Australia Western Sahara Association
PRESS RELEASE –FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Tuesday 27 April 2010

* Prominent Western Saharan hunger strikers edge closer to death

* UN Boss Ban Ki-Moon voices strong concern over human rights in the territory

As discussions on the role of the UN in Western Sahara intensify early this week, Security Council member states are coming under increased pressure to ensure international monitoring of human rights in Western Sahara – the only country in Africa still awaiting the completion of its process of decolonisation.
(more…)

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern today about alleged violations of human rights in the Western Sahara conflict after vowed to continue to promote the rights of Sahrawis after meeting with the head of the Frente Polisario, one of the parties to the dispute.
Mr. Ban held discussions with Mohamed Abdelaziz, Secretary-General of the Frente Polisario, in New York and thanked the group for its active participation in the most recent round of informal UN-backed talks aimed at ending the conflict.

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22 April 2010

Norbert Neuser, President of the Intergroup for Western Sahara in the European Parliament, raised his grave concern about the situation of the Saharawi political prisoners in hunger strike detained by Morocco. The Saharawi political activists were detained by Morocco in October 2009 and were not put before a judge yet.
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On 27 February 2010 musicians came together in Melbourne to play in
solidarity with the Casablanca 7. Six of these Saharawi human rights
defenders are now on hunger strike in Salé Prison in Morocco.

View YouTube video >>

16/04/2010  Solidarity-Support
Urgent Action : Six Sahrawi Activists at Risk in Morocco
Six Sahrawi prisoners of conscience are on hunger strike in protest at being held without trial in Morocco for over six months. Their families are gravely concerned for their health.

http://asvdh.net/category/english/solidarity-support

27 Feb 2010 Flag Raising :
http://www.youtube.com/user/saharadownunder#p/u/0/Sw5elfJQc2c

In yet another assault on fundamental principles of international law, a bipartisan majority of the Senate has gone on record calling on the United States to endorse Morocco’s illegal annexation of Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony
Read rest of article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/us-lawmakers-support-ille_b_525401.html

HRW and RFK Center call on UN to ensure monitoring and reporting of human rights in Western Sahara
13/04/2010
In a joint letter sent last April 8 to the Secretary General, Human Rights Watch and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights (RFK Center), called on the UN to ensure monitoring and reporting of human rights in Western Sahara.
http://www.upes.org/body1_eng.asp?field=sosio_eng&id=1836

12/04/2010 Malainin Lakhal: Ban Kimoon’s report is a blatant disregard of the dangerous human rights situation in Western Sahara

In reaction to the UN Secretary General’s latest report on Western Sahara, the Secretary General of the Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union, Malainin Lakhal, estimated that the report was “a blatant disregard of the dangerous human rights situation in Western Sahara,
http://www.upes.org/body1_eng.asp?field=sosio_eng&id=1833

10 April 2010
A letter from Australia Western Sahara Association has been sent to the President of the UN Security Council. The letter states that the United Nations Security Council will be voting on 29 April on the mandate of its mission to Western Sahara, MINURSO. The Secretary General and his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, have prepared a report with recommendations.  Despite its absence in the published report, the Australia Western Sahara Association hopes that the Council will vote to include human rights monitoring within the mandate of MINURSO.
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Read AWSA’s letter >>