Discussion Legal Opinion WS fisheries postponed at very last minute
Fishelsewhere.eu
29.01.10
Discussion Legal Opinion WS fisheries postponed at very last minute
A legal opinion arguing that EU fisheries offshore occupied Western Sahara must
be suspended, was supposed to be discussed yesterday in the EP's Fisheries
Committee. This opinion drafted by the European Parliament's legal service, was
dropped off the agenda at the final minute.
The European Parliament's legal opinion follows the UN's Legal Opinion from
2002, stating that Morocco's exploitation of occupied Western Sahara's natural
resources should benefit the Saharawi people in order for these economic
activities to be legal.
Contrary to the European Commission, the Parliament's legal service has found no
proof that this is the case.
The EP's legal service had already delivered this opinion back in July 2009, but
the text was still up for public debate. Already scheduled at the bottom of the
loaded agenda of the EP's Fisheries Committee, Chairwoman Carmen Fraga Estévez
decided to adjourn the discussion until the next meeting of 23rd of February due
to time constraints. A judgment call which did not go down well with several
other MEPs, calling for an open debate before the next EU-Moroccan joint
committee meeting, held in Rabat next week.
The Joint-Committee meeting between Morocco and the EU only takes place once a
year.
Swedish MEP Isabella Lövin managed to squeeze in a question directed to the
Commission: What evidence does the Commission have that the Saharawi people have
benefitted from the EU-Moroccan FPA, and does the Commission deem this proof to
be satisfying?
Fraga Estévez was adamant that the Commission was not to respond today. She
stated that it was more important to prioritise giving time to the Spanish
Minister of fisheries.
30 December 2009, 25 Saharawi organisations sent a letter to the Commission
pointing out that the Saharawi people have not been consulted in relation to the
EU fisheries in their country, and that they have seen no benefits stemming from
the EU activities in their occupied land. Polisario Front, the Saharawi
liberation movement, has stated the same on numerous occasions. Yet, the
EU-Moroccan agreement contains no references whatsoever to the Saharawi people.
"Finally, we see an opinion from an EU institution which is in compliance with
international law, as outlined by the UN Legal Office in 2002. It is
disappointing that this critical opinion was not discussed in the end. It would
have been both important and interesting to hear the Commission's response to
this text, before next week's joint committee meeting in Rabat", says Sara
Eyckmans, international coordinator of Western Sahara Resource Watch.
"The EU must respect international law and stop paying an occupying power to
fish in disputed waters. The EU's implicit political support to Morocco's
illegal occupation of Western Sahara ultimately tars the EU's reputation as a
neutral bystander to the UN-led peace process", Eyckmans continued.
The EU has been fishing in waters offshore Western Sahara since 2007. No states
recognise the Moroccan sovereignty claims over Western Sahara. Spain has almost
all the licences under the EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement.
WSRW is currently coordinating the international Fish Elsewhere campaign, which
demands the EU to stop undermining the UN's efforts to decolonise the territory.
For further questions or comments:
Sara Eyckmans
WSRW international coordinator
tel (+32) 475 458695
sara.eyckmans@...
---
Source: http://www.fishelsewhere.eu/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=140&art=1080
_________________________________
Forwarded by:
__________________________________
Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
*** Referendum now! ***
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update
_________________________________
Fishelsewhere.eu
Published: 27.01.2010
Tomorrow in EU: Public debate on new opinion on WS fisheries
Since July 2009, a legal opinion written by the European Parliament's legal
service has been held outside of public knowledge. The extraordinary text
concludes that the EU fisheries in Western Sahara under its current shape must
stop.
The eleven page legal opinion urges the EU to respect the wishes and interests
of the Sahrawi people, and slams the highly criticized statements from the
European Commission on the matter of EU fisheries in he territory.
Tomorrow, Thursday 28 January, for the first time, the opinion will be publicly
debated and presented. The debate will take place in the European parliament's
Fisheries Committee.
The analysis is made on request from the European Parliament's Committee on
Development.
The EU has since 2007 been fishing in waters offshore the occupied Western
Sahara. The EU pays the Moroccan government for the licences, despite the fact
that no states recognise the Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, and that
Morocco has never laid any maritime claim over the waters offshore the
territory. The EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement is seen as a political support to
Morocco's illegal occupation of the territory.
