Washington, Spt. 4, 2012 (SPS) -The the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (RFK Center) said it has observed grave human rights violations in occupied Western Sahara, according to a statement issued Monday by the center following its visit to the occupied Western Sahara and refugee camps.
“The delegation witnessed the overwhelming presence of security forces and violations of the rights to life, liberty, and personal integrity, freedom of expression, assembly, and association. More generally, the delegation observed intimidation and state sponsored violence against critics of the regime that violates the rule of law and respect for human rights and provides impunity for perpetrators. Human rights defenders are targeted in particular” said the statement of RFK Center about the human rights situation in occupied Western Sahara.
the statement asserted that During the mission, “the RFK delegation was followed by secret police, physically prevented from observing an attack on peaceful protesters, verbally abused, and subjected to a widely disseminated disinformation campaign aimed at undermining the credibility of the delegation.”
Concerning the visit to the Saharawi refugee camps, the statement underlined "the delegation walked freely in the camps and interviewed several people, including members of civil society and individual refugees. The delegation also visited the prisons for men, women, and children and interviewed several of the detainees".
“In the refugee camps, the delegation found the living standards to be insufficient. Basic living standards may be adequate in refugee camps as part of a temporary solution, but after nearly four” said the statement of Ropert F Center for Justice and Human rights
"The international community has stood by passively for too long, while the Sahrawi people subsist in abject poverty in extremely isolated refugee camps in the middle of the Sahara desert while their brethren in Morocco-controlled Western Sahara, who advocate for justice or criticize the regime, are subject to police state tactics of harassment, intimidation, torture, and more with near absolute impunity," said Kerry Kennedy, President of the RFK Center.