Human rights in Western Sahara
Encyclopedia
Morocco
sees Western Sahara
as its Southern Provinces
. Morocco considers the Polisario Front
as a separatist movement given the Moroccan origins of many of its leaders, and a puppet
in the hands of Algeria
.
The Polisario Front
argues that according to international organizations as the UN or the AU
, the territory of Western Sahara has the right of self-determination
, and according to that organizations Morocco illegally occupies
the parts of Western Sahara under its control
. POLISARIO sees that as a consequence of the vision of a Great Morocco, fuelled in the past by the Istiqlal
and Hassan II, and considers itself a national liberation movement
aiming at leading the disputed territory to independence under the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
.
The United States, the European Union
, the African Union
and the United Nations do not recognize the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara (as no country in the world does). They consider the Polisario Front the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi
people, and one of the two belligerent parties in the conflict.
& White phosphorus of the Sahrawi refugee camps, the consequently exodus
of tens of thousands of Sahrawi civilians from the country, and the forced expropriation and expulsion of tens of thousands of Moroccan civilians by the Algerian government from Algeria in reaction to the Green March
as well as violations of human rights and serious breaches of the Geneva convention by the Polisario Front, the Moroccan government and the Algerian government.
Both Morocco and the Polisario accuse each other of violating the human rights of the populations under their control, in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara
and the Tindouf
refugee camps in Algeria
, respectively. Morocco and organisations such as France Libertés consider Algeria to be directly responsible for any crimes committed on its territory, and accuse the country of having been directly involved in such violations.
Morocco has been repeatedly & heavily criticized for its actions in Western Sahara by international human rights organizations such as:
POLISARIO has received criticism from the French organization France Libertes on its treatment of Moroccan prisoners-of-war, and on its general behaviour in the Tindouf refugee camps in reports by the Strategic Intelligence and Security Center.
A number of Former members of Polisario who have joined Morocco accuse the organisation of abuse of human rights and sequestration of the population in Tindouf
During the war (1975–91), both sides accused each other of targeting civilians. Neither claim has met with support abroad. The USA, EU, AU
and UN refused to include the Polisario Front
on their lists
of terrorist organizations. Polisario Front leaders maintain that they are ideologically opposed to terrorism, as they had condemned terrorist attacks and signed the "Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism", in the framework of the African Union
.
Human rights are repressed in the Moroccan-controlled territories of Western Sahara, according to Amnesty International in 2003 and Human Rights Watch in 2004. While the situation has improved since the early 1990s, the political liberalization
in Morocco has not had the same effect on Western Sahara according to Amnesty International in 2004.
, when it comes to having a pro-independence position. There are allegations of police abuse and torture
by Polisario-organisations., and suspected dissidents are harassed. The United States State Department reported in 2000 that there were arbitrary arrests of Sahrawis and no organized labor. Prisoners of conscience
were kept in squalid conditions according to Polisario-groups. Some Sahrawis also complain of systematic discrimination in favor of Moroccan settler
s.
The Moroccan response to the demonstrations of 2005 was very aggressive, and provoked international reactions. In a criticised mass trial in December 2005, 14 leading Sahrawi activists were sentenced to prison sentences; many more had previously been detained. Most of these prisoners were later released by royal decree in the spring of 2006, but some have since again been rearrested.
According to the US State Department's 2006 report on Morocco "The law generally provides for freedom of speech and of the press. The government generally respected these rights in practice, as long as Islam, the monarchy, and territorial integrity (the inclusion of the Western Sahara) were not criticized. Throughout the year several publications tested the boundaries of press freedom."
The US State Department's 2005 report on Morocco's attitude towards human rights noted that "[i]n 2004 various international human rights groups estimated that 700 persons were imprisoned for advocating Western Saharan independence.". Foreign journalists and visiting missions have been prevented from visiting the territory and in some instances deported from it. In 2004, Moroccan newsman Ali Lmrabet
was sentenced to heavy fines and ten year ban on practicing journalism, for referring in an article to the Sahrawis in Tindouf, Algeria, as being "refugees" rather than "sequestered" or "kidnapped", as is the official Moroccan position. Sahrawi human rights organizations have been refused permission to operate in Morocco: the Sahrawi branch of the Moroccan Forum for Truth and Justice (FVJ) was dissolved in 2003, and its members arrested. They were later released in the royal amnesties of 2006, or before that, even if some have since been rearrested again. Presently, several organisations, such as the ASVDH, operate illegally, with activists occasionally subject to arrests and harassment, whereas others, such as the polisario close AFAPREDESA, are mainly active in exile.
Sahrawi activists have tried to compensate for this through extensive use of the Internet, reporting from illegal demonstrations, and documenting police abuse and torture through online pictures and video. Morocco has responded by blockading Internet access to these sites in Morocco and in Western Sahara, prompting accusations of Internet censorship
. On 20 December 2005 Reporters Without Borders
reported that Morocco has added Anonymizer
to its Internet blacklist
, days after the association recommended the service to Moroccans and Sahrawis wishing to access the banned Sahrawi sites. "These websites, promoting independence for Western Sahara, have been censored since the beginning of December" it reports.
. Other accusations are the torture, repression and imprisonment of Sahrawis who oppose peacefully the Moroccan occupation, the expulsion from the territory of foreign journalist, teachers and NGO members, the discrimination of the Sahrawis on the labor and the spoliation of the natural resources of the territory.
On the 15th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, former prisoner, human rights defender and second vice-president of CODESA (Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders) El Mami Amar Salem denounced that more than 30,000 Sahrawi citizens had been tortured by Moroccan forces since 1975.
In 2010 around 520 Sahrawi civilians remained "disappeared" by Moroccan forces, according to human rights groups; some estimate that the total number of "disappeared" could be as high as 1,500. In the past, Morocco denied that any such political prisoners existed, but in 1991 released nearly 200 "disappeared" prisoners, many of whom had been held in secret detention centers since the mid-1970s. Since then, there have been no further releases of "disappeared" prisoners. Amnesty International
stated in a 1999 report that:
.
In May 2005, the remains of 43 Sahrawi "disappeared" were exhumed from secret prisons on the south of Morocco (Kalaat Maguna, Tagunit). They were detained in Western Sahara (Laayoune, Smara) & southern Morocco (Tan Tan
, Assa
) in the 1970s & 1980s.
In 2008, the head of CORCAS & former leader of the Sahrawi National Union Party
, Khelli Henna Ould Rachid
declared:
The same year (4 January) construction workers uncovered a mass grave with approximately 15 skeletons in Smara, in former military barracks built during the 1970s, the period during which many Sahrawis disappeared or were murdered by Moroccan authorities.
Resulting from the "Reconciliation tribunals" in Morocco in 2005, some graves of political dissidents of Hassan II regime (Sahrawis & Moroccans) were uncovered, although the responsible persons of those crimes have never been judged or their identities revealed. Also, the testimonies of witnesses have not been published yet.
