Oslo, Jan 5, 2014 (SPS) - The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has launched the report “Occupied Country, displaced people” on the Saharawi refugees, who have been forced by Moroccan invasion to flee their homeland in 1975.
The report, which examines details of many aspects of the lives of Sahrawi refugee, is an updated version of a report with the same title released in 2008.
In the new version special attention is given to recent developments in the human rights situation in Western Sahara.
In 2013, underlined the report, a number of leading human rights activists were sentenced to life in prison in a Moroccan military court. Meanwhile, Morocco’s allies in the UN Security Council continue to sabotage the UN’s ability to address the human rights of the Saharawi people.
The U.S. and UK have argued that UN forces in the territory should be able to report on the atrocities that go on there, but this initiative has yet again been stopped by France, added the same source.
“It is crucial that we get coordinated international pressure on France. We ask Norway to play a key role in such an initiative. Norwegian authorities should, together with its closest allies, prevent France from sabotaging the efforts for improved human rights in Western Sahara yet again,” says Editor Richard Skretteberg. (SPS)
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