A letter  from a group of US members of Congress has been sent to The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of State, calling upon the US government to voice its strong support for protection of human rights in Western Sahara during the review of MINURSO’S mandate.

Letter to US Secretary of State >>

Human Rights Watch: Trial Delays, Limited Evidence Raise Concerns of Politically Motivated Prosecution
April 8, 2011 

The court trying the seven Sahrawi activists should without any further delay issue a verdict that properly presents the evidence and reasoning behind the verdict. Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch

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By Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press April 4, 2011 

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 — In the run up to the UN Security Council’s regular fight on Western Sahara this month, Morocco has been lobbying to change Paragraph 119 of the UN’s report, about establishing a human right mechanism within the UN Mission MINURSO, Inner City Press has learned.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has suggested the “establishment of an effective international mechanism for regular independent, impartial and sustained human rights monitoring and reporting… through a component within MINURSO,” according to a draft obtained by Inner City Press.

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John Hilary guardian.co.uk,
Friday 1 April 2011

Prince Charles’s visit to Morocco is a chance to put pressure on King
Mohammed to end the brutal occupation of Western Sahara

Prince Charles and Camilla are soon to arrive in Morocco on an official visit intended to boost trade and cultural ties with Britain. The Foreign Office has advised that recent unrest in Morocco poses no threat to the royal couple, following King Mohammed VI’s announcement of a programme of reforms designed to appease protesters.

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Konstantina Isidoros
2011-03-17, Issue 521, Pambazuka News

Since the current wave of Arab revolutions first ignited in Western Sahara in November 2010, February and March have seen a new upsurge in protests across Morocco and its illegal Occupied Territory of Western Sahara, writes Konstantina Isidoros. As the extraordinary events sweeping the Arab world bring down republic government figureheads, a new question is whether these social reset buttons will have the tenacity to tackle Arab monarchies.

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Smara Saharawi refugee camp  
Green Left Weekly, Sunday, March 20, 2011
By Tony Iltis
Western Sahara is the last country in Africa awaiting decolonisation.
Invaded by Spain in the late 19th century, mass mobilisations in the early 1970s heralded the birth of the modern independence movement.

Green Left Weekly article >>