It also reached number two in the United Kingdom, where the group had success before its American breakthrough. Though they had made a few European charts before, this brought the band to their first mainstream success in the United States.