In March 2010, a new grave was found by Bou Craa
workers on a phosphate
mine with 7 corpses, supposedly Sahrawi nomads killed by Moroccan forces during the mid-1970s.
listed the abuses of human rights by Morocco. Those relating to political processes were: controlling elections and not allowing Sahrawis to form political associations (such as labor organizations) or non-governmental organizations. The paper included reports of repressive measures against demonstrators.
(AI) received, in April 2006, two detailed responses from the Moroccan Ministry of Justice. The Ministry declared that human rights defenders were not stopped and were not taken into custody because of their opinions, but because of their implication in acts liable to infractions of the law. It stressed that they were guaranteed their full civil liberties and gave precise details concerning the investigations in progress into the allegations of torture relating to Houssein Lidri and Brahim Noumria. In addition, the letter refuted the specific allegations of harassing and intimidation with regard to other demonstrators in the Sahara.
Amnesty Internaional responded by claiming that the authorities have not answered the principal concern of the organization regarding the equity of the lawsuits of Sahrawi protestors. For instance, no mention was made in connection with the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and allegations that defendants were not authorized to quote witnesses for the defence.
In June 2006, Amnesty International released its 2005 report on Morocco and Western Sahara, again citing excessive police force
, leading to the death of two demonstrators. In the section: "Protests in Western Sahara" Amnesty reports: "Dozens of people were charged with inciting or participating in violence in the demonstrations. Over 20 were later convicted and some were sentenced to several years in prison. Among those sentenced were seven long-standing human rights defenders who were monitoring and disseminating information on the crackdown by the security forces. Two alleged that they had been tortured during questioning. An eighth human rights defender was detained awaiting trial at the end of the year. All eight were possible prisoners of conscience."
, further citing a source from 1994 that "there are many human rights abuses against the Sahrawi population.So far there has been no investigation of the conduct of the Moroccan army in this conflict." Conscription for the Moroccan army was abolished in 2006.
s in Tindouf
, Algeria under international supervision. POLISARIO maintains that 151 POWs are still missing after being captured by the Moroccan Army, and requests that the Moroccan government shall release them or clarify their fate. Morocco claims it no longer holds any prisoners of war.
and United Kingdom, causing the protest of some ambassadors. While the Moroccan government accused them of trying to convert children to Christianity, and of proselytism
, the Christian groups claim that the government was trying to restrict their work at the "Village of Hope" children's home, for abandoned and orphaned children.
Another case was the deportation from El Aaiun
of the Spanish teacher Sara Domene. She had been working as a Spanish teacher since 2007. The Moroccan governor of the El Aaiun province sent an expulsion note to the Spanish embassy in Rabat
, accusing her
"being a serious threat to the public order and her expulsion is imperative to safeguard public order", in other words, an accusation of proselytism. Sara stated that despite she is Evangelic
, she is a philologist, and that she exclusevely did Spanish language classes, using the money she earned for a centre for handicapped persons. Sara was expelled 48 hours after she was given notice.
, particularly of the Moroccan police against peaceful demonstrators.
In March, 2010, the Sahrawi human rights activist Rachid Sghir was beaten by Moroccan policemen after an interview with the BBC
.
On 28 August, Moroccan police arrested 11 Spanish activists, who were demonstrating for independence for the disputed territory in El Aaiun. They claimed that the police had beat them, releasing a photo of one of the wounded.
In September, a delegation comprising 70 Sahrawis from the Moroccan-controlled part of Western Sahara participate in the International Symposium "The right of peoples to resist: the case of Sahrawi people" in Algiers
. On their return to El Aaiun
airport, the group decided flying in three different groups, accompanied with international observers and journalists. The first group entered without difficulties, but some individuals of the second group were beaten by the police. The third group joined the rest in a house in El Aaiun, surrounded by the police, and finally held a sit in protest in the street, with their mouths taped-up.
In October, thousands of Sahrawis fled from El Aaiun and other towns to the outskirts of Lemseid
oasis (Gdeim Izik), raising up a campament of thousands of "jaimas" (Sahrawi tents) called the "Dignity camp", in the biggest Sahrawi movilization since the Spanish retreat. They protest for the discrimination of Sahrawis in labor and for the spoliation of the natural resources of Western Sahara by Morocco. The protest, that started with a few jaimas on 9 October, grew up to more than 10,000 persons on 21 October. Other campapments were erected in the outskirts of Bojador, Smara
and El Aaiun
, but were disbanded by Moroccan police. The "Gdeim Izik" campament was surrounded by troops of the Moroccan Army and policemen, who made a blockage of water, food and medicines to the camp.
On 24 October, a 4x4 that was trying to enter the camp was machine-gunned by Moroccan soldiers, killing Elgarhi Nayem, a 14-year-old Sahrawi boy, and wounding the other five passengers. The Moroccan Interior ministry claimed that the 4x4 was gunned after shots rang out of the vehicle, which was denied by their families. According to Sahrawi sources, Elgarhi was buried in secret by the Moroccan authorities, without autopsy
or the consent of his family. By that days, the camp had grow to more than 20,000 inhabitants. The Moroccan Army had encircled the camp with a wall of sand and stones, controlling the only access to the camp. On 31 October, Tiago Viera (president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth
) was expelled from El Aaiun airport, first to Casablanca
and then returned to Lisbon
, for alleged "irregularities" when he was trying to visit the camp. Also that day, eight Spanish activists that also tried to reach Gdeim Izik were retained by Moroccan police on a boat in the port of El Aaiun, when they were confronted by a crowd of Moroccans who make death-threats on them. Police stated that they cant guarantee their safety, and denied them entering the territory, so they had to return to Las Palmas. On 6 November, three Spanish regional MP's that tried to visit the "Dignity camp" were retained in Casablanca and expelled to Spain the next day without any explanation.
The most severe accusations of human rights abuses by the Polisario Front have been about the detention, killing and the abusive treatment of Moroccan prisoners of war from the late 70s to 2006. Other accusations were that some of the population are kept in the Tindouf refugee camps against their will and did not enjoy freedom of expression. Moroccan newspapers have aired reports of demonstrations being suppressed violently by POLISARIO forces in the Tindouf camps, but these reports have not been confirmed by international media or human rights organizations.
Several international and Spanish human rights and aid organizations are active in the camps on a permanent basis, and contest the Moroccan allegations; there are several people and organizations that claim the Tindouf camps are a model for running refugee camps democratically.
In April 2010, the Sahrawi government called on the UN to supervise Human rights in the liberated territories (Free Zone
) and refugee camps, hoping that Morocco would do the same.
). On 19 November 1995, the first group of Moroccan soldiers were repatriated to Morocco by mediation of the ICRC, Argentina and the United States. In April 1997, another group of 84 prisoners were released, followed by around 191 more released for the Ramadan
festivities on 23 November 1999. Again, Morocco refused to repatriate the soldiers, allegedly because that would mean recognizing that Morocco was at war against the POLISARIO. Finally on 26 February 2000, a groups of 186 prisoners were repatriated to the Inezgane militar base, in Agadir
, and another 201 were liberated and repatriated on 13 December 2000.
