New York(United Nations), October 14, 2015 (SPS) – the President of the Defense Forum Foundation and Chairman, US-Western Sahara Foundation Ms. Suzanne Scholte on Tuesday has intervened before the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, United Nations Fourth Committee.
Suzanne Scholte underlined that “the U.S.-Western Sahara Foundation is delivering petitions addressed to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and President Barack Obama calling for the release of the Sahrawi political prisoners held illegally, against international law, by the Kingdom of Morocco, and for the long-promised referendum on Western Sahara Self-Determination to be held. Citizens of more than thirty nations have joined us in this appeal.”
She also pointed out in her intervention that the failure of the United Nations to hold the referendum and the failure to include human rights monitoring in its mandate has meant for the people of Western Sahara, and all those who would seek justice in accordance with the rule of law:
First, it has led to continual human rights violations against Sahrawis in Morocco-occupied Western Sahara. Hundreds of Sahrawis have been killed and have disappeared simply for peacefully advocating for their right to self-determination. Today, Sahrawis are languishing in Moroccan prisons simply for trying to exercise their rights, some even given life sentences, in direct violation of numerous international conventions to which Morocco is a signatory.
Second, close to two hundred thousand Sahrawis have lived in refugee camps in one of the most inhospitable regions of the world since 1975 - for 40 years - and have waited now - for 24 years - for a UN-promised vote on self-determination. An entire generation of children has never seen their homeland.
Third, through the UN’s failure to uphold the right to self-determination to resolve this conflict, the Sahrawis have seen the exploitation of the natural resources of their homeland plundered by the aggressor in this conflict.
And this leads to a fourth tragedy: the very terrible message you send by your inaction, when you allow invasion, aggression and violence, you send the message to the world that reliance on the rule of law, and trust in the United Nations, will only result in your children growing up in refugee camps, and your loved ones being beaten, tortured, and disappeared into Morocco’s prisons.
Suzanne Scholte, an American human rights activist and congressional candidate, is the Chairman of the U.S. – Western Sahara Foundation, a project of the Defense Forum Foundation. (SPS)
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