30 December 2009, 25 Sahrawi organisations sent a letter to the European
Commission pointing out that the Sahrawi people has never been consulted in
relation to the EU fisheries in their country. Polisario Front, the Sahrawi
liberation movement, has stated the same on numerous occasions.
Western Sahara Resource Watch demands all EU fisheries in occupied Western
Sahara to be stopped immediately. See more about the unethical EU fisheries on
the WSRW's campaign homesite www.fishelsewhere.eu.
For further questions or comments:
Sara Eyckmans
WSRW international coordinator
tel (+32) 475 458695
sara.eyckmans@ gmail.com
Source: http://fishelsewhere.eu/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=140&art=1073
_________________________________
Forwarded by:
__________________________________
Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
*** Referendum now! ***
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update
_________________________________
The Western Sahara peace activist Aminatu Haidar switched within hours
from being on the verge of death from an enforced hunger strike in
Spain to being held under house arrest at her home in El Aaiun.
When you are fighting for civil rights for your country, your life is
constantly at risk. So such radical changes in fortune are the norm to
the woman described as the "Saharawi Gandhi" for her non-violent
protests.
On November 14, Morocco refused to allow Haidar to return to her
home in the Western Sahara. She had been in New York to receive the
Civil Courage Prize for her work in support of human rights for her
homeland.
Although she had neither a Moroccan nor Spanish passport, she was
allowed to return to Lanzarote with the government in Madrid
guaranteeing her safe conduct, although she was later fined on public
order offences.
The Spanish government offered her a passport but, insisting on keeping her Western Saharan status, Haidar refused the gesture.
Instead she vowed to return to her native land "dead or alive."
Haidar had upset Morocco because she rejected that country's right to rule over the Western Sahara.
The prime minister of the self-proclaimed Republica Arabe Saharaui
Democratica (RASD), Abdelkader Taleb Oumar, called on the international
community to pressure Morocco to comply with international law and
appealed to the Spanish monarch King Juan Carlos to add his support by
interceding with the Moroccan king on Haidar's behalf.
On December 14, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met the
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos at the White House with
Haidar at the top of their agenda.
The meeting had originally been scheduled to discuss Spain taking over
the presidency of the EU on January 1 but as Haidar's condition
weakened it became a diplomatic priority to seek a solution. From the
US capital, Moratinos issued a plea to Haidar to end her hunger strike.
Morocco stood fast over Haidar. The foreign minister Taieb Fassi
Fihri insisted that his government would make no concessions. He
accused the activist of blackmail and said it was a campaign organised
by Algeria and the Polisario Front.
Apart from demanding that Haidar be allowed to return to the Western
Sahara in dignity, Oumar had also called for the release of all Saharan
political prisoners, an investigation into the fate of those who have
disappeared and the opening of the area to international human rights
observers.
But on December 17, there was frantic activity as Haidar was
admitted to Lanzarote hospital suffering from abdominal pain as a
result of her 32-day hunger strike.
Following reports that her life was hanging by a thread, there were
increased diplomatic contacts between the Spanish and Moroccan
governments, with the latter finally relenting and allowing her to
return home.
She was declared free to leave Spain for her home country to be with
her children and mother. At midnight on the same day she was flown in a
hospital plane to the capital of the Western Sahara, El Aaiun. She was
accompanied on her journey by her sister and the doctor who had been
attending to her.
On receiving the news that she was free to go home, her protest and hunger strike ended.
On leaving Spain Haidar declared: "This is a triumph - a victory for international law, human rights and the Saharan cause."
But the victory came at a price.
Haidar now says she has been held under house arrest since her return
home to El Aaiun on December 18. Before Christmas, the Moroccan
security forces prevented a Reuter's reporter from visiting Haidar at
her home, so she gave a telephone interview with the press agency's
office in Rabat on Christmas Eve.
Haidar said: "My isolation continues. I am under house arrest. The
members of my family and friends have problems visiting me. The shops
in my quarter are suffering from the isolation."
She continued: "I have the value of my convictions to continue with
the cause of self-determination for the Saharan people. Nothing will
make me give up - the threat of jail, kidnapping, torture or exile."
She accused Morocco of using "carrot and the stick" politics with the
Polisario Front and the Saharans, adding that "Morocco is repressing
the Saharan population whilst it is negotiation with the Polisario
Front."