On 17 January 2002, another 115 POW's were released and repatriated, by request of the Spanish government of Jose Maria Aznar
. 100 POW's were released on 17 June 2002, by request of the German government of Gerhard Schröder
, and were repatriated to Agadir on 7 July 2002. On 10 February 2003, the POLISARIO liberate 100 POW's on request from the Spanish government.
In April 2003, the France Libertés foundation led an international mission of inquiry on the conditions of detention of Moroccan prisoners of war long held by the Polisario Front in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Algeria and in the Liberated Territories
of Western Sahara. The prisoners (under Red Cross supervision since the 1980s) had been held since the end of hostilities, awaiting the conclusion of a formal peace treaty, but as the cease-fire dragged on over a decade, many prisoners had at this time been held between 15 and 20 years, making them the longest-serving POWs in the world. POLISARIO had begun releasing a few hundred prisoners at 1984, and continued with that liberations during the 1990s and 2000s, in what were referred by countries like USA, Italy, Ireland, Libya, Qatar
or Spain as "humanitarian gestures", but its refusal to release the last prisoners remained under criticism from the United Nations.
In its report, the French foundation produced detailed accusations of torture
, forced labour, arbitrary detention
s and summary execution
s of captured soldiers, and claimed that these and other systematic abuses had evaded the Red Cross. Most of the crimes had allegedly been committed in the 1980s, but some were of a later date. The foundation, which supports Sahrawi self-determination
and had worked in the camps before, decided to suspend "its interventions in the Saharawi refugee camps of Tindouf where the forced labour of the POWs has been going on for the past 28 years". The report also accused Algeria of direct involvement in crimes against the POWs, and overall responsibility for their situation.
On 14 August 2003, 243 Moroccan POW's were released and repatriated, and another 300 POW's were released on 7 November 2003, by the mediation of the Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, through the GIFCA. On 21 June 2004, another group of 100 prisoners of war was liberated, by a previous request from the Irish government of Bertie Ahern
. They were repatriated by the ICRC on 23 June.
The Polisario Front finally release the last 404 POWs on 18 August 2005.
concluded that "Freedom of expression, association and movement continued to be restricted in the camps controlled by the Polisario Front, near Tindouf
in southwestern Algeria. Those responsible for human rights abuses in the camps in previous years continued to enjoy impunity.". However, in its 2006 update of the annual report, the references to a lack of basic freedoms had been removed.
In 2005 the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants stated: "The Algerian Government allowed the rebel group, Polisario, to confine nearly a hundred thousand refugees from the disputed Western Sahara to four camps in desolate areas outside Tindouf military zone near the Moroccan border 'for political and military, rather than humanitarian, reasons,' according to one observer. According to Amnesty International, "This group of refugees does not enjoy the right to freedom of movement in Algeria. [...] Those refugees who manage to leave the refugee camps without being authorized to do so are often arrested by the Algerian military and returned to the Polisario authorities, with whom they cooperate closely on matters of security.' Polisario checkpoints surrounded the camps, the Algerian military guarded entry into Tindouf, and police operated checkpoints throughout the country."
The main concern of most human rights organizations seems to be the refugees' problems of basic subsistence, living on a meager diet of foreign aid. Human Rights Watch
carried out an extensive research mission in the region in 1995, visiting Morocco, Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugees. Its conclusion on the human rights situation for the Sahrawis in Tindouf was that "we found conditions to be satisfactory, taking into account the difficulties posed by the climate and desolate location"
.
In 1997 and 1999 respectively, the Canadian Lawyers Association for International Human Rights
for Communist indoctrination, something which has been supported by alleged former Tindouf
refugees now living in Morocco, and former Cuban government officials. This would be considered a case of forcible family separation. Morocco has also alleged that the Polisario exports Sahrawi minors to Cuba in order to force them into child prostitution and to train them as child soldiers.
Polisario which was originally founded on a left-wing ideology, responds that the children in Cuba, numbering tens or hundreds rather than thousands, are students at Cuban universities, and are there of their own free will under a UNHCR-sponsored student exchange program. It regards the Moroccan accusations as a smear campaign
aimed at cutting off access to education for Sahrawi refugee
s.
While there exists primary education, there are no universities in the refugee camps, and so Sahrawis have to go abroad to study. Similar programmes exist for Sahrawi students in cooperation with universities in Algeria
, Spain and Italy
, and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
has repeatedly pleaded for more countries to accommodate Sahrawi students. The UNHCR, which oversees the program, has twice investigated the Moroccan claims. In its 2003 report, after having interviewed all 252 Sahrawi students in Cuba, it states that it was the children’s own personal will to continue taking advantage of the opportunity to study in Cuba.
In 2005, the UNHCR again examined the issue, after continued Moroccan allegations. The number of students was now down to 143, and the UNHCR program was not expected to be renewed after the graduation of those students. The report states that many of the Saharan refugee children have availed themselves of scholarships offered within the framework of bilateral relations between the refugee leadership and various countries. The report suggests that this scholarship programme meets the standards of treatment and care required by the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, specially in:
to receive military training as well as regular schooling. At conscription age (17) they returned from abroad to be incorporated into POLISARIO's armed forces. They received more specialised training in engineering, radio, artillery
, mechanics
and desert warfare
. At nineteen they became combatant
s."
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
sees Western Sahara
Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly...
as its Southern Provinces
Southern Provinces
The Southern Provinces or Moroccan Sahara are the terms used by Morocco for Western Sahara, in reference to the part of Western Sahara that lies to the west of the Moroccan Berm...
. Morocco considers the Polisario Front
Polisario Front
The POLISARIO, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro is a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement working for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco...
as a separatist movement given the Moroccan origins of many of its leaders, and a puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
in the hands of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
.
The Polisario Front
Polisario Front
The POLISARIO, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro is a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement working for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco...
argues that according to international organizations as the UN or the AU
African Union
The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...
, the territory of Western Sahara has the right of self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
, and according to that organizations Morocco illegally occupies
Military occupation
Military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army. The territory then becomes occupied territory.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...
the parts of Western Sahara under its control
Southern Provinces
The Southern Provinces or Moroccan Sahara are the terms used by Morocco for Western Sahara, in reference to the part of Western Sahara that lies to the west of the Moroccan Berm...
. POLISARIO sees that as a consequence of the vision of a Great Morocco, fuelled in the past by the Istiqlal
Istiqlal
-Political parties:*Istiqlal Party, the Hizb al-istiqlāl or Independence Party, political party in Morocco*Hizb al-Istiqlal, or Independence Party , Arab political party under the British Mandate of Palestine...
and Hassan II, and considers itself a national liberation movement
National Liberation Movement
A national liberation movement is an organization engaged in a war of national liberation.National Liberation Movement may also refer to:* Movement of National Liberation, a leftist party founded by former Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas...
aiming at leading the disputed territory to independence under the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a partially recognised state that claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976, in Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara. The SADR government controls about...
