Algiers, 30 November 2020 (SPS) -The international community, led by the United Nations (UN), “must decolonize” Western Sahara by organizing a free and legal self-determination referendum, in accordance with the international law, in order to “ensure peace and stability” in the region, said Monday Chairman of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) Bouzid Lazhari.
In a statement to APS, Lazhari said that “enabling a people to enjoy their right to self-determination through a free and sovereign choice is one of the most elementary human rights. Therefore, the international community, led by the UN, must now implement this principle and decolonize Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa, through a free and legal referendum that enables the Sahrawi people to decide his fate.”
The decolonization of Western Sahara aims to “bring peace and ensure stability in the region.” However, the “complicity” of some members of the UN Security Council “hinders the decolonization process despite being in accordance with UN resolutions on decolonization.”
In this regard, Lazhari deplored the degradation of the situation of human rights in Western Sahara following “repeated violations” by Morocco, which deprives the Sahrawi people from their political and civic rights and loots their resources and wealth through excessive resort to torture against demonstrators.
The same official expressed stupefaction regarding “the silence of the international community in the face of serious human rights violations in Western Sahara, like the European Parliament (EP) which turns a blind eye to other countries to serve suspicious agendas.”
The UN Secretary General must appoint a personal envoy to Western Sahara as soon as possible and broaden the Minurso missions to human rights monitoring, said Lazhari.
The CNDH chairman also urged the UN humanitarian bodies to respond to the calls of their Sahrawi counterparts by increasing the volume of humanitarian aids, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Algeria’s stances in favour of the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination “are immutable and historical,” affirmed the same official. (SPS)
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