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Consensus in Abuja on need to set up human rights monitoring mechanism in Western Sahara

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Abuja, Oct 29, 2013 (SPS) - The need to set up a mechanism for the protection of human rights in Western Sahara met a consensus among the participants at the African conference in support of the Saharawi cause opened Monday in Abuja (Nigeria).
 

The various speakers at the three-day conference, organized by the Nigerian Union of Workers, stressed the need to set up this instrument "likely to stop the Moroccan occupation in its daily violation of human Rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara."
 

"It is necessary to establish a monitoring instrument in the occupied territories of Western Sahara as MINURSO. This will allow the Sahrawi people to be respected and to exercise their right to self-determination," said Tuesday, second day of the meeting, Barrister Ines Miranda, Spanish lawyer, member of the collective defense lawyers of Western Sahara.
 

In her paper, the lawyer said "with the flagrant violations of the rights of Sahrawis in their territories, there is no reaction from the international community, yet well informed about the situation."
 

During the debate, the speakers expressed their frustration with "passivity" of the international community towards violations of freedoms and rights of Sahrawis, endorsing the idea of creating a mechanism for their protection.
 

The call for the creation of a mechanism for protection of human rights in Western Sahara was made in several speeches Monday during the opening session of the meeting of solidarity, in which Algeria participates with a delegation led by the Algerian National Committee to Support the Saharawi People (CNASPS).
 

In a message read on his behalf by Minister of Justice Tayeb Louh, President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika said it is "more than ever" necessary to establish a monitoring mechanism for human rights in Western Sahara fighting for independence for nearly 40 years.
 

Algeria proposes in this regard of "trim and complete" missions of MINURSO to allow the UN to fully play its role in monitoring human rights in Western Sahara. (SPS)

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