.
The United States, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, the African Union
African Union
The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...
and the United Nations do not recognize the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara (as no country in the world does). They consider the Polisario Front the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi
Sahrawi
Most frequently in English language usage, the term Sahrawi is usually used in reference to populations from the disputed Western Sahara territory, sometimes with a nationalist connotation....
people, and one of the two belligerent parties in the conflict.
Human rights
The Western Sahara conflict has resulted in severe human rights abuses, most notably the aerial bombardments with NapalmNapalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
& White phosphorus of the Sahrawi refugee camps, the consequently exodus
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
of tens of thousands of Sahrawi civilians from the country, and the forced expropriation and expulsion of tens of thousands of Moroccan civilians by the Algerian government from Algeria in reaction to the Green March
Green March
The Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan Spanish Province of Sahara to Morocco.-Background:...
as well as violations of human rights and serious breaches of the Geneva convention by the Polisario Front, the Moroccan government and the Algerian government.
Both Morocco and the Polisario accuse each other of violating the human rights of the populations under their control, in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara
Southern Provinces
The Southern Provinces or Moroccan Sahara are the terms used by Morocco for Western Sahara, in reference to the part of Western Sahara that lies to the west of the Moroccan Berm...
and the Tindouf
Tindouf
Tindouf is the main town in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian and Moroccan borders. The region is considered of strategic significance, and it houses Algerian military bases. Since 1975, it also contains several Sahrawi refugee camps operated by the Polisario Front a guerrilla...
refugee camps in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, respectively. Morocco and organisations such as France Libertés consider Algeria to be directly responsible for any crimes committed on its territory, and accuse the country of having been directly involved in such violations.
Morocco has been repeatedly & heavily criticized for its actions in Western Sahara by international human rights organizations such as:
-
- Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
- Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
- World Organization Against Torture
- Freedom HouseFreedom HouseFreedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
- Reporters Without BordersReporters Without BordersReporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
- International Committee of the Red CrossInternational Committee of the Red CrossThe International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Derechos Human RightsDerechos Human RightsDerechos Human Rights or Derechos humanos is an International human rights organization with their primary focus being on Latin America. It was founded in 1995 as the first internet-based human rights organization...
- Defend InternationalDefend InternationalDefend International is an international non-governmental organisation whose mission is "to respond to grave violations of human rights and of International Humanitarian Law and to monitor the implementation of preventive measures that are designed to end impunity for the perpetrators of these...
- Front LineFront lineA front line is the farthest-most forward position of an armed force's personnel and equipment - generally in respect of maritime or land forces. Forward Line of Own Troops , or Forward Edge of Battle Area are technical terms used by all branches of the armed services...
- International Federation of Human RightsInternational Federation of Human RightsThe International Federation for Human Rights is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the oldest international human rights organisation worldwide and today brings together 164 member organisations in over 100 countries.FIDH is nonpartisan,...
- Society for Threatened PeoplesSociety for Threatened PeoplesSociety for Threatened Peoples is an international NGO and human rights organization based in Göttingen, Germany. It seeks to create awareness of and protect minority peoples around the world who are threatened by oppressive governments. The group states on its website that it "campaigns against...
- Norwegian Refugee CouncilNorwegian Refugee CouncilThe Norwegian Refugee Council is an independent, humanitarian non-governmental organisation which provides assistance, protection and durable solutions to refugees, internally displaced persons, and returnees worldwide. NRC promotes and protects the rights of people who have been forced to flee...
- Amnesty International
POLISARIO has received criticism from the French organization France Libertes on its treatment of Moroccan prisoners-of-war, and on its general behaviour in the Tindouf refugee camps in reports by the Strategic Intelligence and Security Center.
A number of Former members of Polisario who have joined Morocco accuse the organisation of abuse of human rights and sequestration of the population in Tindouf
During the war (1975–91), both sides accused each other of targeting civilians. Neither claim has met with support abroad. The USA, EU, AU
African Union
The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...
and UN refused to include the Polisario Front
Polisario Front
The POLISARIO, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro is a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement working for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco...
on their lists
U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations
"Foreign Terrorist Organization" is a designation of non-United States-based organizations declared terrorist by the United States Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act...
of terrorist organizations. Polisario Front leaders maintain that they are ideologically opposed to terrorism, as they had condemned terrorist attacks and signed the "Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism", in the framework of the African Union
African Union
The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...
.
Human rights are repressed in the Moroccan-controlled territories of Western Sahara, according to Amnesty International in 2003 and Human Rights Watch in 2004. While the situation has improved since the early 1990s, the political liberalization
Liberalization
In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation...
in Morocco has not had the same effect on Western Sahara according to Amnesty International in 2004.
, when it comes to having a pro-independence position. There are allegations of police abuse and torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
by Polisario-organisations., and suspected dissidents are harassed. The United States State Department reported in 2000 that there were arbitrary arrests of Sahrawis and no organized labor. Prisoners of conscience
Prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...
were kept in squalid conditions according to Polisario-groups. Some Sahrawis also complain of systematic discrimination in favor of Moroccan settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s.
The Moroccan response to the demonstrations of 2005 was very aggressive, and provoked international reactions. In a criticised mass trial in December 2005, 14 leading Sahrawi activists were sentenced to prison sentences; many more had previously been detained. Most of these prisoners were later released by royal decree in the spring of 2006, but some have since again been rearrested.
According to the US State Department's 2006 report on Morocco "The law generally provides for freedom of speech and of the press. The government generally respected these rights in practice, as long as Islam, the monarchy, and territorial integrity (the inclusion of the Western Sahara) were not criticized. Throughout the year several publications tested the boundaries of press freedom."
The US State Department's 2005 report on Morocco's attitude towards human rights noted that "[i]n 2004 various international human rights groups estimated that 700 persons were imprisoned for advocating Western Saharan independence.". Foreign journalists and visiting missions have been prevented from visiting the territory and in some instances deported from it. In 2004, Moroccan newsman Ali Lmrabet
Ali Lmrabet
Ali Lmrabet is a Moroccan journalist and a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights.He came from a modest Berber family, was born in a small village called Adouz near Al-Hoceima in north Morocco. He was schooled at the International Israelite Alliance which sponsored people from...
was sentenced to heavy fines and ten year ban on practicing journalism, for referring in an article to the Sahrawis in Tindouf, Algeria, as being "refugees" rather than "sequestered" or "kidnapped", as is the official Moroccan position. Sahrawi human rights organizations have been refused permission to operate in Morocco: the Sahrawi branch of the Moroccan Forum for Truth and Justice (FVJ) was dissolved in 2003, and its members arrested. They were later released in the royal amnesties of 2006, or before that, even if some have since been rearrested again. Presently, several organisations, such as the ASVDH, operate illegally, with activists occasionally subject to arrests and harassment, whereas others, such as the polisario close AFAPREDESA, are mainly active in exile.
