Algiers, April 14, 2014 (SPS) - Amnesty International has urged the United Nations Security Council to extend the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to include human rights monitoring.
Security Council "must extend" MINURSO's mandate, Salil Shetty, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, said in a statement released Sunday by the NGO's branch in Algeria.
"It is the only UN peacekeeping mission without a mechanism to monitor and protect human rights," he deplored, adding that "peaceful protests are suppressed (in the occupied Saharawi territories) and there are information about activists tortured in police custody in 2013".
"Extending peacekeeping force's mandate to include protection of human rights would shed light on abuses."
In such a case, MINURSO "will independently and impartially report on any allegation about human rights violations," he added. (SPS)
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