Washington (United States) , March 1, 2014 (SPS) - The United States has once again criticized Morocco's violation of Saharawi people' human rights in the occupied Saharawi territories, dubbing them "serious problems" which, in addition to physical and verbal abuse, includes repressive methods to quell dissent and self-determination demands by pro-independence associations.
"The most important human rights problem specific to the territory was Moroccan government restrictions on the civil liberties and political rights of pro-independence advocates," the US Department of State said in its global report on the human rights situation published Thursday.
The Department of State depicted the situation of human rights in Western Sahara in 12 pages of the global report.
The report stressed that the United Nations Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) does not include yet a mechanism to monitor human rights the territory.
"Widespread impunity (for Moroccan armed forces) existed, and there were no prosecutions of human rights abusers," he stressed.
"Sahrawi human rights organizations claimed that the majority of police and other officials accused of torture remained in positions of authority. There were no reports of investigations or punishment of abuse or corruption among the police and security services, contributing to the widespread perception of impunity." (SPS)
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