Sahrawi activists have tried to compensate for this through extensive use of the Internet, reporting from illegal demonstrations, and documenting police abuse and torture through online pictures and video. Morocco has responded by blockading Internet access to these sites in Morocco and in Western Sahara, prompting accusations of Internet censorship
Internet censorship
Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of government or on their own initiative...
. On 20 December 2005 Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
reported that Morocco has added Anonymizer
Anonymizer
An anonymizer or an anonymous proxy is a tool that attempts to make activity on the Internet untraceable.It is a proxy server computer that acts as an intermediary and privacy shield between a client computer and the rest of the Internet...
to its Internet blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
, days after the association recommended the service to Moroccans and Sahrawis wishing to access the banned Sahrawi sites. "These websites, promoting independence for Western Sahara, have been censored since the beginning of December" it reports.
Human rights in Morocco-controlled Western Sahara
The most severe accusations of human rights abuses by the Kingdom of Morocco are the bombings with Napalm and White phosphorus of the improvised refugee camps in Western Sahara in early 1976, killing hundreds of civilians, as well as the fate of hundreds of "disappeared" Sahrawi civilians sequestered by Moroccan military or police forces, most of them during the Western Sahara WarWestern Sahara War
The Western Sahara War was an armed conflict primarily between the Polisario Front and Morocco, the conflict erupted after the withdrawal of Spain from the Spanish Sahara in accordance with the Madrid Accords by which it gave administrative control of the territory to Morocco and Mauritania...
. Other accusations are the torture, repression and imprisonment of Sahrawis who oppose peacefully the Moroccan occupation, the expulsion from the territory of foreign journalist, teachers and NGO members, the discrimination of the Sahrawis on the labor and the spoliation of the natural resources of the territory.
On the 15th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, former prisoner, human rights defender and second vice-president of CODESA (Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders) El Mami Amar Salem denounced that more than 30,000 Sahrawi citizens had been tortured by Moroccan forces since 1975.
The "disappeared"
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
stated in a 1999 report that:
.
In May 2005, the remains of 43 Sahrawi "disappeared" were exhumed from secret prisons on the south of Morocco (Kalaat Maguna, Tagunit). They were detained in Western Sahara (Laayoune, Smara) & southern Morocco (Tan Tan
Tan Tan
Tan Tan may refer to:*Tan-Tan, a city in Morocco*Tan-tan, a small drum*Eddie Thornton, Jamaican trumpeter known by his nickname "Tan Tan"...
, Assa
ASSA
ASSA can refer to:* Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia* Actuarial Society of South Africa* Allied Social Sciences Association* Armed Services Security Agency, UK* Assa Abloy - Swedish manufacturer of locks and security doors...
) in the 1970s & 1980s.
In 2008, the head of CORCAS & former leader of the Sahrawi National Union Party
Sahrawi National Union Party
Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui was a short-lived political party set up by Spain to rally support in its rebellious Spanish Sahara colony .- Creation of PUNS:...
, Khelli Henna Ould Rachid
Khelli Henna Ould Rachid
Khelli Henna Ould Rachid is the Sahrawi chairman of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs , a Moroccan government body active in the disputed region of Western Sahara.-Under Spain:...
declared:
- "Some Moroccan army officers have made what might be called war crimes against prisoners outside the scope of the war ... Many civilians were launched into space from helicopters or buried alive simply for being Sahrawis".
The same year (4 January) construction workers uncovered a mass grave with approximately 15 skeletons in Smara, in former military barracks built during the 1970s, the period during which many Sahrawis disappeared or were murdered by Moroccan authorities.
Resulting from the "Reconciliation tribunals" in Morocco in 2005, some graves of political dissidents of Hassan II regime (Sahrawis & Moroccans) were uncovered, although the responsible persons of those crimes have never been judged or their identities revealed. Also, the testimonies of witnesses have not been published yet.
In March 2010, a new grave was found by Bou Craa
Bou Craa
Bou Craa is a town in the Saguia el-Hamra region of northern Western Sahara, south and slightly east of the city of El Aaiún. It is inhabited almost entirely by employees of the Moroccan-controlled Bou Craa phosphate industry...
workers on a phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
mine with 7 corpses, supposedly Sahrawi nomads killed by Moroccan forces during the mid-1970s.
Freedom House
In late 2005, the international democracy watchdog Freedom HouseFreedom House
Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
listed the abuses of human rights by Morocco. Those relating to political processes were: controlling elections and not allowing Sahrawis to form political associations (such as labor organizations) or non-governmental organizations. The paper included reports of repressive measures against demonstrators.
Amnesty International
After repeatedly calling attention to alleged human rights violations in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
(AI) received, in April 2006, two detailed responses from the Moroccan Ministry of Justice. The Ministry declared that human rights defenders were not stopped and were not taken into custody because of their opinions, but because of their implication in acts liable to infractions of the law. It stressed that they were guaranteed their full civil liberties and gave precise details concerning the investigations in progress into the allegations of torture relating to Houssein Lidri and Brahim Noumria. In addition, the letter refuted the specific allegations of harassing and intimidation with regard to other demonstrators in the Sahara.
Amnesty Internaional responded by claiming that the authorities have not answered the principal concern of the organization regarding the equity of the lawsuits of Sahrawi protestors. For instance, no mention was made in connection with the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and allegations that defendants were not authorized to quote witnesses for the defence.
In June 2006, Amnesty International released its 2005 report on Morocco and Western Sahara, again citing excessive police force
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
, leading to the death of two demonstrators. In the section: "Protests in Western Sahara" Amnesty reports: "Dozens of people were charged with inciting or participating in violence in the demonstrations. Over 20 were later convicted and some were sentenced to several years in prison. Among those sentenced were seven long-standing human rights defenders who were monitoring and disseminating information on the crackdown by the security forces. Two alleged that they had been tortured during questioning. An eighth human rights defender was detained awaiting trial at the end of the year. All eight were possible prisoners of conscience."
Child recruitment
War Resisters' International, stated in 1998 that Morocco conscripts citizens, including Sahrawis in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara, into the army; it was a punishable offence to resist. The WRI also cited sources from 1993 saying that "[r]eports indicate that Moroccan authorities in the south have strongly urged under-eighteens to enlist in the armed forces. Fourteen and fifteen-year-old boys in southern Morocco and in the occupied territory of Western Sahara have been allowed to enlist", further citing a source from 1994 that "there are many human rights abuses against the Sahrawi population.So far there has been no investigation of the conduct of the Moroccan army in this conflict." Conscription for the Moroccan army was abolished in 2006.
