Yearly Archives: 2009

How a Saharan refugee camp launched an international film festival

The riddle of the sands
Stefan Simanowitz.
The Independent, Friday, 15 May 2009
Dakhla, an isolated refugee camp in the Sahara, is not the most likely setting for an international film festival. And yet, last week, this desolate camp in south-western Algeria was transformed into a gala of screenings, workshops and concerts attended by an array of internationally acclaimed actors and film-makers.

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Friday15 May – Leichhardt Town Hall. Africa’s last colony; Western Sahara in Film

dimitri-030.JPGAfrica’s Last Colony: Western Sahara in Film

Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA) invites you to a film evening at Leichhardt Town Hall on Friday 15 May 2009.

Details:
Friday 15 May 2009
Leichhardt Town Hall, 7-15 Wetherill Street Leichhardt
6.30 p.m. drinks and finger food
7.30 p.m. films
$20 and $10 concession

Download flyer with details of the films >>>

Funds raised at the event will be donated to the Saharawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union (UPES) for the work of journalists and writers in providing information about Western Sahara to a world wide audience.

The most human of rights – it is the right to youth

teen00.JPG05/05/2009 – by: Tim Kustusch
….”There is another human rights violation that occurs at a more discrete level in the Western Saharan conflict, and it is one that is not sexy enough to receive coverage by human rights organizations or international news sources. It is perhaps one of the most fundamental of human rights……Namely, it is the right to youth”

Read article posted on UPES website >>>

Human rights in Western Sahara – one step closer

Independent Diplomat Communiqué 5 May 2009
Human rights in Western Sahara – one step closer
In an important development last week, the UN Security Council – in Resolution 1871 – for the first time recognized “the human dimension” of the long-standing dispute over Western Sahara between Morocco and the Frente POLISARIO, the elected leadership of the indigenous population of Western Sahara.
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Front Line Defenders launch a letter-campaign

Front Line Defenders launched a letter-campaign requesting the immediate release of human rights activist Yahya Mohamed el Hafed Aaza.

More info here >>

Saharawi supporters are invited to send a letter to the king of Morocco about the unwarranted torture and detention of this human rights defender. Sample letter >>
Send letter to:

S.M. Roi Mohammed VI,
Bureau du Roi,
Palais Royal,
Rabat – Morocco

Letter from Australian Parliamentary Friendship Group for Western Sahara to the President of the UN Security Council

On 21 April 2009 the Australian Parliamentary Friendship Group for Western Sahara sent the following  letter  to H. E. Ambassador Claude Heller, President of the United Nations Security Council.

Mr President,
We are writing on behalf of the Parliamentary Friends of Western Sahara Group in the Australian Federal Parliament, concerning the question of
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AWSA writes to UN Security Council expressing its concern about Saharawi polical prisoners

12 April 2009.  The Australia Western Sahara Association has written to H. E. Ambassador Claude Heller, the President of the UN Security Council expressing deep concern about the situation of three Saharawi political prisoners – Brahim Baryaz, Alisalem Ablagh and Khallihanna Aboulhassan who are being held by the Moroccan authorities.

Letters were also sent to The Honourable Stephen Smith, MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs and M. Mohamed Mael-Ainin, Embassy of Morocco, Manuka ACT.
Copy of letter sent to President, UN Security Council >>