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UPD endeavors to correct historical injustice suffered by Saharawi workers since illegal submission of Sahara

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Madrid, June 17, 2011 (SPS) - Spanish party Union for Progress and Democracy (UPD) attempts to correct the historical injustice that has been suffered by the Saharawi workers ever since the illegal submission of Western Sahara to Morocco by Spain.

The party presented last week in the Congress of Deputies, an amendment added to the Bill reforming the Social Security so that, within six months, the government articulate a specific pathway that allows access to the public pension system for Sahrawi workers who were employed for Spanish companies at the time when Spain withdrew unilaterally from the Western Sahara on February 26, 1976 and abandoned them to their fate, according to the website of the party.

"The abandonment of Western Sahara on the part of Spain resulted in, among other things, the loss of rights of the Saharawi workers who were employed in Spanish companies and Social Security contributions on an equal footing with the rest of Spanish workers," stated Fernando Maura Head of UPD International Policy, stressing that "the Spanish action was a gross injustice, loss of careers of those workers and impossibility that they could access the benefits of Social Security system," the source adds.

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