POLISARIO Prisoners of War
In addition to the civilian "disappeared", the Polisario Front accuses the Moroccan government of refusing to provide information on the Sahrawi prisoners of war, who were captured on the battlefield during the war years (1975–91). Morocco long denied holding any war prisoners, but in 1996 released 66 Polisario Front POWs, who were then evacuated to the refugee campRefugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...
s in Tindouf
Tindouf
Tindouf is the main town in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian and Moroccan borders. The region is considered of strategic significance, and it houses Algerian military bases. Since 1975, it also contains several Sahrawi refugee camps operated by the Polisario Front a guerrilla...
, Algeria under international supervision. POLISARIO maintains that 151 POWs are still missing after being captured by the Moroccan Army, and requests that the Moroccan government shall release them or clarify their fate. Morocco claims it no longer holds any prisoners of war.
Expulsion of Christian foreign workers
Morocco has occasionally expelled small numbers of missionary groups, many funded by U.S. evangelical churches, in Morocco and in the Western Sahara parts that it controls. But in March 2010, aid groups and Western countries diplomats denounced that only in that month 70 Christian foreign aid workers were expelled without any trial. Some of them were from USA, New Zealand, NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and United Kingdom, causing the protest of some ambassadors. While the Moroccan government accused them of trying to convert children to Christianity, and of proselytism
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
, the Christian groups claim that the government was trying to restrict their work at the "Village of Hope" children's home, for abandoned and orphaned children.
Another case was the deportation from El Aaiun
El Aaiún
El-Aaiún , is a city in Western Sahara founded by the Spanish in 1928. Administered by Morocco since 1976, El-Aaiún is the capital of what the Moroccan government call the region of Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra, and POLISARIO call Occupied Territories...
of the Spanish teacher Sara Domene. She had been working as a Spanish teacher since 2007. The Moroccan governor of the El Aaiun province sent an expulsion note to the Spanish embassy in Rabat
Rabat
Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
, accusing her
"being a serious threat to the public order and her expulsion is imperative to safeguard public order", in other words, an accusation of proselytism. Sara stated that despite she is Evangelic
Evangelic
Evangelic or evangelical means "to be rooted in the gospels" from the or . This is the core meaning in theology that can be found in terms like the Evangelical Counsels....
, she is a philologist, and that she exclusevely did Spanish language classes, using the money she earned for a centre for handicapped persons. Sara was expelled 48 hours after she was given notice.
Present situation
In October, 2006, a secret report by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees leaked to the media by the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara detailing the deteriorating condition of human rights in the occupied territory of Western Sahara. The report details several eyewitness testimonies regarding violence associated with the Independence IntifadaIndependence Intifada
The Independence Intifada is a Saharawi Polisario activist coinage for a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots that broke out in May 2005 in the Moroccan-held parts of Western Sahara. This event has also been called "The El-Aaiun Intifada" by the same sources...
, particularly of the Moroccan police against peaceful demonstrators.
In March, 2010, the Sahrawi human rights activist Rachid Sghir was beaten by Moroccan policemen after an interview with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
On 28 August, Moroccan police arrested 11 Spanish activists, who were demonstrating for independence for the disputed territory in El Aaiun. They claimed that the police had beat them, releasing a photo of one of the wounded.
In September, a delegation comprising 70 Sahrawis from the Moroccan-controlled part of Western Sahara participate in the International Symposium "The right of peoples to resist: the case of Sahrawi people" in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
. On their return to El Aaiun
El Aaiún
El-Aaiún , is a city in Western Sahara founded by the Spanish in 1928. Administered by Morocco since 1976, El-Aaiún is the capital of what the Moroccan government call the region of Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra, and POLISARIO call Occupied Territories...
airport, the group decided flying in three different groups, accompanied with international observers and journalists. The first group entered without difficulties, but some individuals of the second group were beaten by the police. The third group joined the rest in a house in El Aaiun, surrounded by the police, and finally held a sit in protest in the street, with their mouths taped-up.
In October, thousands of Sahrawis fled from El Aaiun and other towns to the outskirts of Lemseid
Lemseid
Lemseid is a small oasis town near El-Aaiun in the Saguia el-Hamra part of Western Sahara, close to the Saguia el-Hamra itself. The Sahrawi independence activist and leader of the Harakat Tahrir, Muhammad Bassiri, grew up here in the 1950s...
oasis (Gdeim Izik), raising up a campament of thousands of "jaimas" (Sahrawi tents) called the "Dignity camp", in the biggest Sahrawi movilization since the Spanish retreat. They protest for the discrimination of Sahrawis in labor and for the spoliation of the natural resources of Western Sahara by Morocco. The protest, that started with a few jaimas on 9 October, grew up to more than 10,000 persons on 21 October. Other campapments were erected in the outskirts of Bojador, Smara
Smara
Smara, also Semara , is a city in the Moroccan-Administered Western Sahara, with a population estimated at 42,056.-History:The largest city in its province, Smara was founded in the Saguia el-Hamra as an oasis for travellers in 1869. It is the only major city in Western Sahara that was not founded...
and El Aaiun
El Aaiún
El-Aaiún , is a city in Western Sahara founded by the Spanish in 1928. Administered by Morocco since 1976, El-Aaiún is the capital of what the Moroccan government call the region of Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra, and POLISARIO call Occupied Territories...
, but were disbanded by Moroccan police. The "Gdeim Izik" campament was surrounded by troops of the Moroccan Army and policemen, who made a blockage of water, food and medicines to the camp.
On 24 October, a 4x4 that was trying to enter the camp was machine-gunned by Moroccan soldiers, killing Elgarhi Nayem, a 14-year-old Sahrawi boy, and wounding the other five passengers. The Moroccan Interior ministry claimed that the 4x4 was gunned after shots rang out of the vehicle, which was denied by their families. According to Sahrawi sources, Elgarhi was buried in secret by the Moroccan authorities, without autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
or the consent of his family. By that days, the camp had grow to more than 20,000 inhabitants. The Moroccan Army had encircled the camp with a wall of sand and stones, controlling the only access to the camp. On 31 October, Tiago Viera (president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth
World Federation of Democratic Youth
The World Federation of Democratic Youth is a progressive youth organization, recognized by the United Nations as an international youth non-governmental organization. WFDY describes itself as an "anti-imperialist, left-wing" organisation...
) was expelled from El Aaiun airport, first to Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
and then returned to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, for alleged "irregularities" when he was trying to visit the camp. Also that day, eight Spanish activists that also tried to reach Gdeim Izik were retained by Moroccan police on a boat in the port of El Aaiun, when they were confronted by a crowd of Moroccans who make death-threats on them. Police stated that they cant guarantee their safety, and denied them entering the territory, so they had to return to Las Palmas. On 6 November, three Spanish regional MP's that tried to visit the "Dignity camp" were retained in Casablanca and expelled to Spain the next day without any explanation.
Human rights in POLISARIO-controlled refugee camps
Several international and Spanish human rights and aid organizations are active in the camps on a permanent basis, and contest the Moroccan allegations; there are several people and organizations that claim the Tindouf camps are a model for running refugee camps democratically.
