04/22/2015

Severe human rights violations – MINURSO's mandate should also cover protection of human rights

UN Security Council discusses extension of the UN Mission in Western Sahara

© Flickr/Western Si

In view of the serious human rights violations in Western Sahara, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands an expansion of the mandate of the UN mission MINURSO. "MINURSO is the only neutral instance that could be able to ensure an adequate documentation of human rights violations," said Ulrich Delius, the STP's Africa-consultant, in Göttingen on Wednesday. "40 years after the 'Green March', with which Morocco initiated the illegal occupation of Western Sahara, there is still no end in sight for the longest lasting decolonization-conflict in Africa." Today, the UN Security Council will discuss an extension of the MINURSO mandate.

The "United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO)" was established by the United Nations in April 1991 – as a means to monitor the ceasefire between the Moroccan army and the POLISARIO freedom movement of the Saharawi people and to carry out a referendum concerning the future of the region. 230 people are involved in the mission, 200 of which are military observers. Morocco is going to considerable efforts to block the referendum. The Security Council has been extending the MINURSO-mandate every year in April for almost a quarter of a century.

"If Morocco is not willing to let human rights organizations, journalists and foreign politicians visit the occupied territories, then the human rights situation there must be monitored by MINURSO," said Delius. "The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is unable to take care of the task as Geneva is too far away – and Morocco would certainly not agree to the establishment of a new office of the High Commissioner in Western Sahara." Recently – on March 29, 2015 – two members of a Norwegian NGO were arrested during a research visit to Western Sahara. At least 40 foreigners were prevented from entering Morocco in 2014.

Between April 2014 and March 2015 alone, non-governmental organizations registered 256 human rights violations in Western Sahara, mostly arbitrary arrests of Sahrawis, torture, unfair trials and the suppression of public protests against Morocco's occupation policy. Thus, 40 demonstrators were injured in the city of El Aiun on April 14, 2015, when their protests were violently repressed.


Header Photo: Flickr/Western Si