Category Archives: Human Rights

Free Wafaa Charaf: Jailed champion of Moroccan immigrant workers and the Saharawi struggle

Ben Hamblin
Freedom Socialist Organiser, January 2015

Wafaa Charaf is a high-profile Moroccan political prisoner. The growing campaign to free her — which has broad support beyond Moroccan borders, especially in Europe — is drawing international attention to national and political oppression in Morocco.

AWSA letter condemns Board of Crans Montana Forum decision

12 February 2015
To the Board of Crans Montana Forum

I am writing on behalf of the Australia Western Sahara Association to condemn your decision to hold the annual Crans Montana Forum in Dakhla in the occupied territory of Western Sahara and to urge you to reschedule the forum in an appropriate location.

As a Swiss-based organisation the Crans Montana Forum should be concerned that its international conference is to be held in a country where there is ongoing conflict over sovereignty, breaches of international law and ongoing reports of abuses of human rights by the occupying Moroccan administration. It violates fundamental ethical norms and is surely contrary to the commitment of the Crans Montana Forum to building a better World, more humane and impartial and to its forum aim to consider Africa’s major concerns and to foster its hopes and ambitions http://www.cmf.ch/events/upcoming-events.
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An Open Letter from CODESA urges cancellation of the Crans Montana Forum

Laayoune /Western Sahara, 9 February 2015

CODESA (the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders, of which Aminatou Haidar is president) has written an open letter to the President of the Crans Montana Forum urging the Forum President to cancel its planned meeting on 12th to 14th March 2015 in Dakhla city /Western Sahara to discuss the issue of ” Africa and south–south cooperation.
The decision to hold the meeting in Western Sahara which is known internationally as a disputed territory is an affront to the Saharawis who continue to be subjected to human rights abuses and oppression under the Moroccan regime. (Continue to read CODESA letter)
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January 2015: African Union adopts important decisions on WS

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
Twenty-Sixth Ordinary Session 23 – 27 January 2015
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA

DECISION ON THE THIRTY-SEVENTH ACTIVITY REPORT OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
Doc.EX.CL/887(XXVI)

The Executive Council,

10. REITERATES its serious concern at the continued illegal occupation of the territories of Western Sahara which could not be visited by ACHPR in line with Executive Council Decision on the matter, DEMANDS expeditious implementation of the various relevant United Nations and African Union Resolutions to actualize as early as possible the long awaited self-determination of the Saharawi people; in that regard, Council RECOMMENDS that AU organize some of its activities in the liberated territories of Western Sahara as a demonstration of solidarity with the Saharawi people in their legitimate aspirations(1); \

11. RECOMMENDS to the Assembly of the Union to adopt a special declaration condemning the holding of the Crans Montana Forum in Dakhla in the occupied territory of Western Sahara (1), (2);

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Human Rights Watch World Report 2015 – backsliding in human rights

Human Rights Watch have issued their report on 29 January on Morocco and Western Sahara in 2014, saying that backsliding in human rights outpaces reforms and that “There were few tangible improvements in human rights in Morocco and Western Sahara during 2014, either in law or in practice.”

January 2015 New online newsletter about all things Saharawi

Western Sahara Update
January 2015

A new online newsletter about all things Saharawi is now available. It is being distributed to 3500 organisations and individuals and is produced by Zain Atfaak in partnership with Sahrawi young people in the Tindouf camps and is sponsored by the Province of Antwerp (Belgium).

To subscribe to the free online newsletter:
email [email protected]

Scottish oil firm Cairn drills amid repression and fear in Western Sahara

Newsnet.scot, 23 January 2015
by Joanna Allan and John Hilary

“You mean you haven’t heard of the roast chicken?” asks Shaykh, a young Saharawi activist, whilst we discuss Moroccan repression tactics in the relative safety of a street side café. Shaykh comes from Western Sahara, a country that has been illegally occupied by neighbouring Morocco for almost 40 years. It seems the Sunday dinner staple is a useful metaphor for the savage manner in which Saharawis are suspended from bars, limbs bound, and beaten in the pursuit of information. The young Saharawi tells us he has experienced “the roast chicken” many a time, in retribution for protesting against foreign governments and corporations that plunder his country’s natural resources.

The Runner screened in NSW Parliament

The Runner which is a documentary about the story of the Saharawi champion and long-distance runner Salah Hmatou Ameidan was screened on Wednesday evening 14 May 2014 at NSW Parliament in Sydney (Australia).

The event was hosted by Mr. Jamie Parker, member of Parliament from the Green Party. Mr. Parker spoke during the event and said that the Saharawi cause is a tragedy that has been going on for a long time and that it is a shame the UN has not been able to resolve the case of the last colony in Africa. He said that he visited the Saharawi refugee camps and witnessed the suffering of the Saharawi people who have been forced to leave their homeland and seek refuge. He said that the event is important as a solidarity gesture and he encourage the audience to join the Australia Western Sahara Association and to support the Saharawi cause. Continue reading →

Here Comes the Money: Solar Power and Self-Determination in Western Sahara

Mel Chin for Creative Time Reports
Artist Mel Chin proposes a Western Saharan currency, backed by solar power, that would help the Sahrawi people achieve economic and political independence while simultaneously combatting climate change.

The HSBC ads at Newark International Airport could not have been more appropriate for my trek to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria. As I ambled through the jet bridge with my carry-on, color-coordinated images of demure North African women met my eyes, accompanied by some facts assembled by the bank—“0.3% of Saharan solar energy could power Europe”—and a self-aggrandizing but, for me, prescient message: “Do you see a world of potential? We do.”

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US and UK students detained in El Aaiun

Today, April 19, two students from the U.S. and UK have been detained at a checkpoint in El Aaiun. Kristina Nygaard, with U.S. passport, and Joanna Allan, a British citizen, had traveled to occupied Western Sahara to learn more about the concerning situation of the Saharaui population and to gather information on human rights violations and natural resources exploitation in the occupied territory.

In one of the many existing checkpoints at El Aaiun, Kristina Nygaard and Joanna Allan were arrested by the Moroccan police. As declared by the students themselves, they have been told that “they are not welcome” and they will be driven in a car, probably to Agadir.