Western Sahara: A tragic history
Like many of the troubled lands in today's world, the tragedy of
Western Sahara lies in its colonial rule by Spain and Francisco
Franco's desire to rid his country of its obligations "muy pronto."
Indeed, it was literally Franco's dying act that his government
secretly signed a tripartite agreement with Morocco and Mauritania
allowing Spain to abandon the Western Sahara.
The agreement was signed on November 14 1975 - days later, Franco was dead.
Spain was gone from the Western Sahara within three months. Instead of
the tripartite administration envisaged in the accord, Morocco and
Mauritania each annexed parts of the territory.
Morocco seized the northern two-thirds, creating its southern
provinces, while Mauritania took the southern third as Tiris
al-Gharbiyya.
Franco's Spain may have abandoned its former colony, but the
Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, forced Mauritania to withdraw in
1979.
This solved little as Morocco merely moved in to the territory that
Mauritania had controlled, setting up the sand wall in the desert to
contain the Polisario liberation fighters.
In 1991, the fighting ceased after the UN brokered a peace
agreement. However, this still leaves the former colony that covers
some 266,000 square kilometres of desert flatlands - one of the most
sparsely populated nations on Earth - in a state of limbo.
El Aaiun, where Haidar is now under house arrest, is the Western
Saharan capital - home to over half of the more than 500,000 people who
live in the former Spanish colony.
Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement with its
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic government are vying for control of
these desert sands.
It will come as no surprise that the US has sat on the fence while the
SADR has won the backing from 46 states plus the African Union, and
Morocco has the support of the Arab League.
Spain is one of those countries refusing to recognise Morocco's sovereignty claim.
This support swings with the fickleness of international trends and
it is left to brave people such as Haidar and her Collective of Sahrawi
Human Rights Defenders to keep the plight of this impoverished would-be
nation in the hearts and minds of those who believe in civil rights and
the right to self-determination for all.
26 Sahrawi NGOs request change of EU fisheries policy
While the EU is in the process of revising its fisheries policy, 26 Sahrawi NGOs recommend the EU to let its fisheries follow international law. The organisations represent practically all Sahrawi civil society groups in the occupied territories of Western Sahara and in the refugee camps in Algeria.
Published: 10.01 - 2010
It must considered as rather simple
recommendations that the Sahrawi NGOs requested from the new EU
fisheries policy, in a letter on 30 December 2009.
The EU is
currently fishing illegally in the waters offshore Western Sahara, and
the 26 NGOs, which represents practically all civil society groups of
the occupied country, requests the following 4 points:
1)
No fisheries agreements should be signed with occupying powers for
fisheries in occupied territories, in disregard of the wishes and
interests of the peoples of the territories.
2) No fisheries
agreements should be entered into with foreign governments, covering
maritime territories over which they have laid no maritime claim.
3)
If entering into Agreements where the fisheries resources of an
illegally Occupied Territory or of a Non Self Governing Territory are
in danger of being exploited in contravention of international law, all
measures are taken to avoid such an eventuality. This must be done by
investigating whether the activities are respecting the wishes and the
interests of the people of the territory. A clear and transparent
strategy must be presented to make sure that the people of such
territory is genuinely consulted, and that they give their consent to
the process.
4) Specifically, in all future FPAs between the
EU and Morocco, we would urge that the waters of the Western Sahara are
clearly and explicitly excluded.
The EU closed the window from receiving recommendations to its new policy on 31 December 2009.
Mr. Joe Borg EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries European Commission B-1049 Brussels
30th December 2009
Dear Commissioner Borg,
With
regards to your call for “a truly open, no-holds-barred debate with
stakeholders, Member States and the general public”[1] on the reform of
the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, we write to you with our views and
suggestions. We hope that the comments below will be useful for you and
for your successor.
Your comment that the current reform of
the fisheries policy “will require the active participation of all
those who may be affected by its outcome” [2] is encouraging for us. We
– the people of Western Sahara – are already seriously affected by the
EU fisheries policy, as we will be in future. To date, we continue to
suffer the negative consequences of the 2006 Europe-Morocco Fisheries
Partnership Agreement, (FPA) which came into force in 2007. Indeed, you
may recall a letter from the POLISARIO – the political representation
of the Saharawi people - addressed to yourself before the signing of
the FPA on 18th May 2005, [3] in which their opposition to the
aforementioned was expressed.
