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Tunisian-Saharawi Committee for extending MINURSO mandate to include human rights

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Algiers, Nov 7, 2013 (SPS) - The Spokesperson of the Tunisian Committee to support the Saharawi people Ms. Monia Bousselmi indicated Thursday that the Saharawis in the occupied Western Sahara are subject to many violations, stressing the need extend the mandate of the MINURSO to include the monitoring of human rights.


“We found numerous violations of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, and we stress the need to expand the MINURSO powers to include the monitoring of human rights,” said Ms. Bousselmi, in a statement to APS.


She, in this regard, added that the Saharawi people are subject to “imprisonment, torture and all kinds of assaults, especially against women,” calling for putting an end the status quo through allowing the independence of Western Sahara in accordance with UN resolutions.


“The territories of Western Sahara are replete with enormous resources, including water resources and phosphate, which are exploited illegally by
Morocco with the complicity of its European allies,” she noted.


Ms. Bousselmi, on other hand, declared her committee’s commitment to work hard inside Tunisia to aware about the question of Western Sahara.


“We have recorded positive echoes from the political class, both in the opposition and authority, as well as in the civil society. They unanimously agreed to support the just cause of the Saharawi people,” she stated.


She announced that her committee will organize activities on the Western Sahara issue, adding that Sahrawi activists will be invited to these activities to present their “testimonies about the injustices they face every day.”


Reacting to the media campaign by Morocco against Algeria, she described that as “unacceptable,” calling on the Moroccan authorities to stop it immediately. (SPS)


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