New York, April 20, 2013 (SPS) - The Association of the Bar of the City of New York has appealed to the United Nations Secretary General to expand the mandates of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara MINURS) to include the monitoring of human rights in Western Sahara,
In a letter sent last April 15th, the Association urged the United Nations Secretary-General and Security Council members to expand the MINURSO’s mandate to include the monitoring and reporting of human rights violations in Western Sahara.
The letter underlined that only the reporting of a reputable neutral party with a daily presence in these locations would be able to provide the UN and international community information that was complete and credible,
The Association noted that reporting of such issues is “standard practice” in the UN peacekeeping missions, adding that there is no justification for eliminating this function from MINURSO’s mandate.
The letter was sent to Mr. Jeffrey D. Feltman, UN Undersecretary General for Political Affairs, Mr. Herve Ladsous, UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Mr. Boukhari Ahmed, POLISARIO Representative to the UN, Mohamed Loulichki, Moroccan Ambassador to the UN. (SPS)
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