In April 2010, the Sahrawi government called on the UN to supervise Human rights in the liberated territories (Free Zone
Free Zone
Free Zone may refer to:*A free economic zone or free port, an area with relaxed customs, immigration, visa, and/or taxation jurisdiction with respect to the country of location...
) and refugee camps, hoping that Morocco would do the same.
Moroccan Prisoners of War
Until 1997, Morocco refused to recognize the soldiers captured by the POLISARIO as POWs, even rejecting their repatriation to their homeland, as it happened with the first groups, liberated unilaterally and unconditionally by the Polisario Front in 1984 and 1989 (by demand of the Italian government of Ciriaco de MitaCiriaco de Mita
Ciriaco Luigi de Mita is an Italian politician. He served as the 47th Prime Minister of Italy from 1988 to 1989 and is currently Member of the European Parliament.-Biography:De Mita was born in Nusco, in the Avellinese hinterland....
). On 19 November 1995, the first group of Moroccan soldiers were repatriated to Morocco by mediation of the ICRC, Argentina and the United States. In April 1997, another group of 84 prisoners were released, followed by around 191 more released for the Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
festivities on 23 November 1999. Again, Morocco refused to repatriate the soldiers, allegedly because that would mean recognizing that Morocco was at war against the POLISARIO. Finally on 26 February 2000, a groups of 186 prisoners were repatriated to the Inezgane militar base, in Agadir
Agadir
Agadir is a major city in southwest Morocco, capital of the Agadir province and the Sous-Massa-Draa economic region .-Etymology:...
, and another 201 were liberated and repatriated on 13 December 2000.
On 17 January 2002, another 115 POW's were released and repatriated, by request of the Spanish government of Jose Maria Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
. 100 POW's were released on 17 June 2002, by request of the German government of Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Before becoming a full-time politician, he was a lawyer, and before becoming Chancellor...
, and were repatriated to Agadir on 7 July 2002. On 10 February 2003, the POLISARIO liberate 100 POW's on request from the Spanish government.
In April 2003, the France Libertés foundation led an international mission of inquiry on the conditions of detention of Moroccan prisoners of war long held by the Polisario Front in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Algeria and in the Liberated Territories
Free Zone (region)
The Free Zone or Liberated Territories is a term used by the Polisario Front to describe the part of Western Sahara that lies to the east of the Moroccan Berm and west and north of the borders with Algeria and Mauritania, respectively...
of Western Sahara. The prisoners (under Red Cross supervision since the 1980s) had been held since the end of hostilities, awaiting the conclusion of a formal peace treaty, but as the cease-fire dragged on over a decade, many prisoners had at this time been held between 15 and 20 years, making them the longest-serving POWs in the world. POLISARIO had begun releasing a few hundred prisoners at 1984, and continued with that liberations during the 1990s and 2000s, in what were referred by countries like USA, Italy, Ireland, Libya, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
or Spain as "humanitarian gestures", but its refusal to release the last prisoners remained under criticism from the United Nations.
In its report, the French foundation produced detailed accusations of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, forced labour, arbitrary detention
Detention (imprisonment)
Detention is the process when a state, government or citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom of liberty at that time. This can be due to criminal charges being raised against the individual as part of a prosecution or to protect a person or property...
s and summary execution
Summary execution
A summary execution is a variety of execution in which a person is killed on the spot without trial or after a show trial. Summary executions have been practiced by the police, military, and paramilitary organizations and are associated with guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, terrorism, and...
s of captured soldiers, and claimed that these and other systematic abuses had evaded the Red Cross. Most of the crimes had allegedly been committed in the 1980s, but some were of a later date. The foundation, which supports Sahrawi self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
and had worked in the camps before, decided to suspend "its interventions in the Saharawi refugee camps of Tindouf where the forced labour of the POWs has been going on for the past 28 years". The report also accused Algeria of direct involvement in crimes against the POWs, and overall responsibility for their situation.
On 14 August 2003, 243 Moroccan POW's were released and repatriated, and another 300 POW's were released on 7 November 2003, by the mediation of the Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, through the GIFCA. On 21 June 2004, another group of 100 prisoners of war was liberated, by a previous request from the Irish government of Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern
Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
. They were repatriated by the ICRC on 23 June.
The Polisario Front finally release the last 404 POWs on 18 August 2005.
Freedom of movement
In a report published in 2003 Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
concluded that "Freedom of expression, association and movement continued to be restricted in the camps controlled by the Polisario Front, near Tindouf
Tindouf
Tindouf is the main town in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian and Moroccan borders. The region is considered of strategic significance, and it houses Algerian military bases. Since 1975, it also contains several Sahrawi refugee camps operated by the Polisario Front a guerrilla...
in southwestern Algeria. Those responsible for human rights abuses in the camps in previous years continued to enjoy impunity.". However, in its 2006 update of the annual report, the references to a lack of basic freedoms had been removed.
In 2005 the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants stated: "The Algerian Government allowed the rebel group, Polisario, to confine nearly a hundred thousand refugees from the disputed Western Sahara to four camps in desolate areas outside Tindouf military zone near the Moroccan border 'for political and military, rather than humanitarian, reasons,' according to one observer. According to Amnesty International, "This group of refugees does not enjoy the right to freedom of movement in Algeria. [...] Those refugees who manage to leave the refugee camps without being authorized to do so are often arrested by the Algerian military and returned to the Polisario authorities, with whom they cooperate closely on matters of security.' Polisario checkpoints surrounded the camps, the Algerian military guarded entry into Tindouf, and police operated checkpoints throughout the country."
The main concern of most human rights organizations seems to be the refugees' problems of basic subsistence, living on a meager diet of foreign aid. Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
carried out an extensive research mission in the region in 1995, visiting Morocco, Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugees. Its conclusion on the human rights situation for the Sahrawis in Tindouf was that "we found conditions to be satisfactory, taking into account the difficulties posed by the climate and desolate location"
.
In 1997 and 1999 respectively, the Canadian Lawyers Association for International Human Rights
Cuba students programme
POLISARIO is regularly accused by Morocco of deporting Sahrawi children by groups of thousands to CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
for Communist indoctrination, something which has been supported by alleged former Tindouf
Tindouf
Tindouf is the main town in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian and Moroccan borders. The region is considered of strategic significance, and it houses Algerian military bases. Since 1975, it also contains several Sahrawi refugee camps operated by the Polisario Front a guerrilla...
refugees now living in Morocco, and former Cuban government officials. This would be considered a case of forcible family separation. Morocco has also alleged that the Polisario exports Sahrawi minors to Cuba in order to force them into child prostitution and to train them as child soldiers.
Polisario which was originally founded on a left-wing ideology, responds that the children in Cuba, numbering tens or hundreds rather than thousands, are students at Cuban universities, and are there of their own free will under a UNHCR-sponsored student exchange program. It regards the Moroccan accusations as a smear campaign
Smear campaign
A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with a stigmatized group...
aimed at cutting off access to education for Sahrawi refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s.
