Bagnolet (France), April 22, 2014 (SPS) - Several international organizations, of which Human Rights Watch, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and 114 associations and trade unions from 22 countries have called upon the UN Secretary General and members of the Security Council to give “precise information” on the human rights violations committed by Morocco against Saharawi civilians as, said AFASPA in a statement obtained by SPS.
From Denmark, Belgium, France , Peru, Spain , Venezuela, Serbia , Portugal, Western Sahara (occupied territories and refugee camps) , Italy, Australia , Algeria , Malta , Germany, Hungary , Switzerland, Slovenia , USA, Japan , Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, the international organizations insisted that human rights monitoring be integrated into the roadmap of the only UN mission that lacks such task, namely the UN Mission for referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
The statement denounced the expulsion by Morocco of foreign delegations including 33 women from Spain, Portugal, France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Tunisia and South America were to take part in the 2nd international conference in support of Sahrawi woman, held on April 17-20 in the occupied city of El Aaiun, the capital of Western Sahara.
They also recalled to the Chairperson of the AU Commission’s welcoming of the UN Secretary General report, in which the AU official noted that it is “important that the Security Council provide MINURSO with a human rights mandate, as is the case for other UN peacekeeping operations, and address the issue of the exploitation of the Territory's natural resources, in keeping with the legal opinion issued by the UN Legal Counsel on 29 January 2002,” said the AU official.
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