Washignton (United States) , April 20, 2014 (SPS) - The president of the American nongovernmental organization “Robert F. Kennedy for Justice and Human Rights” (RFKennedy Centre), Kerry Kennedy, condemned Friday the violent repression perpetrated Tuesday by the Moroccan forces in El Aaiun against the Saharawis’ peaceful protest for independence, leaving tens of protestors injured.
The American NGO, based in Washington DC, observed that the Saharawi protestors were victims of “brutality” from the Moroccan authorities a few days before the UN Security Council votes on the renewal of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
Kennedy said that the violence perpetrated Tuesday by Moroccan forces against this peaceful protest of the Sahrawi people “only shows the urgent need for a human rights monitoring mechanism in MINURSO.”
“Moroccan authorities have signaled loud and clear that they expect no repercussions for violence perpetrated against the Sahrawi people, “the president of the NGO noted, stressing that “It's up to the international community and the United Nations in particular, to correct that perception with swift and decisive action.”
Recalling that the US suggested introducing a monitoring mechanism in the MINURSO, Kennedy called all the members of the Security Council to consider it as a priority in the course of 2014.
In its report on Western Sahara presented to the Security Council, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recalled to the United Nations’ decision-making body that Western Sahara conflict is a decolonization issue, insisting on the necessity of a “sustained, independent and impartial control” for Sahrawi human rights.
Listed as a non-autonomous territory since 1963, making it eligible to the application of the UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 relating to the declaration on the granting of independence to colonized people and countries, Western Sahara is the last colony in Africa that is occupied since 1975 by Morocco, with France’s support. (SPS)
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