Berlin, July 18, 2011 (SPS) - In a letter to the German minister of foreign affair, the German youth group “project of Western Sahara” has called on the government of its country to exert pressure on Morocco to respect human rights in Western Sahara and to work for extending the mandate of MINURSO to include monitoring and report about human rights violations in the Territory.
“German y that chairs the UN Security Council this month has an opportunity to carry out initiatives consolidating human and peoples’ rights,” the letter said.
The Group noted that more than 200 thousand Saharawis, who are living in camps for refugees waiting for the referendum since 1991 and suffering from a lack of humanitarian aid, has began to lose hope in the negotiations.
It also pointed out that the Saharawis, who are living under the Moroccan occupation, have subjected to imposed morocconization and systematic policy, as underlined in reports of several international organizations such as: Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
“The Moroccan army repressed by using force peaceful demonstrations in El Aaiun in 2010. Moroccan authorities forcibly deported Aminatou Haidar on November 2009. Furthermore, there has conducted no independent investigations into the dismantlement of Gdeim Izik camp on November 2010,” the letter added.
The human rights commission of the Bundestag, visited Western Sahara and Morocco on July 1, 2011, confirmed “there is repression against people demanding the referendum, sometimes reaches to the extent of torture and disappearance,” the letter underlined.
The Group urged the Security Council to fulfill its duties in implementing the respect for international law, peoples’ rights and UN Charter for human rights in the occupied territories and expanding MINURSO mandate to monitor it, expressing regret that MINURSO is the only UN peace mission without such a mechanism.
It finally called on the German government, EU and all Member States of the UN to search for “a solution to this 35 long-standing conflict.” (SPS)
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