Western Sahara is treated by the
UN as a Non Self-Governing Territory – the last colony in Africa. In
1975, it was invaded by Morocco. Many Saharawis fled to the Algerian
desert to avoid the napalm and white phosphorus of the Moroccan army.
There, they remain, living as refugees over three decades later. The
rest of our people, which did not flee in 1975, live under a brutal
Moroccan occupation. They suffer serious affronts to their human
rights, which have been documented by many International NGOs,
including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. [4]
By
claiming that the Western Sahara is part of its territory, Morocco
ignores the 1975 International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, the
UN Charter and numerous UN Security Council and UN General Assembly
Resolutions, which have all stressed the current international status
of the Western Sahara as a Non Self-Governing Territory and the right
of the Saharawi people to a self-determination referendum.
This
is of course relevant to the Fisheries policy due to the current
EU-Morocco FPA, and the ambiguity over whether or not the waters of the
Western Sahara are included in the Agreement. Prior to its entering
into force, this was of concern to many NGOs, Member State s such as
Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Ireland [5], the Saharawi people,
over 200 MEPs [6] and members of the general public. We were concerned
since entering into a trade deal with a power illegally occupying a Non
Self-Governing Territory in order to benefit from the latter’s natural
resources is against international law. We cannot help but wonder why –
given the political, legal and ethical sensitivity of the issue – the
EU did not simply preclude Western Sahara from the Agreement; just as
the United States government has done in relation to its US-Morocco
Free Trade Agreement in 2004. [7]
Furthermore, the EU
Parliament’s Legal Service, when assessing the legitimacy of the
agreement, suggested that the Community could eventually enter into
consultations with a view to suspending the agreement, should its
implementation by Morocco disregard the interests of the people of
Western Sahara. [8] As a coalition of Saharawi human rights and
grassroots organisations, including the Trade Union that is
representative of Saharawi workers in the Occupied Territories, we feel
that we are qualified to comment on the extent to which Morocco’s
implementation of the Agreement has benefited our people: the interests
of the Saharawis have been totally ignored.
We would like to
underline that at no point prior to the signing of the FPA, and at no
point after it entered into force, have any of the undersigned
organisations ever been consulted regarding the agreement. No
representatives, neither of the EU nor Morocco, have asked whether we
want the agreement or not, despite the fact that the agreement is today
being implemented in a territory which belongs to our people.
It
was highly regrettable to learn about the 9 October 2009 [9] statement,
in which you chose to omit the most important part of international law
when it comes to issues of self-determination versus natural resources
exploitation in Non Self Governing Territories. You refer to the UN
legal opinion from 2002, but regrettably gravely misrepresent its
conclusion. The UN statement states that natural resources activities
cannot take place in Western Sahara if said activities disregard the
“wishes and interests” of the people of the territory. We can assure
you that the Agreement is completely contrary to the wishes of our
people, and that no consultation with the Saharawis has been carried
out whatsoever. It is also worth pointing out that the EU has presented
no evidence supporting the claim that the FPA is beneficial to the
Saharawi people, nor that the agreement accords to their wishes. We
therefore hope that with the impending reform, the Fisheries Commission
will realize its objective of creating “a framework for the industry in
which it pays to be responsible, rather than one where people can
profit by ignoring the rules and putting themselves first, whatever the
cost to others”. [10]
We would also like to take this
opportunity to remind you that on April 9th 2008, after 7 different
written questions had been delivered to the European Commission, you
finally confirmed that fishing had indeed taken place in Western Sahara
during the calendar year of 2007, under the EU-Moroccan Fisheries
Partnership Agreement. [11] The plunder of the natural resources of an
Occupied Territory could have been avoided, if only the EU had clearly
and transparently excluded Saharawi waters from the Agreement. In the
light of this, we find the Commission’s assertion that it “conducts its
relations with third countries in total transparency” [12] hard to
accept.