While there exists primary education, there are no universities in the refugee camps, and so Sahrawis have to go abroad to study. Similar programmes exist for Sahrawi students in cooperation with universities in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Spain and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a partially recognised state that claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976, in Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara. The SADR government controls about...
has repeatedly pleaded for more countries to accommodate Sahrawi students. The UNHCR, which oversees the program, has twice investigated the Moroccan claims. In its 2003 report, after having interviewed all 252 Sahrawi students in Cuba, it states that it was the children’s own personal will to continue taking advantage of the opportunity to study in Cuba.
In 2005, the UNHCR again examined the issue, after continued Moroccan allegations. The number of students was now down to 143, and the UNHCR program was not expected to be renewed after the graduation of those students. The report states that many of the Saharan refugee children have availed themselves of scholarships offered within the framework of bilateral relations between the refugee leadership and various countries. The report suggests that this scholarship programme meets the standards of treatment and care required by the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, specially in:
- Protection of the minors from all forms of discrimination while in Cuba, they enjoy equal educational opportunities as well as slightly more advantageous treatment in terms of material and health support provided in Cuban schools.
- Fully respect and guaranty of the rights of the students, in regard to health, nutrition, culture, personal liberty and security.
- Children are not subjected to any form of abuse or exploitation of any type whatsoever. This also covers military recruitment and training and child labour activities that would qualify as exploitative as defined by the CRC.
- All information gathered during the mission affirms the voluntary nature of participation in the programme of the children, the direct role of the parents in determining whether their child would participate, and the opportunity for the children who do not wish to continue the programme, to abandon it and return home.
Child recruitment
According to a 1998 report by War Resisters International, "during the guerrilla war" – i.e. between 1975 and 1991 – "POLISARIO recruitment formed an integral part of the education programme. At the age of 12, children were either integrated into the "National School of 12 October" which prepares the political and military cadres, or they have been sent abroad to Algeria, Cuba and LibyaLibya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
to receive military training as well as regular schooling. At conscription age (17) they returned from abroad to be incorporated into POLISARIO's armed forces. They received more specialised training in engineering, radio, artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
, mechanics
Mechanics
Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....
and desert warfare
Desert warfare
Desert warfare is combat in deserts. In desert warfare the elements can sometimes be more dangerous than the actual enemy. The desert terrain is the second most inhospitable to troops following a cold environment...
. At nineteen they became combatant
Combatant
A combatant is someone who takes a direct part in the hostilities of an armed conflict. If a combatant follows the law of war, then they are considered a privileged combatant, and upon capture they qualify as a prisoner of war under the Third Geneva Convention...
s."
See also
- AFAPREDESA
- Ali Salem TamekAli Salem TamekAli Salem Tamek is a Moroccan Sahrawi independence activist, human rights defender and trade unionist.Ali Salem Tamek was born in Assa, southern Morocco. He has emerged as one of the most outspoken Sahrawi dissidents under Moroccan rule. He is vice president of the Collective Of Sahrawi Human...
- Aminatou HaidarAminatou HaidarAminatou Ali Ahmed Haidar , sometimes known as Aminetou,Aminatu or Aminetu, is a Sahrawi human rights defender and political activist. She is a leading activist for the independence of Western Sahara. She is sometimes called the "Sahrawi Gandhi" for her nonviolent protests, including hunger...
- ASVDH
- BIRDHSO
- Brahim DahaneBrahim DahaneBrahim Dahane is a Sahrawi human rights activist and President of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State, a human rights organization banned by Morocco...
- History of Western SaharaHistory of Western SaharaThe history of Western Sahara can be traced back to the times of Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator in the 5th century BC. Though few historical records are left from that period, Western Sahara's modern history has its roots linked to some nomadic groups such as the Sanhaja group and the...
- Human rights in MoroccoHuman rights in MoroccoMorocco’s human rights record is mixed. On the one hand, Morocco has made considerable improvements since the repressive Years of Lead under King Hassan II's reign , but under his modernizing son, Mohammed VI, there are still complaints about abuses of power.This article deals with Morocco and not...
- Mohamed Daddach
- Mohamed ElmoutaoikilMohamed ElmoutaoikilMohamed Cheikh Elmoutaoikil is a Moroccan Sahrawi human rights defender active in Western Sahara and Morocco. He is the father of three children. He holds a degree in Geology...
- TazmamartTazmamartTazmamart was a secret prison in south-eastern Morocco in the Atlas Mountains, holding political prisoners. The prison became a symbol ofoppression in the political history of contemporary Morocco...
Related links
- H.R.W. world report 2010: Morocco & Western Sahara
- Amnesty International: Morocco/Western Sahara 2006 Report
- Freedom House: Western Sahara 2010 Report
- Human Rights Watch: Morocco – Summary page for Morocco/Western Sahara
- IFEX: Morocco Puts Squeeze on Western Sahara News – IFEXInternational Freedom of Expression ExchangeThe International Freedom of Expression eXchange , founded in 1992, is a global network of around 90 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression....
- UNHCR Western Sahara page
- Human Rights Watch: Keeping It Secret – 1995 investigative mission to Western Sahara and Tindouf.
- R.S.F. – Morocco – Annual report 2006
- R.S.F. – Morocco – 2005 annual report
- R.S.F. – Morocco – Annual Report 2002
- N.R.C. Report on Western Sahara: Occupied Country, Displaced People
- El Observador nº 52: Derechos humanos en el Sáhara Occidental (2008)
- 2008 International Trade Union visit to the occupied territories in Western Sahara.
- ARSO human rights page ARSO's collection of human rights material
- ARSO political prisoners' page
- CLAIHR visiting mission 1997 – conditions in the Tindouf refugee camps
- CLAIHR visiting mission 1999 – conditions in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara (pdf)
- Asociación de Familiares de Presos y Desaparecidos Saharauis (AFAPREDESA) – Exile-based Sahrawi human rights organization
- Asociación Saharaui de las Víctimas de las Violaciones de Derechos Humanos por Marruecos (ASVDH) – Illegalized El Aaiun-based Sahrawi human rights organization
- Colectivo Saharaui de Defensores de los Derechos Humanos (CODESA) – El Aaiun-based Sahrawi human rights collective
- Comité por la Defensa del Derecho a la Autodeterminación para el Pueblo del Sáhara Occidental (CODAPSO) – Western Sahara based Sahrawi human rights committee, declared illegal by Morocco
- Freedom Sun – Organization for the protection of Sahrawi human rights defenders – Western Sahara-based Sahrawi human rights defenders organization
- Association Marocaine de Droits Humaine (AMDH) – Moroccan human rights organization
- International Bureau for the Respect of Human Rights in Western Sahara (BIRDHSO) – Sahrawi human rights organization in exile (SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
) - US State Department – 2009 Country Report for Western Sahara
- US State Department – 2005 Country Report for Western Sahara