Madrid, March 17, 2012 (SPS) - The Secretary General of Amnesty International (AI), Mr. Salil Shetty, called Thursday on the Spanish Government to pressurize for the inclusion of human rights component within functions of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), when renewing its mandates.
In a press conference held in Madrid, Mr. Shetty indicated that he reminded, in a meetings, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, Mr. José Manuel García-Margallo, and staff of Office of the Prime Minister, Mr. Mariano Rajoy, to the importance of the inclusion of the monitoring and protection component of human rights, which is missed so far this Mission.
He also called on the Spanish Government to urge the Moroccan Kingdom to respect human rights in.
In its 2010 report on the situation in Morocco and Western Sahara, Amnesty International denounced the campaign of repression launched by the Moroccan occupation forces in Western Sahara.
UN Security Council stressed, in its previous resolution, on the need to improve the situation of human rights in Western Sahara, but it did not set a mechanism to do so because of the opposition and Veto of France.
It is noteworthy that the mandates of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) will be reconsidered on May by the Security Council. (SPS)
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