London, June 14,2014 (SPS) - The International Campaign against the Wall of the Moroccan Occupation in Western Sahara has launched its website in four languages.
“We hope that the new site would become an interactive forum for exchanging ideas, information and experiences amongst us so that we all could move the campaign forward,” said Coordinator of the Campaign Dr. Sidi Omar, in a statement.
The 38th Conference of the European Coordination of Support to the Sahrawi People (EUCOCO) held in Rome, Italy, from 15 to 16 November 2013, adopted a decision regarding the launching of an international campaign against the Moroccan wall in Western Sahara.
The campaign is called: “The International Campaign against the Wall of Moroccan Occupation in Western Sahara: together to remove the wall”, and is based on three main pillars: the wall, mines and mine victims.
The main objective of the campaign is to muster all possible support from policymakers and international public opinion to compel the occupying Moroccan State to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law and demilitarise the wall, neutralise and remove the entire arsenal of destruction that it contains including antipersonnel and anti-tank landmines and explosive remnants of war.
The Campaign represents a diverse coalition of national and international organisations, NGOs, grassroots movements and individuals working for a mine-free Western Sahara and for the respect for the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. Its membership currently includes:
Austria: Austrian Sahrawi Association,
France: Friends of the People of Western Sahara,
International: European Coordination of Support for the Sahrawi people (EUCOCO), International Platform of Jurists for East Timor (IPJET), Network of Studies on the Effects of Landmines and Walls in the Western Sahara,
México: ART- Sahara México
Netherlands: Foundation for Self-determination in Western Sahara, Pedro Pinto Leite, international jurist,
Spain: Coordination of Spanish Associations of Solidarity with Western Sahara, Give Voice to the Victims, Leonardo Urrutia Segura, writer and journalist,
UK: Western Sahara Action Forum (WSAF), Western Sahara Campaign UK, Joanna Allan, PhD Student, Violeta Ruano, PhD Student
Western Sahara: Association of Families of Sahrawi Prisoners and Disappeared (AFAPREDESA), National Union of Sahrawi Women (UNMS), Platform of “Cries against the Moroccan Wall”, Sahrawi Association of Mine Victims (ASAVIM), Sahrawi Mine Action Coordination Office (SMACO).
In addition to its enduring humanitarian, social, economic, political, legal and environmental effects, the wall (known as the Wall of Shame) also represents a persistent crime against the human rights of the Sahrawi people and a major impediment to the realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination and independence. (SPS)
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