On the other hand, we wholeheartedly agree with the view
put forward by the Commission in its Green Paper on the Reform of the
Common Fisheries Policy that “external fisheries policies should better
take into account in the food security strategies of third countries”
[13] (sic). For example, in the Saharawi refugee camps, Algeria, acute
malnutrition has reached dire levels due to insufficient levels of food
aid. [14] Yet, as the international Fish Elsewhere campaign
(www.fishelsewhere.eu) pointed out, through the EU-Morocco FPA, more
money (€144 million) is paid to Morocco to take Saharawi resources than
is given in multilateral humanitarian aid to Saharawi refugees. [15]
Before
concluding this letter, we would like to take this opportunity to bid
you farewell, and wish you luck in all your future endeavors. We
understand that Ms Maria Damanaki will be taking over as Commissioner
for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries in early 2010. We very much look
forward to welcoming her in this role and we admire her courage,
strength and personal sacrifice in actively resisting the repression of
the military junta in Greece, 1973. Indeed, we are able to understand
all too well the personal sacrifices that those who fight for free
speech and democracy are sometimes forced to pay. Saharawis face
torture, rape, false imprisonment, forced disappearance and death in
the Occupied Territories. Two recent cases, two amongst hundreds,
spring to mind. In early October, representatives of seven Saharawi
human rights organisations were kidnapped and disappeared by Moroccan
authorities as punishment for traveling to the Saharawi refugee camps
in Algeria. [16] Over November and December, the Nobel Peace Prize
nominee Aminatou Haidar spent 32 days on hunger strike in Lanzarote
airport, in protest at her forced expulsion from the Western Sahara for
refusing to identify herself as Moroccan. [17] These people have all
been strong opponents of the EU-Moroccan fisheries cooperation.
In
the Green Paper on Common Fisheries policy, the Commission asks how the
current architecture of its FPAs can be revisited in order to better
meet the needs of its partners in the developing world. It asks how the
EU can strengthen its role in promoting better governance of fisheries.
It asks how the social benefits of fisheries can be enhanced in third
countries. It asks how the FPAs can have a significant impact on
development and on fighting poverty. [18] In response, we would
recommend that:
1) No fisheries agreements should be signed with
occupying powers for fisheries in occupied territories, in disregard of
the wishes and interests of the peoples of the territories.
2)
No fisheries agreements should be entered into with foreign
governments, covering maritime territories over which they have laid no
maritime claim.
3) If entering into Agreements where the
fisheries resources of an illegally Occupied Territory or of a Non Self
Governing Territory are in danger of being exploited in contravention
of international law, all measures are taken to avoid such an
eventuality. This must be done by investigating whether the activities
are respecting the wishes and the interests of the people of the
territory. A clear and transparent strategy must be presented to make
sure that the people of such territory is genuinely consulted, and that
they give their consent to the process.
4) Specifically, in
all future FPAs between the EU and Morocco, we would urge that the
waters of the Western Sahara are clearly and explicitly excluded.
Anything
less would unfortunately persuade us that the EU’s apparent concern for
fighting poverty, encouraging development, and promoting the rule of
law with respect to the seas in third countries, is nothing more than
lip service.
Yours sincerely,
Aminatou Haidar, President of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA)
El
Ghalia Djimi, Vice President of the Saharawi Association of Victims of
Serious Human Rights Abuses Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH)
Mustapha
Abdaiem, President of the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human
Rights in Zag, South Morocco, and Member of the UPES Executive Bureau,
currently held as a political prisoner in Tiznit
El Mami Amar Salem, President of the Committee Against Torture in Dakhla, Western Sahara
Ali Bouhraiga, Representative of the Organisation of Defenders of Human Rights (ODS)
Oulad Chikh El Mahjoub, President of the Committee Abductees Anonymous for Saharawi Self Determination
Sidi
Mohamed Dadach, President of the Committee for the Defense of the Right
to Self Determination for the People of Western Sahara (CODAPSO)
Sidi Ahmed Eddia, Union Confederation of Saharawi Workers in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara (CSTS)
Sidi Essbaai, Representative of the Preparatory Committee of the Saharawi Observatory of Human Rights (OSPDH)
Abba Haissan, Secretary General of the Saharawi Jurists Union (UJS)
Brahim Ismaalii, President of the Centre for the Protection of Collective Memory in Western Sahara
Sultana Jaya, Vice President of the Forum for the Future of the Saharawi Woman (FAFESA)
Fakou Labeihi, President of the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Smara, Western Sahara
Saleh
Labeihi, President of the Saharawi Forum for the Protection of Children
in Western Sahara, currently held as a political prisoner in Sale
Mohamed
Cheikh Mohamed Lahbib, Secretary General of the Western Sahara General
Union of Saguia El Hamra and Rio de Oro Workers (UGTSARIO)
Mahjoub Mleiha, President of the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Gulmim, South Morocco
Gaici Nah, Representative of MUROMINASSAHARA (against the military wall and landmines in the Western Sahara)
Abdeslam Omar, the Association for the Families of Saharawi Prisoners and the Disappeared (AFAPREDESA)
Milemnin Swayah, Committee of the Families and Mothers of the15 Disappeared
Ahmed Shaai, President of the Association for the Protection of Saharawi Prisoners in Moroccan Prisons
Mustapha Tamek, President of the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Assa, South of Morocco
Abd Lhay Toubali, Vice President of the Committee for the Protection of the Natural Resources of the Western Sahara (CSPRON)
Aziz Haidar, President of the Saharawi Association of Landmine Victims (ASAVIM)
Malainin Lakhal, Secretary General of the Union of Saharawi Journalists and Writers (UPES)
Ahmed El Haimer, Representative of the Association of Saharawis in France
Bachir Moutik, Representative of Association for the Families of Saharawi Prisoners and the Disappeared (AFAPREDESA-France)
P.S.
