Dajla (refugee camps), March 19, 2015 (SPS) - Civil society components of the Wilaya of Dajla, Saharawi refugee camps, on Wednesday organized a demonstration outside UNHCR office to call on the UN Security Council to incorporate the monitoring of human rights and protection of the Saharawi natural resources in MINURSO mandates.
Participants handed a written letter to UNHCR office, in which they stressed the need to include human rights and natural resources components within the powers of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
“The time has come for the Security Council to take its moral and legal responsibility towards the Saharawi people,” stated the letter, adding “it was unacceptable for the UNSC to fail to veto in favour of human rights component over the past years.”
The letter added that the Security Council’s failure to enable the MINURSO to monitor and protect human rights and natural resources “would reflect negatively peace in the region.”
They, on other hand, considered the exploration and exploitation of Saharawi natural resources by foreign companies in complicity with Moroccan occupation as “a violation of international law and crime against the Saharawi people”.
They also appealed to all companies concerned, of which Total, Agrium Inc and Glencore among many others, to put an end to their illegal and unethical activities in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.
The demonstration was part of the national campaign “No to the Looting of the Wealth of Occupied Western Sahara”, on since last February 24th. (SPS)
090/089/TRA