THE WORST OF THE WORST - THE WORLD’S MOST REPRESSIVE SOCIETIES 2005

A Special Report to the 61st Session of the United Nations Commission on Human
Rights

Geneva, 2005

Freedom House

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[Pages 129- 132]

Morocco (Western Sahara)

Political Rights: 7
Civil Liberties: 6
Status: Not Free

Overview:
Hope for independence or self-determination for the Western Sahara people
suffered numerous setbacks in 2004, starting with the resignation of UN
special
envoy James Baker and culminating in October, when a UN-backed plan for
autonomy failed to win full approval of a key UN General Assembly committee.
However, some encouraging signs of confidence-building emerged during the
year as hundreds of families from the territory and from Sahrawi refugee camps
visited one another, some for the first time in decades. The Polisario Front
released 100 Moroccan POWs, but held on to some 400 more.

Western Sahara was a Spanish colony from 1884 until 1975, when Spanish
forces withdrew from the territory following a bloody two-year conflict with
the Polisario Front. Moroccan claims to the territory date to Moroccan
independencein 1956. Mauritania also laid claim to the southern portion of the
territory. In 1976, Morocco and Mauritania partitioned the territory under a
tripartite agreement with Spain, but the Polisario declared the establishment
of an independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and fought to expel
foreign forces. Mauritania renounced its claims to the land and signed a peace
agreement with the Polisario in 1979, prompting Morocco to seize Mauritania's
section of territory.

In 1991, the United Nations brokered an agreement between Morocco and the
Polisario that called for a ceasefire and the holding of a referendum on
independence to be supervised by the newly created Mission for a Referendum
in Western Sahara (MINURSO). However, the referendum, initially scheduled
for January 1992, was repeatedly postponed after Morocco insisted that the
list
of eligible voters include an additional 48,000 people who, according to the
Polisario and most international observers, were Moroccan nationals.

In the ensuing years, Morocco has attempted to cement its hold on the Western
Sahara by settling Moroccans in the territory and by offering incentives such
as salaries and free housing to Sahrawis who relocated from the territory to
Morocco.At the same time, the Moroccans have repeatedly rebuffed UN attempts
to
broker a lasting solution to the conflict. On ascending the Moroccan throne in
1999, King Muhammad made some important gestures toward reconciliation,
including releasing prisoners and allowing limited activity for Sahrawi human
rights groups. In 2003, he formed a special commission to resolve the question
of hundreds of Sahrawis who were forcibly "disappeared" during his father's
reign.

In his 2004 report to the UN Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi Annan
expressed his regret over the resignation of UN special envoy Baker and the
failure of the conflicting parties to have benefited from his experience. He
appointed Alvaro de Soto to replace Baker, but said an agreement on
selfdetermination for the Western Sahara appeared more distant than at the
start of the year. He also registered concern over an escalation in rhetoric
between the conflicting parties, as Morocco and Algeria, which hosts the
Sahrawi refugee camps, traded accusations of blocking progress on a
resolution. At the end of October, the UN Security Council granted a six-month
extension to MINURSO's mandate.

In September, a special committee in the UN General Assembly failed to reach
a consensus on a peace plan, proposed by Baker and backed by Algeria, that
would make the territory a semiautonomous part of Morocco during a four- to
five-year transition period. After that, a referendum would let residents
choose independence, continued semiautonomy, or integration with Morocco. The
UN vote, which is nonbinding but reflects international opinion, passed by 52-
0, but a majority of the 191-member committee abstained. In April, the plan
had won UN Security Council backing, but Morocco said it could not accept
any eventual referendum that made independence an option; the Polisario had
accepted the plan.

Despite the deadlock in peace plans, both Morocco and the Polisario went
ahead with a package of confidence-building measures promoted by MINURSO
and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The measures
included family visits and limited telephone and personal mail services. By
the
end of August, some 1,200 persons from refugee camps in Algeria and the
territory had exchanged visits, and more were planned for the rest of the
year.
Flown on UN planes and accompanied by UN civilian police officers, many
Sahrawis were able to see their close relatives for the first time in 30
years.

During the year, the Polisario released 200 Moroccan POWs, who were
repatriated
under the auspices of the International Red Cross. The United Nations said
another 412 prisoners remain in Polisario camps in Tindouf, Algeria, and in
Polisario-controlled areas of Western Sahara, some for more than 20 years. The
Polisario claims that Morocco holds, or withholds information on, some 150
combatants and supporters, but the Moroccan government officially denies
holding any former Sahrawi fighters.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties:
Sahrawis have never been able to elect their own government. The Moroccan
government organizes and controls local elections in the Moroccan-held areas
of
the territory. Only Sahrawis whose views are consonant with the Moroccan
government hold seats in the Moroccan parliament.

Freedom of expression remains very restricted both for Sahrawis and for
foreign
journalists covering the Western Sahara. In 2004, the authorities expelled
five
Norwegian and French journalists for meeting with Sahrawi activists. Moroccan
security forces closely monitor the political views of Sahrawis, and police
and
paramilitary forces resort to repressive measures against those suspected of
supporting the Polisario and independence. Private media and Internet access
are virtually nonexistent.

The overwhelming majority of Sahrawis are Sunni Muslim, and the Moroccan
authorities generally respect freedom of worship. Restrictions on religious
freedom in Western Sahara are similar to those found in Morocco. Academic
freedom is severely restricted.

Freedom to assemble or to form political organizations is restricted. For
example, Sahrawis are largely unable to form political associations or
politically oriented nongovernmental organizations. In January, King Muhammad
pardoned some 20 political prisoners and detainees, among them activists
working on human rights in the Western Sahara. Nonviolent demonstrations are
often dispersed with excessive force by security forces, particularly in the
form of beatings.

Little organized-labor activity occurs. The same labor laws that apply in
Morocco are employed in Moroccan-controlled areas of the territory. Moroccan
unions are present in these areas, but not active.

The civilian population living in Moroccan-controlled areas of Western Sahara
is subject to Moroccan law. Activists in the territory and in Morocco
suspected
of opposing the government's Western Sahara policies have over the past
decades
been subject to particularly harsh treatment, including arbitrary killing,
incommunicado detention, and torture.

Local and international human rights organizations say hundreds, if not more
than 1,000, Sahrawis remain "disappeared." A new Equity and Reconciliation
Commission, created in late 2003, has begun to investigate and document
disappearances and other abuses that occurred between 1956 and 1999, but it
has a limited mandate and no judicial authority. In a report issued in
October,
Human Rights Watch urged the commission to handle Western Sahara-related
abuses "as thoroughly and fairly as those that occurred elsewhere." It said
authorities "continue to persecute advocates of an independent Western Sahara,
and are generally less tolerant of dissent in this region than elsewhere."

Freedom of movement within Western Sahara is limited in militarily sensitive
areas, within both the area controlled by Morocco and the area controlled by
the Polisario.

As in Morocco itself, women are subjected to various forms of legal and
cultural discrimination. Female illiteracy is very high, especially in rural
areas.
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Source: http://www.freedomhouse.org/research/mrr2005.pdf
[Morocco/Western Sahara pages 129- 132 ]
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Forwarded by:
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Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
wsahara@...

*** Referendum now! ***

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update
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