Cairo, Sept 30, 2012 (SPS) - The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) has urged Morocco to accept the recommendation calling for the establishment of a human rights component to the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), expressing concern regarding the grave violations continued to be committed by Moroccan state against the Saharawi people.
In an oral intervention at the 21st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council which concluded Friday, the Egyptian Institute condemned the continued violations to human rights in Western Sahara, demanding that the UN Human Rights Council “be fully informed on the state of human rights in the region.”
CIHRS expressed concern over the grave practices experienced by Moroccan occupying authorities against the Saharawi that include “arbitrary arrests; reported torture, ill-treatment, and sexual abuse in detention; the lack of guarantees of fair trials for Sahrawis; targeting of Sahrawi rights defenders; and the ongoing deterioration of the economic and social rights of the Sahrawi community.”
The rights institutes indicated that Moroccan authorities blatantly intervene in Saharawis’ exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly as well as violently disperse of the peaceful demonstrations.
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) is an independent regional non-governmental organization founded in 1993.
It enjoys consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC, and observer status in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. It is also a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX).
It was awarded the French Republic Award for Human Rights in December 2007. (SPS)
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