RASD supports HRW call on the Security Council to mandate MINURSO to monitor human rights

The Saharawi Minister of Justice, Mr. Hamada Salma, declared Today in a written statement that the Saharawi government backs Human Rights Watch’s call on the UN Security Council to ensure the U.N. presence in the region included regular human rights monitoring. He declared that the Saharawi government and POLISARIO Front took note of the HRW report, and considers that it is unacceptable that MINURSO remains the only UN peacekeeping force that doesn’t-t monitor human rights. Human Rights Watch accused Morocco on Friday of beating and torturing independence campaigners in Western Sahara and said U.N. peacekeepers should start monitoring human rights in the territory. Morocco invaded and took control of Western Sahara in 1975 when the territory’s “de iure” colonial power, Spain, hastily withdrew without decolonising it. After more than 16 years liberation war, waged by the Saharawi people under he leadership of POLISARIO Front, the legitimate representative of the people of Western Sahara, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991 and sent in peacekeepers to monitor the agreement and to organise a referendum on self-determination as the name of the mission suggests (La Mission de l’ONU pour un Referendum au Sahara Occidental- MINURSO). HRW said Morocco bans and disperses peaceful protests in the territory and denies recognition to Saharawi human rights organisations. It accused Moroccan police of beating pro-independence demonstrators and torturing people in their custody. "Morocco uses a combination of repressive laws, police violence and unfair trials to punish Saharawis who advocate peacefully in favour of independence or full self-determination for the disputed Western Sahara," HRW said.