Washington, March 25, 2014 (SPS) - The U.S. Congress received Monday the prominent Saharawi human rights activist Ms. Aminatou Haidar, who visits the U.S. capital to plead for the Saharawi cause and report about Morocco’s ongoing human rights violations in Western Sahara.
The Sahaarwi activist has appeared before U.S. Congress as part of the Abd El-Kader Lecture organized periodically by the Defense Forum Foundation.
Abd El-Kader Lecture is an honour given to a Muslim leader who has worked for freedom and human rights in the same spirit as the Algerian Emir Abdelkader Ben Mahieddine.
In her lecture entitled ''Justice for the last colony in Africa : the struggle for human rights and self-determination in Western Sahara'' Ms. Haidar spoke about the serious violations of human rights perpetrated by the Moroccan authorities against the Saharawi people.
She denounced the policy of brutality and bloody repression carried out by Morocco, including arbitrary arrests, beatings , torture, rape, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances against the Saharawis .
Ms. Haidar emphasized the importance of establishing a mechanism for monitoring human rights of within the mandates of the United Nations Mission for the referendum in the Sahara Western (MINURSO).
However, regretted the activist, these are some major powers members of the Security Council who still oppose the international community’s will calling for the establishment of such a mechanism.
She, in this respect, recalled that on April 2013 certain world powers had refused to support the draft resolution submitted to the Security Council by the United States for the extension of the MINURSO mandate to include human rights monitoring in Western Sahara.
Despite the resolution adopted by the Security Council on April 2013, which called for the improvement of the human rights situation of the Saharawis and the establishment of an independent and credible measures too ensure full respect for human rights, Morocco continues to violate these rights .
The Saharawi activist stated that since the adoption of the afromentioned Security Council resolution, repression of Saharawi peaceful demonstrations affected 912 people (of which 458 women, 399 men, 28 children and 27 disabled).
Also, about 52 people, of which women and children, were either kidnapped, beaten or tortured before being released, bloggers and 108 Saharawi human rights activists and were attacked, while 197 houses were raided.
With regard to the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, Ms. Haidar pointed out that Morocco, with the support of some world powers, including France, still refuses to comply with international law which provides for the right of the Saharawi people to exercise self-determination.
She then called on the U.S. Congress to be more concerned about the situation of human rights of the Saharawis and the problem of illegal exploitation the natural resources of Western Sahara.
Haidar also requested the U.S. Congress to contribute effectively, insie the United States and within the UN Security Council, to the efforts unertaken by the international community to ensure the respect for human rights in Western Sahara.
She, in the same regard, called upon the Congress to do more to carry the Security Council of the UN not only to give the MINURSO the powers to monitor human rights in Western Sahara, but also to implement international conventions banning the looting of Saharawi natural resources and, above all, to find a peaceful solution guaranteeing the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination. (SPS)
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