Geneva, 4 March 2024 (SPS) - During the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, South Africa once again called for the empowerment of the Sahrawi people in their right to self-determination, in order to end colonization and liberate Western Sahara, the last colony in the African continent.
In a verbal statement, South Africa's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Mxolisi Nkosi, reiterated "reminding of the concern that his government has about the inability of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to access the occupied territories of Western Sahara, despite numerous requests and calls for this purpose."
Given the catastrophic human rights situation in the occupied territories and the prevention of independent observers and international media from entering, South Africa urged the High Commissioner to "send a mission to assess the grave human rights situation in Western Sahara."
It is worth mentioning that South Africa, through its Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, called on all United Nations member states to intensify efforts to empower the Sahrawi and Palestinian peoples in their just rights and to confront all forms of resource plundering associated with occupation. This statement was made during a seminar held in Geneva last week.