Western Sahara: UN urged to set up human rights protection mechanism - APS : Algérie Presse Service

ALGIERS- Algerian National Committee of Solidarity with the Saharawi People (CNASPS) and the African Committee on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) called on Monday here the United Nations “to make every possible effort” within the Security Council to set up a mechanism for human rights monitoring and protection in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.

The ACHPR delegation is in Algiers within the framework of a visit to the Sahrawi territories in order to "inquire about the situation of human rights and the Saharawi’s suffering because of the Moroccan authority’s systematic violations,” Head of CNASPS Mehrez Lamari told a press conference at the end of a meeting with the ACHPR delegation, led by its Chairperson Dupe Atoki.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights will undertake a Fact Finding Mission to the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) from 24 – 28 September 2012, the Commission announced in a statement.

According to Commissioner Atoki, one of this visit’s purposes is “to investigate human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, the Liberated Territories and refugee camps of SADR.”

A the end of the mission, Commissioner Atoki who is accompanied by many other members will meet with Sahrawi authorities, civil society organizations and gather the necessary testimonies to draw up a report to be presented to the African Union as well as to the concerned international institutions.