Please direct any correspondence to this letter to Malainin Lakhal,
Secretary General of the UPES (Email: mellakhal@...).
[1] The Common Fisheries Policy: A User’s Guide, European Communities, Belgium, 2009, p. 36. [2] Ibid., p.5.
[3] Letter of the POLISARIO Representative to the EU Commissioner Mr Borg, Brussels, 18 May 2005. [4] See for example Human Rights Watch, Human Rights in Western Sahara and
in the Tindouf Refugee Camps, New York, 2008, available at
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/19/human-rights-western-sahara-and-tindouf-refugee-camps-0,
last accessed 9 November 2009. [5] Sweden voted against the FPA,
Finland and the Netherlands issued statements and abstained, whilst
Ireland voted for the FPA but issued a statement urging that the
“Agreement is implemented to the benefit of all the people concerned
and in accordance with the principles of international law.” [6] 167 MEPs voted against the Agreement, whilst a further 79 abstained. [7]
The 2004 US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement is available at
http://www.moroccousafta.com/index_ang.htm, last accessed 9 November
2009. [8] Legal Opinion of the Legal Service of European Parliament, supra n. 50, para. 45. [9] http://www.fishelsewhere.eu/index.php?cat=140&art=1005
[10] The Common Fisheries Policy: A User’s Guide, European Communities, Belgium, 2009, p. 36. [11]
Parliamentary Questions, Answer given by Mr Borg on behalf of the
Commission, E-1073/2008, 9 April 2008, available at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=E-2008-1073&language=EN,
last accessed 9 November 2009. [12] The Common Fisheries Policy: A User’s Guide, European Communities, Belgium, 2009, p. 25. [13] Green Paper: Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, European Communities, Belgium, 2009, p.19.
[14]
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR-WFP
team finds dire health conditions in Algerian refugee camps, 12
February 2007, available at
http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/45d09ac14.html, last accessed 28th
September 2009. [15] Fish Elsewhere Campaign, The Agreement with
Morocco is unethical, 30th January 2009, available at
http://www.fishelsewhere.eu/index.php?cat=149&art=0, last accessed
11 November 2009. [16] Amnesty International, 13 October 2009,
Morocco/Western Sahara: Sahrawi activists targeted for Tindouf visit,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE29/010/2009/en/48534990-f974-466d-ba8c-a7c0dbc50f14/mde290102009en.html,
last accessed 8 December 2009. The disappeared are: Ali Salem Tamek,
first vice president of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights
Defenders (CODESA) and member of the Moroccan Association for Human
Rights (AMDH); Brahim Dahane, president of the Saharawi Association of
Victims of Serious Violations Committed by Morocco (ASVDH); Ahmad
Anasiri, General Secretary of the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of
Human Rights in Smara and president of AMDH – Smara Chapter; Dagja
Lachgar, member of the executive office of ASVDH; Yahdih Ettarrouzi,
member of AMDH – Laayounne Chapter; Saleh Lebayhi, president of the
Forum for Protection of Sahrawi Children and member of the Laayoune
Chapter of CODESA and AMDH and Rachid Sghayar, member of Committee
Action against Torture. [17] Amnesty International, Morocco/Western
Sahara: Expulsion of human rights defender reflects growing
intolerance, 17 November 2009, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE29/012/2009/en/9168fdcd-6f76-4f8f-949a-e3346239b061/mde290122009en.html,
last accessed 8 December 2009. [18] Green Paper: Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, European Communities, Belgium, 2009, see in particular pages 19-20.
