Category Archives: Human Rights

Occupied Territory – Breaking the Media Blackout in Western Sahara

Moroccan-security-forces-chargeBy Karlos Zurutuza
IPS – Inter Press Service News Agency
LAAYOUNE, Occupied Western Sahara, Aug 23 2015 (IPS)

Ahmed Ettanji is looking for a flat in downtown Laayoune, a city 1,100 km south of Rabat. He only wants it for one day but it must have a rooftop terrace overlooking the square that will host the next pro-Sahrawi demonstration. “Rooftop terraces are essential for us as they are the only places from which we can get a graphic testimony …(cont.)

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Is Sidi Mohamed Dadach North Africa’s Mandela?

1_15Middle East Eye
Karlos Zurutuza
Wednesday 19 August 2015
This Sahrawi’s life story is one of imprisonment and resistance since day one of the occupation of his land, 40 years ago

LAAYOUNE, Western Sahara – Naman Street is one of the very few tree-lined avenues in Laayoune. The local Sahrawis, however, call it “Dadach” in honour of Sidi Mohamed Dadach, a famous dissident who was received here by thousands after spending 24 years in Moroccan prisons.

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Saharawi women take to the streets

By Karlos Zurutuza
Inter Press Service News Agency

LAAYOUNE, Occupied Western Sahara, Jul 17 2015 (IPS) – Ten women are gathered to discuss how to transmit Sahrawi culture and tradition to the younger generations. As usual, it´s a secret meeting. There is no other way in the capital of Western Sahara.

Rabab Lamin chose the place and the date for this latest meeting of the Forum for the Future of Sahrawi Women, an underground organisation yet seemingly far from being disorganised.

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Leaked cables: Morocco lobbied UN to turn blind eye

Leaked cables: Morocco lobbied UN to turn blind eye to Western Sahara in ‘House of Cards’ operation
Joe Sandler Clarke and Katherine Purvis
The Guardian, Wednesday 17 June 2015

The Moroccan government intercepted United Nations communications and used “unethical tactics” in a “House of Cards”-style operation designed to get the organisation to turn a blind eye to the humanitarian situation in Western Sahara, according to a leaked UN report.
The leaked report is a UN analysis of correspondence between the Moroccan government and the country’s permanent ambassador to the UN in Geneva and later New York, Omar Hilale, in the period from January 2012 to September 2014.

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Amnesty International’s report cites widespread torture and violence used by Moroccan forces

19 May 2015:
Amnesty International has published its report ‘Shadow of Impunity : Torture in Morocco and Western Sahara’

“Beatings, stress positions, asphyxiation, simulated drowning, psychological and sexual violence are among an array of torture techniques used by Moroccan security forces to extract “confessions” to crimes or silence activists and crush dissent, according to a new Amnesty International report published today.”

Summary and Report >>

ACTU resolution on Western Sahara adopted on 28/5/2015

At the ACTU Congress today, 28 May, a resolution was passed on Western Sahara

The Australian Council of Trade Unions notes that
•             Morocco has occupied Western Sahara since 1975
•             UN efforts to accomplish the decolonisation process in Western Sahara have not been successful;
•             Around 165,000 Saharawis continue to live in dire conditions in refugee camps in South West of Algeria;
•             Saharawis in the occupied areas endure human rights abuses and denial of their basic rights;
•             The only just, legal and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, is to end the Moroccan illegal occupation and allow the Sahara people to exercise their right to self-determination, in accordance with the UN decolonisation doctrine;
Congress:
•             Strongly supports the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence;
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Norwegian report: Acting with Impunity – Morocco’s Human Rights Violations in Western Sahara

Acting with Impunity – Morocco’s Human Rights Violations in Western Sahara and the Silence of the International Community
SAIH, the Norwegian Students and Academics International Assistance Fund
13 April 2015

This excellent report examines the human rights abuses committed in Western Sahara since April 1 2014 until March 1 2015. Based on 163 documented cases, 256 different human rights violations have been reported, involving 283 named victims.
The report concludes that the continued gross human rights violations committed in occupied Western Sahara illustrate the total inadequacy of Morocco’s national human rights framework. Whilst UN Special Procedures, which involve short and infrequent visits by UN rights experts to Western Sahara, are important, they are insufficient.

Press Release >>

Download Report: Acting with Impunity >>

Read the extended annex >>

10 April 2015: United Nations Secretary-General’s Report on Western Sahara

10 April, United Nations, Security Council
This latest UN Secretary-General report on the situation concerning Western Sahara is a disappointing indicator of the UN’s current position on Western Sahara.
In many respects it simply reaffirms the status quo and once again offers little hope that the UN will instigate meaningful change to support the Saharawi’s right to their country and their future. All this in a context of Morocco’s blatant violations of the basic requirements of the international community – self-determination – and of international law – the protection of human rights during an armed occupation.

UN Secretary-General’s 2015 report >>

Spanish judge names 11 Moroccans wanted for genocide

The New York Times, 10 April 2015
Carlotta Gall
Pablo Ruz a judge of the highest court in Spain, has ordered the detention of 11 Moroccan military or administrative officials accused of genocide of Saharawis between 1976 and 1992.  He has specifically called for the arrest of seven of the eleven and for them to be extradited to Spain.
He has documented 50 assassination cases and 202 cases of illegal detention. All the victims, whether members of the Polisario Front or Saharawi civilians have Spanish passports or identity cards.
There is no official Moroccan reaction to the ruling.

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Polisario Front reiterates its request to provide MINURSO human rights monitoring in Western Sahara

Sahara Press Service. Sat, 04/11/2015 – 6:20pm

In a strongly worded appeal, the representative to the United Nations, Ahmed Boukhari issued a press statement on 11 April in response to the new report of the Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon on Western Sahara submitted on Friday to the Security Council:

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