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Aminatou Haidar calls for quick action to stop violations by Morocco

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Madrid, November 17, 2014 (SPS) -Sahrawi Human Rights activist Aminatou Haidarslammed Sunday in Madrid continued violations committed by Moroccan authorities against the Sahrawi people, denouncing the policy of the Kingdom of Morocco in continuing to defy the international community.

 

"The situation of human rights is alarming," said Aminatou Haidar, at the sidelines of the European Conference of support and solidarity with the Saharawi People (EUCOCO), denouncing the Speech of the Moroccan king Mohamed VI, "which will have negative consequences on the situation, legitimizing violations against the Saharawi population".

 

She said she was "surprised and disappointed" by the speech "when we expected a breakthrough in the negotiations between the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco", denouncing the "stubbornness" of the Moroccan authorities to the international legality.

 

The Sahrawi activist criticized, "the positions of the French and Spanish governments for their opposition to the US proposal to expand the mandate of MINURSO to control human rights."

 

She recalled, in this regard, the "determination of the Sahrawis to work for the expansion or creation of a new UN mechanism for the monitoring and control of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara".

 

"We really need such a mechanism," she stressed citing an "instructions given by the Moroccan authorities to the services to violate the rights of the Saharawi people and trample their fundamental freedoms."

 

For  Amenatou Haidar, the current situation marked by blocking of the negotiation process and Morocco's disobedience to international law risks pushing  the young Sahrawis to think to act in other ways, such as violence, to draw the attention of  the international community, "something I do not wish," she has said. (SPS)

 

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