Sahara activist wins her battle to return home - Feature
Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:22:01 GMT
By : dpa
Madrid - With her traditional headscarf and
eyeglasses, Aminatou Haidar, 42, looks like an ordinary Western Saharan
mother of two. But the iron will of the award-winning activist nearly
caused a diplomatic crisis between Spain and Morocco as she defied both
countries with a 32-day hunger strike.
Haidar was expected to
end her hunger strike as she finally returned early Friday from the
Spanish island of Lanzarote to Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara.
Haidar's
protest against Morocco's refusal to allow her to return home had
mobilized the United Nations, the United States, France and the
European Union in diplomatic attempts to solve the crisis.
The
"Haidar case" could even help to relaunch talks between Morocco and the
Western Saharan independence movement Polisario Front, whose views
Haidar is close to, analysts said.
Haidar supports the
independence of the desert territory which Morocco snatched after the
colonial power Spain withdrew from there in 1975.
When Haidar
embarked on a plane for the Western Saharan capital Laayoun on Thursday
night after a month-long battle of wills against Morocco, hundreds of
supporters cheered her at the airport.
International pressure
had apparently forced Rabat to allow her to return to Laayoun, where
she had been refused entry in mid-November.
"This is a triumph, a victory for ... human rights, international justice and the Saharan cause," Haidar said.
Haidar
supporters claimed Morocco had allowed her to return without
conditions, but details about the alleged agreement between Spain and
Morocco were not clear.
The situation initially began developing
at Laayoun airport as Haidar returned via the Canary Islands after
receiving a civil courage award in the United States.
Morocco
barred her entry, because she announced her residence as Saharan
instead of Moroccan. The authorities seized her passport and deported
her to Lanzarote, insisting she could not get a new passport until she
admitted to being a Moroccan national.
Haidar, who has spent
years in Moroccan jails, reportedly undergone torture and endured a
previous hunger strike, soon showed she was prepared to die for her
cause.
Spanish offers to grant her a Spanish passport, Morocco's
intransigeance, the anguish of her children and mother back in Laayoun
- nothing was sufficient to make the activist ingest anything more than
sugar water while her health deteriorated.
She drew support from
numerous Spanish celebrities while Madrid lobbied the United Nations
and the United States to become involved in efforts to save her life.
Morocco finally gave in as Haidar was hospitalized for vomiting and stomach pains early Thursday.
Morocco's
claim over Western Sahara is one of the cornerstones of the country's
nationalism, and observers deemed it unlikely that Rabat accepted to
give in to Haidar without getting anything in return.
The
Spanish government, which will hold the rotating EU presidency in the
first half of 2010, on Thursday "reaffirmed its will to deepen
cooperation" between the union and Morocco.
It was also thought possible that Morocco had sought concessions in an eventual new round of talks with Polisario.
The
Haidar case was believed to have contributed to an announcement by the
UN Security Council that it would meet over Western Sahara, possibly in
the coming week.
The UN wants to accelerate the stalled
negotiations between Morocco and Polisario which were at war for 16
years until the UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991.
The plan agreed
then foresaw a referendum on independence, but Morocco has not carried
it out, and is now offering Western Sahara autonomy instead.
The
autonomy plan has won growing acceptance from Western powers tired of
the long-running conflict, but Polisario continues insisting on the
referendum on independence.
Activist's "victory" over Morocco puts Sahara back on world agenda
Dec 18, 2009, 11:28 GMT
Madrid - Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar has been
reunited with her two children and mother after she was allowed to
return to the Moroccan-controlled territory overnight, a representative
of a Spanish platform supporting her said Friday.
The reunion was 'moving,' said Jose Morales, whose movement supported
the 'Western Saharan Gandhi' during her 32-day hunger strike on the
Canary Island of Lanzarote.
Spanish radio reports said
Moroccan police had clashed with pro-Haidar demonstrators in the
Western Saharan capital Laayoun, detaining several people.
There was heavy police presence in the city, representatives of the
Western Saharan independence movement Polisario Front told Spanish
National Radio.
International pressure and diplomatic efforts
by Spain, France and the United States finally persuaded Morocco to
allow Haidar to return to Laayoun in a medically equipped plane
provided by Spain.
On entry, she was given back her passport
which Morocco had taken away when barring her entry to Laayoun and
deporting her to Lanzarote in mid-November.
