Washington (USA) March 29, 2014 (SPS) - Sahrawi human rights activist Aminatou Haidar and President of Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights Kerry Kennedy called Thursday in Washington for an effective international engagement for the respect of human rights of the Sahrawi people violated by Morocco as well as their right to self-determination.
Thecall was launched by Aminatou Haidar and Kerry Kennedy during a meeting organized by the African Union Mission in Washington in collaboration with the Robert F. Kennedy Centre in the presence of representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Washington, the media and Polisario Front Representative Mohammed Yeslim Beissat.
Sahrawi activist Aminatou Haidar said that Morocco continued to commit human rights violations against Saharawi civilians despite the presence of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in the Western Sahara (MINURSO) the ceasefire in September 1991.
For her part, Kerry Kennedy indicated that the persistence of human rights violations was due to the absence of an international mechanism to monitor and report on them, wondering why the MINURSO is the only UN mission which does not include such mechanism.
In her speech, Ambassador of African Union in Washington Amina Salum Ali reiterated the adherence the African Union to its resolutions calling for accelerating the organization of the referendum in the Western Sahara occupied by Morocco, reaffirming the need to eradicate all forms of colonialism in the African continent.
Sahrawi activist Aminatou Haidar had been received during her visit to Washington on Monday by the U.S. Congress, where she gave a presentation defending the Western Sahara issue and condemning the ongoing violations of Sahrawi human rights by Morocco.
The Sahrawi activist will move to New York to meet with United Nations senior officials, before the meeting of the UN Security Council on Western Sahara in April. (SPS)
062