Johannesburg, 21 June 2020 (SPS) - South African activist for climate and human rights defender Catherine Constantinides stressed the need for an international solidarity action with the Sahrawi refugees, reiterating her support to the Sahrawi people’s inalienable right for self-determination.
“Little has been written on the Sahrawi refugees, however this situation is one of the most prolonged conflicts in the world,” she said in a contribution published on the occasion of the World Refugee Day, celebrated on 20 June of each year, underlining that the “Sahrawi refugees endure their 45th year of displacement.”
“With the reduced financial aid of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Western Sahara over the years, access to food and nutrition has become more critical for the displaced populations of Africa’s last colony,” she stressed.
“The crisis of Western Sahara is a representation of a global crisis that must be broached if the sustainable development goal 2 of “Zero Hunger” in the world has to be achieved”, she said.
She also broached “the lack of infrastructures, shortage of medicines and the lack of appropriate medical equipment are challenges met by the medical staff in charge of running health centers in the refugee camps sheltering the population of the displaced refugee population of Western Sahara who are living in these temporary camps since 1975.” (SPS)
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