Brussels, Sept 28, 2021 (SPS) - The MEP of Unidas Podemos, Idoia Villanueva, has pointed out the importance of the candidacy of the Sahrawi activist Sultana Khaya for the Sakharov Prize for Human Rights as an opportunity to "make visible the mostly silenced and abandoned human rights violations, as is the case of the Sahrawi activist Sultana Khaya, a highly visible figure for the defense of the human rights of the Sahrawi people."
the MEP stressed that the role of Sultana Khaya is characterized by "representing thousands of women who have been fighting for decades." "She is one of the thousands of Sahrawi, like Mohamed Nafaa, Ghali Bouhela or Mohamed Lamin Haddi, who demonstrate in El Aaiún or Bojador and suffer harassment and very serious violations," Villanueva denounced.
" Khaya has been under house arrest, and without any trial, more than 300 days in which she and her family have suffered verbal, physical and even sexual assaults," the MEP warned to denounce the serious situation that the Khaya family has been experiencing since on November 19, 2020.
MEP took advantage of her intervention to call on the different political formations and MEPs from different countries to "support the candidacy of Sultana Khaya for the European Union to use this award in defense of human rights as a fundamental tool" .
"This award should serve so that" we do not lose international law and multilateralism that reach our shores from the sands and waters of Western Sahara, but also not to forget the historical responsibility that we have in this regard in taking actions so that the United Nations Security Council date the referendum on self-determination agreed upon years ago ”. Villanueva has defended.SPS
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