Item 9 : the order of the day: Question of the Violation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in any Part of the World

29 March 2004

M. Ahmed Sid Ali , IUSY ( International Union Of Socialist Youth)

In accordance with item 9 of the order of the day, our organisation would like to address you in order to draw your attention to the gross violations of human rights that are being perpetrated in Western Sahara on the account of the Moroccan illegal occupation of the Territory in 1975, and the fact that the Saharawi people has not been able to exercise its right to self-determination.

The Saharawi population living in the occupied territories of Western Sahara are subjected to all sorts of abuses and intimidation carried out by Moroccan administrative and security services. In particular, the human rights activists are under constant risk of being pursued by the police, fired of their work, deported to Morocco, or arrested and sentenced in unfair trails. In this context, the Saharawi human rights organisation, the branch of The Forum of Truth and Justice, was dissolved on 18th June 2003 by an unfair legal ruling on the grounds that the organisation was dealing with foreign states. The fact, however, is that it was another measure taken by the Moroccan authorities aimed at suppressing all voices that declare openly its rejection of the illegal occupation of the territory.

Furthermore, the Moroccan authorities still deny the right to travel aboard to 13 Saharawi human rights activists, and representatives of the families of Saharawi disappeared, including the human rights activist, former prisoner of conscience and the Rafto Foundation‚s prize-winner in 2001, Sidi Mohamed Daddah, who spent 23 years in Moroccan jails. In order to prevent them from taking part in the 59th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, the Moroccan authorities confiscated their passports and documents at Casa Blanca‚s airport on 27th March 2003. These people are still unable to travel abroad, despite the good offices undertaken by many governments and human rights organisations in order to lift the restriction imposed on them.

Mr. Chairman,

The families of the Saharawi disappeared are still suffering as a consequence of Morocco‚s reluctance to account for more than 500 disappeared, and more than a hundred of Saharawi POWs that Morocco is completely silent on their fate.

What aggravates the endurance of the Saharawi people is the wall erected by Moroccan forces to divide Western Sahara and fence off the occupied part of the territory. This wall is of more than 2000 km and is fortified with sand walls, barbed wires, anti-personal and anti-vehicle landmines, which makes Western Sahara among the ten countries most exposed to the danger of landmines. Furthermore, the wall is a ghastly barrier that it has been dividing the Saharawi families for more than 25 years, while limiting the free movement of many Saharawis and interrupting the course of their normal life. In addition, should the Saharawi be repatriated to their country in order to exercise their right to self-determination freely and democratically, the wall will always be an overwhelming hindrance and impending danger for them. This is more so given that the UNHCR has already started implementing a series of confidence-building measures including a programme of exchange of family visits between the Saharawi families living in the occupied territories and those living in the refugee camps in south-west Algeria. For these measures to succeed, however, all hindrances should be removed including the wall itself.

Mr. Chairman,

If the Saharawi people is not allowed to exercise its inalienable right to self-determination, as called for by international legality, the endurance of the Saharawis will continue, while Morocco will persist in its disregard of international legality.

In conclusion, we would like to launch an urgent appeal to the UN Commission on Human Rights to consider dispatching a fact-finding mission to the occupied territories of Western Sahara in order to assess the realities on the ground. Likewise, we call upon the Commission to consider devising mechanisms for ensuring an international observation in the territory and opening it up for the media and human rights organisations.

Thank you,