El Aaiun (occupied territories), June 16, 2013 (SPS) - Participants at the third international conference of support to the struggle of Saharawi woman, held on 15 and 16 June in the occupied city of El Aaiun, has called on UN Secretary General and Security Council to work towards expanding the prerogatives of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) in include the protection of human rights.
Following the full text of the final statement of the conference
“The third edition of the international conference of solidarity with the struggle of the saharawi women was held under the title of "the resistance of Saharawi women in the occupied territories" on 15 and 16 June 2013, in the occupied city of Aaiun, capital of Western Sahara, in implementation of the recommendation of the first part of the conference, which was organized by the National Union of Sahrawi Women in the Sahrawi refugees camps. This third stage of the conference has been organized by a number of saharawi women's groups in the occupied territories which are engaged in the saharawi peaceful civil resistance and that fall under the National Union of Sahrawi Women, with the contribution of other saharawi organizations.
The conference has seen the participation of a number of European women groups, particularly from France and Spain, representing parliaments and associations of friendship and solidarity with the saharawi people. This conference comes in the context of presenting the saharawi woman’s peaceful resistance and her contribution in the national struggle for freedom and independence. The conference was also marked by a significant and intensive participation of the saharawi women in the occupied territories in spite of the military and police siege imposed on the city.
In this context, the conference has reviewed the acts of murder, threat, torture, rape, abduction and detention, and discussed the policies of marginalization, hunger, ignorance and alienation practiced by Moroccan occupation in a deliberate and systematic manner.
The conference was inaugurated in the morning of Saturday, June 15, 2013, with a welcome speechthat focused on the important role the Sahrawi woman has played, and is still playing, in the liberation battle in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, as well as the gross violations of human rights committed on her by the Moroccan state. It also recalled the dire situation in which the Saharawi women live today in the occupied territories, characterized by a policy of persecution and oppression and deprivation of all rights and freedoms.
Then followed a number of important interventions by the attending delegations that drew interaction from the audience, and reiterated the importance of the role played by the saharawi women in the liberation battle and in the building of the Saharawi state, as well as the challenges and obstacles that hinder her progress and work.
After hearing the presentations and live testimonies and at the end of the conference, the participating organizations declared:
-Their appreciation of this initiative which the first of its kind in the occupied territories of Western Sahara,
-Commend the saharawi woman and her struggle for freedom and independence,
-Greet particularly her commitment to nonviolence in her resistance in the occupied territories of Western Sahara in spite of the brutal oppression by Moroccan occupation authorities that practice torture, abuse and ill-treatment on a daily basis against saharawi women and women human rights activists,
-Call for the release of all saharawi political prisoners, beginning with the group of Gdeim Izizk battle,
-Call for the disclosure of the fate of the unaccounted for disappeared and the investigations into the cases of killings outside the law,
-Call on the Secretary General and the Security Council to extend the mandate of the MINURSO to include monitoring and reporting on human rights, and appreciate highly United States’ honoring and courageous attitude supporting this human and noble demand,
-Call for practicing pressure to enforce respect of freedom of opinion and speech and the right on association, assembly and peaceful demonstrations,
Demand the raising of the level of the deteriorating health and education services and the end of drug spreading and the improvement of social services and the promotion of the maternity and infancy care.
Issued in occupied Aauin city, on May 16, 2013.” (SPS)
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