Photo: UN WebTV
In a joint statement, UJSARIO and ISHR stressed the failure of the international community to uphold its commitments to decolonisation and human rights as the occupation of Western Sahara and systematic oppression of the Saharawi people by Morocco continue. They urged the Council to take action.
Speaking at the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council, during the General Debate, Item 4, Saharawi youth organisation UJSARIO delivered a joint statement with ISHR highlighting the plight of human rights defenders in Western Sahara, and urging the Council to take action so that Saharawi people can enjoy their human rights and access human rights bodies without fear of reprisals.
Watch the statement below:
The General Assembly has reaffirmed ‘that the question of Western Sahara is a question of decolonisation which remains to be completed on the basis of the exercise by the people of Western Sahara of their inalienable right to self-determination and independence’.
Saharawi human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society actors continue to face targeted repression for their peaceful activism. Violations such as arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, racial and economic discrimination, suppression of fundamental freedoms, and the plundering of natural resources are a lived reality for Saharawi people.
In October 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) called for the immediate release of 18 Gdeim Izik prisoners from Western Sahara, who have been held for over 13 years in Moroccan jails, alongside 11 other decisions highlighting a systematic pattern of human rights violations.
Morocco has failed to comply with its international obligations and has intensified its repressive policies since 2015, when it denied access to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and UN Special Procedures. In this statement, we highlight that the obstruction of access to UN human rights mechanisms in occupied Western Sahara is emblematic of a broader pattern of State non-cooperation, which must be urgently addressed by the Council.
The future of the Saharawi people remains uncertain while rulings affirming their right to self-determination remain unimplemented. We urge Morocco to implement the decisions of the Committee Against Torture (CAT) and the WGAD and to unconditionally release the Gdeim Izik prisoners, and all arbitrarily detained journalists and human rights defenders, and put an end to the illegal economic exploitation of Western Sahara’s resources, with penalties for corporations complicit in human rights abuses.
The Council must take decisive measures to reinforce the authority of UN human rights mechanisms and ensure that Morocco complies with its obligations, including protecting those engaging with these bodies from reprisals, and to provide access to human rights bodies to occupied Western Sahara.
We urge the Council to ensure that the Saharawi people are able to enjoy their fundamental human rights and have access to human rights bodies, including the OHCHR, Special Procedures, and human rights organisations. The international human rights system cannot function without universal and meaningful cooperation.
States have obligations under international law and must be held accountable for obstructing human rights mechanisms, including in situations of occupation and conflict.
Civil society urges States to ensure a resolution at the upcoming 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council addresses the protection of human rights defenders from emerging risks resulting from technological trends and shifting online spaces.
At the adoption of the report of its fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR), China ignored calls to implement UN findings and dismissed all serious criticism of its human rights record, refusing to budge on the documented plight of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, human rights activists, lawyers, and more. We urged China to genuinely engage with the UN to enact meaningful reforms.
In a series of groundbreaking rulings in early 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of Colombia set new precedents that significantly enhance protections for human rights defenders across Latin America.
