Geneva, March 02, 2018 (SPS) – Algeria has renewed on Wednesday in Geneva during the 37th session of Human Rights Council, call for integrating a Human Rights section in the UN Mission for referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). It has also called for sending regular missions of the UN High Commission Office in the Sahrawi occupied territories.
The Foreign Ministry’s general secretary, Noureddine Ayadi, who leads the Algerian delegation to this meeting, said that Algeria, "for more than four decades, has constantly recalled the UN historical responsibility regarding this territory and its population," adding that "the military occupation of Western Sahara and the denying of the fundamental rights of the people of this non-self-governing territory, notably their inalienable right to self-determination, deserve the full attention of our Council."
"The MINURSO, likewise the High Commission Bureau must monitor the respect of human rights in this territory, which is under the UN responsibility," Ayadi said.
This requirement is all the more timely as the human rights violations by Morocco in the Sahrawi occupied territories "are daily documented in the reports of international organizations and NGOs notably Amnesty international and Human Rights Watch".
The official said that the "human rights defenders are banned from entering Western Sahara occupied territories as reflected in the regular measures and recently taken by the Moroccan authorities."
Last week, "a Sahrawi human rights defender died in a Moroccan prison as the result of abuse and torture he was subject to in the different places of detention," he denounced.SPS
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