Photo: Anthony Jean
Following a request by ISHR and ACAT France, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) is urging Morocco to end reprisals against a leading Sahrawi human rights defender who submitted a complaint to the CAT.
In November 2016, the CAT found that Morocco had breached a record six provisions of the Convention against Torture and had committed acts of torture against notorious Sahrawi human rights activist Enaâma Asfari. Asfari had been campaigning for the self-determination of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that remains under Moroccan occupation despite a 1992 UN ruling for a referendum on independence, which has yet to be complied with. In their decision, the CAT requested that Morocco provide redress and compensation to Enaâma Asfari, and “refrain from any form of pressure, intimidation or reprisals … and enable the complainant to receive visits from his family in prison”.
However, following the CAT’s decision, the complainant has been subjected to a range of vexations, and his relatives have not been able to visit him in prison. ISHR and ACAT France sent a communication to the CAT requesting that it urge Morocco to put a halt to the reprisals and enable Asfari to receive visits from his relatives. In their ensuing call to the Moroccan authorities, the CAT underlined the “seriousness of the allegations” of reprisals and called on Morocco to fully comply with the Committee’s decision.
“Morocco has taken various visible steps to prevent torture in recent years such as ratifying the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and joining the Convention against Torture Initiative” says Vincent Ploton, ISHR’s Head of treaty body advocacy. “Yet the case of Enaâma Asfari and his fellow Sahrawi co-defendants demonstrates that much remains to be done to transform those commitments into reality”.
ISHR is pleased to launch its updated Reprisals Handbook in four languages, an essential resource for all stakeholders concerned about intimidation and reprisals against those cooperating with international or regional human rights systems.
In a statement at an interactive dialogue on the annual report of the High Commissioner, ISHR Executive Director Phil Lynch called on States to support the work of defenders and to pay their UN dues.
The 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council (16 June to 9 July 2025) will consider issues including civil society space, climate change, sexual orientation and gender identity, violence and discrimination against women and girls, poverty, peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of expression, among others. It will also present an opportunity to address grave human rights situations including in Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Eritrea, Israel and oPt, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, among many others. Here’s an overview of some of the key issues on the agenda.
