Aminetou Haidar and Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
TAKE ACTION: Send a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton!
(2012-04-02) In April 2012, the United Nations Security Council will be reviewing the mandate for the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the only modern-day UN peacekeeping mission that does not contain a human rights component.
The conflict in Western Sahara began in 1975 when Morocco invaded the area, inciting a decades-long conflict between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front, a national movement fighting for self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. Since then, no country in the world has recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. MINURSO was created in 1991 to oversee a cease-fire between Morocco and the Polisario Front and a referendum on self-determination for Western Sahara. Despite the mandate’s success at maintaining the cease-fire, the situation in Western Sahara is no closer to being resolved now than it was in 1991 and the referendum on self-determination never took place.
In the decades since the creation of the MINURSO mandate, Morocco has consistently violated the basic human rights of the Sahrawi people, particularly those who advocate for change in Western Sahara. In 2011, there were increasingly frequent attacks against Sahrawi minors and students. Moroccan security forces have allegedly committed assaults including threats, physical violence, arbitrary arrests of minors, and sexual harassment. In September 2011, seven people were reportedly killed in clashes between Moroccan and Sahrawi groups after a soccer game in the city of Dakhla. Following non-violent demonstrations, Moroccan authorities arrested and detained 13 human rights defenders, seven of whom still await trial. Moroccan authorities dismantled the Gdeim Izik camp, erected to protest against the poor economic and social conditions faced by the Sahrawi community, in November 2010. This led to violence and the arbitrary arrests of more than 160 Sahrawi. At this time, there are around 80 Sahrawi political prisoners in Moroccan jails; 23 will face trial in military court.
The people of Western Sahara cannot wait another year for standard human rights components to be added to the MINURSO mandate—write to Secretary Clinton to press for the establishment of a permanent, impartial, international human rights monitoring and reporting mechanism in Western Sahara and Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Office.
Aminatou Haidar is the President of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) and recipient of the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for her courageous non-violent work promoting the civil, political, social, cultural, and economic rights of the people of Western Sahara.
TAKE ACTION: Send a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton!
(2012-04-02) In April 2012, the United Nations Security Council will be reviewing the mandate for the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the only modern-day UN peacekeeping mission that does not contain a human rights component.
The conflict in Western Sahara began in 1975 when Morocco invaded the area, inciting a decades-long conflict between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front, a national movement fighting for self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. Since then, no country in the world has recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. MINURSO was created in 1991 to oversee a cease-fire between Morocco and the Polisario Front and a referendum on self-determination for Western Sahara. Despite the mandate’s success at maintaining the cease-fire, the situation in Western Sahara is no closer to being resolved now than it was in 1991 and the referendum on self-determination never took place.
In the decades since the creation of the MINURSO mandate, Morocco has consistently violated the basic human rights of the Sahrawi people, particularly those who advocate for change in Western Sahara. In 2011, there were increasingly frequent attacks against Sahrawi minors and students. Moroccan security forces have allegedly committed assaults including threats, physical violence, arbitrary arrests of minors, and sexual harassment. In September 2011, seven people were reportedly killed in clashes between Moroccan and Sahrawi groups after a soccer game in the city of Dakhla. Following non-violent demonstrations, Moroccan authorities arrested and detained 13 human rights defenders, seven of whom still await trial. Moroccan authorities dismantled the Gdeim Izik camp, erected to protest against the poor economic and social conditions faced by the Sahrawi community, in November 2010. This led to violence and the arbitrary arrests of more than 160 Sahrawi. At this time, there are around 80 Sahrawi political prisoners in Moroccan jails; 23 will face trial in military court.
The people of Western Sahara cannot wait another year for standard human rights components to be added to the MINURSO mandate—write to Secretary Clinton to press for the establishment of a permanent, impartial, international human rights monitoring and reporting mechanism in Western Sahara and Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Office.
Aminatou Haidar is the President of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) and recipient of the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for her courageous non-violent work promoting the civil, political, social, cultural, and economic rights of the people of Western Sahara.
TAKE ACTION: Send a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton!
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