Washington D.C., Feb 21, 2015 (SPS) - The U.S. Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights on Thursday announced the release of a periodic report that tracks human rights violations that took place in Western Sahara between March and December 2014.
The US ONG noted that Moroccan authorities are continuing to commit serious human rights violations against the Sahrawi people, lamenting for the fact that there is no international mechanism within MINURSO mandate dedicated to tracking human rights in Western Sahara.
RFK Center urged the UN, which will once again discuss the renewal of the MINURSO’s mandate in April, to provide an opportunity to bring MINURSO’s mandate into alignment with other peacekeeping missions by including human rights monitoring and reporting as part of its mission.
“Allegations of egregious human rights violations taking place in Western Sahara demand international attention and require serious investigation and remedy. The UN should expand MINURSO’s mandate,” said Ms. Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.
“Reports of torture in detention, medical negligence towards ailing prisoners, unmonitored landmine blasts, forcible dispersal of peaceful protests, and constraints on entry and travel within the region cannot be left unaddressed,” added she.
“The reported human rights violations committed against the Sahrawi people constitute severe violations of international law and international human rights law,” said Santiago A. Canton, Executive Director of RFK Partners.
“While international law does not recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, as the de facto power—and as a signatory to the Convention Against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights—Morocco must ensure that the human rights of the people living in Western Sahara are respected as mandated by the law," underlined Canton.
The report identifies nearly 90 separate instances of human rights violations, mostly of which are violations of the right to arbitrary arrest, the right to freedom of assembly, and the right to freedom of movement.
There are instances, however, of physical mistreatment and torture, landmine injuries and death, and death while in detention. Taken as a whole, the frequency and nature of the abuses paints a grim picture of the human rights situation in Western Sahara, added the report. (SPS)
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