Category Archives: Political issues

17 February: 27 US Senators sign a letter to President Biden

United States Senate, Washington DC, 20510, 17 February 2021

On 17 February a letter signed by 27 US Senators was sent to President Biden urging him to reverse the decision by the previous administration on December 11, 2020 to officially recognize the Kingdom of Morocco’s illegitimate claims of sovereignty over Western Sahara.

The decision is decried as misguided and short-sighted in this strong letter of support for the Sahrawi people’s right to a referendum of self-determination

US Senators letter to Biden on Western Sahara

Front Line Defenders Statement condemns increasing harassment by Moroccan authorities

Front Line Defenders, 17 February 2021

Statement –  Western Sahara: Ongoing harassment and intimidation against Sahrawi human rights defenders

“Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the increasing harassment by the Moroccan authorities against Sahrawi human rights defenders living in Western Sahara over the last few months which include physical surveillance on prominent human rights defenders, the use excessive force to disperse peaceful protests, the mistreatment of imprisoned human rights defenders and the imposition of arbitrary disciplinary measures against human rights defenders in their employment. (cont.)

Frontline Defenders Statement

Western Sahara Independence Activist Sultana Khaya Assaulted by Moroccan Police

DemocracyNow!, Feb 16, 2021

In the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara, renowned Sahrawi activist Sultana Khaya was brutally assaulted last weekend by Moroccan agents in her home in the city of Boujdour, where she and her entire family have been held under house arrest since last November 19, days after the renewal of armed conflict in the territory.
On February 13, Sultana was waving a large flag from her rooftop   (cont…)

DemocracyNow report

Open Letter to the UN Secretary General on Western Sahara

International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
February 16, 2021

The following open letter to the UN Secretary-General on Western Sahara was adopted at the IADL Council meeting on 7 February 2021. IADL is a member of the Geneva Support Group for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in Western Sahara:

Excellency,
The International Association of Democratic Lawyers expresses its deepest concern at the resuming of the armed conflict in the Non Self-Governing Territory of Western Sahara that followed the breaking of the cease-fire by the Kingdom of Morocco.  (cont…)

IADL open letter

Trump and U.S. betray the people of Western Sahara

By Kamal Fadel
Independent Australia,  6 January 2021

On December 10, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would recognise Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara in return for it establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.
Western Sahara is a territory considered by the United Nations (UN) as Africa’s last colony, whose people are entitled to the right to self-determination.
Trump’s decision is contrary to what the International Court of Justice concluded in 1975: that Morocco did not have any claim to territorial rights in Western Sahara.(cont….)

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ACTU joins call for a referendum on the self-determination for Western Sahara

5 February 2021

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has reaffirmed its solidarity with the people of Western Sahara and joined unions around the world in calling for the:

  • immediate release of all Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan jails and the end the repression of Saharawi population in the occupied areas;
  • the withdrawal of the Moroccan occupying troops and the dismantling of the military berm (wall) erected by Morocco;
  • end of the illegal plunder of the Saharawi natural resources.

Supporting documents

YouTube: Western Sahara Activists Facing Oppression While War Is Taking Place

Feb 7, 2021
Sahrawi human rights activists have become singled out for systematic suppression at the hands of Moroccan occupying forces after the outbreak of war last November in Western Sahara, dubbed as Africa’s last colony…
The pro-Western Sahara independence activists, Sultana Khaya and Bachri Ben Talb are an example of what Sahrawis are experiencing in the war-zone of the occupied territory.

View on Youtube

Video: Will Biden reverse decision by Trump? Interview with Professor Stephen Zunes

Democracy Now! February 05, 2021

President Donald Trump broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy in the waning days of his administration and recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a territory the country has occupied since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. U.S. recognition came as Morocco agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming the fourth Arab nation to do so in recent months…(Amy Goodman interviews Professor Stephen Zunes)

Video of interview with Stephen Zunes

UN Experts Urge Morocco to Release Imprisoned Sahrawi Journalist

7 February 2021
Citing Torture and Lack of Judicial Independence, UN Experts Urge Morocco to Release Imprisoned Sahrawi Journalist

Screenshot of a video showing policemen severely beating two activists in Smara, Western Sahara, on June 7, 2019

On 7 June 2019, videos began to circulate showing Moroccan police brutally beating up a Saharawi journalist in occupied Western Sahara. Today, an UN opinion calling for his release from prison was made public.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for the immediate release of the young Saharawi journalist Walid Salek El Batal in a decision made public today. The opinion was issued during the 89th session of the Working Group and can be found here.

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The Renewed Conflict in Western Sahara: Risks and Implications

Davide Contini, Researcher for Adverse Media Entities Unit,
Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, January 2021

“Today, this diplomatic crisis over Western Sahara—an offspring of the Cold War and the African decolonization—reemerges, jeopardizing companies’ involvement in the region’s businesses. Legal and economic consequences of the dispute have amplified in recent years, especially following two verdicts of the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU), which stated that Western Sahara has a separate and distinct status from Morocco and that, therefore, Morocco does not have the legal personality to conclude trade agreements concerning the resources of Western Sahara. (cont.)

Article by Davide Contini