Quito, Ecuador, 10 March 2024 (SPS) - In the framework of the multiple commemorative activities for International Women's Day, the Legal Representation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), in the Ecuadorian capital, hosted an emotional event that emphasized the characteristic resilience of Sahrawi women in the face of the extreme conditions of oppression imposed by the occupying forces in Western Sahara. The central event was the screening of the film "Insumisas" by Laura Dauden and Miguel Ángel Herrera.
The event was attended by Ambassador Elvis Urbina, Legal Representative of UNASUR, Sahrawi Ambassador to Ecuador Hameiduha Emhamed Ahmed Zein, Spokesperson of the Ecuadorian Association of Friendship with the Sahrawi People (AEAPS) Susana Peñafiel, and President of the American Association of Jurists (AAJ, Ecuador Branch) Tatiana Rivadeneira.
"The legitimate cause of the Sahrawi people commits us to provide the necessary support so that these dissemination and awareness initiatives proposed by the Embassy of the RASD in Ecuador can become a reality," declared Ambassador Urbina.
For her part, activist and human rights defender Susana Peñafiel said that this film allows us to glimpse the extremely difficult and painful circumstances that the heroic Sahrawi women have to face in the territories occupied by the Morocco since 1976, without any respect for their lives, their physical and psychological integrity, their right to freedom of expression, their right to peaceful protest and resistance, or their rights in general.
The president of the AAJ, Rama Ecuador, expressed her dismay and bewilderment at the systematic violations of women's human rights, globally and particularly in occupied Western Sahara, where Morocco's permanent disregard for international legality is evident.
The Sahrawi ambassador described the background and current situation of the Sahrawi people's struggle and answered in detail the concerns of the audience, which included members of the diplomatic corps, leaders of women's and human rights organizations, and invited media.
After the screening of the documentary "Insumisas," Ambassador Urbina invited the attendees to review the report "Let It All Come to Light: Human Rights Violations of Women in Occupied Western Sahara (1975-2021)," prepared by an interdisciplinary team from the Hegoa Institute.
This film, which collects the testimonies of El Ghalia Abdalahe Djimi, Mina Baali, Saultana Sidbrahim Khayya, Omeima Mahmud Nayem and Jadiyetu El Mohtar, was screened a few days ago at the Pomasqui Educational Institution and at the Pichincha Bar Association in the capital of this South American country.