Haidar was returning to Laayoun via the Canary Islands from the United States, where she had received a civil courage award.
Haidar then launched a hunger strike at Lanzarote airport, with
international pressure on Morocco and Spain increasing as her health
deteriorated.
The Moroccan Foreign Ministry said Rabat had allowed Haidar to return to Laayoun for 'strictly humanitarian reasons.'
Haidar defends the independence of Western Sahara which Morocco
occupied after the colonial power Spain pulled out in 1975. Polisario
then launched a war which ended with UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991.
The ceasefire agreement foresaw a referendum on independence, but Rabat
wants to shelve that plan and is offering Western Sahara autonomy
instead.
Haidar had launched her hunger strike on behalf of the Algerian-backed Polisario, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry claimed.
The Spanish daily El Mundo hailed Haidar as a 'winner' who had managed
to put the Western Sahara conflict back on top of the international
agenda.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said
Thursday Morocco's decision to readmit Haidar was an act of
'generosity' that also underscored the urgent need for a permanent
solution to the Western Sahara conflict.
The UN Security Council announced a meeting on Western Sahara to accelerate the talks between Morocco and Polisario.
Spain and France, however, appeared to have made some concessions to
Morocco in exchange for its readmitting Haidar. Both countries released
communiques recognizing that Moroccan law was valid in Western Sahara
until the conflict was resolved.
French President Nicolas
Sarkozy also gave his backing to the Moroccan autonomy proposal,
Spanish and Moroccan media quoted the French communique as saying.
The Spanish daily El Pais, however, said Morocco's expulsion of Haidar
had undermined the international credibility of the autonomy proposal.
Aminatou Haidar is back in El Aaiún (Laayoune) after agreement was finally reached between the Spanish and Moroccan governments
The human rights activist Aminatou Haidar, is back home in El Aaiún (Laayoune).
Finally agreement was reached between the Spanish and Moroccan
governments on Thursday night allowing her to end her hunger strike
after 32 days, and travel home with the promise of safe conduct, and
without either a Spanish or Moroccan passport.
Police held back some 300 of her supporters as she left Lanzarote
airport declaring that it was a victory for the Saharaui cause. She was
welcomed by a similar group of supporters shouting ‘Viva Aminatu!’ when
she landed, accompanied by her sister, Laila, and the Spanish doctor,
Domingo de Guzmán.
As she left the Lanzarote General Hospital she declared that ‘It is a
victory for human rights, for justice and for the Saharaui cause.
The activist was deported back to Lanzarote when she arrived on a
flight from the island to Laayoune for writing her nationality as
Sahrawi at the airport in the administrative capital of Western Sahara
on November 13. Her passport was confiscated for what the authorities
saw as her rejection of her Moroccan nationality.
It appears that the intervention of Nicolas Sarkozy was key in agreement finally being reached between Spain and Morocco.
* Activist Haidar still on hunger strike, lawyer says * Spain said in indirect talks with Morocco on return home
MADRID,
Dec 17 (Reuters) - A Western Saharan activist on hunger strike
for over a month in Spain's Canary Islands was taken to hospital on
Thursday, and negotiations on her case were said to be under way in
Washington.
Aminatou Haidar, who campaigns for the independence
of Western Sahara from Morocco, has been on hunger strike at Lanzarote
airport in the Canary Islands for 32 days.
Television images
showed her being moved to hospital on Thursday and she was said to be
suffering from severe stomach and abdominal pains and vomiting.
Her lawyer said she would not end her hunger strike. "The treatment she
is receiving is just to relieve and calm the pain and Aminatou will
continue her hunger strike," said Ines Miranda.
Haidar, 43, who
has continued to take liquids, began her protest after Moroccan
authorities refused her entry when she returned home from a trip
abroad, confiscated her passport and put her on a plane to the Canary
Islands.
A report in the daily El Pais said Morocco had sent a
high level delegation to the United States to try to negotiate a
resolution to the case, which has embarrassed the Spanish government.
The report said two close advisers to Morocco's head of state, King
Mohammed, held talks in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday with U.S.
officials, and Spain was being kept informed of progress.
On
Wednesday Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he hoped and
trusted the case would be resolved quickly. He said sensitive
behind-the-scenes diplomatic work was going on but declined to give
details.
Spanish celebrities including film actor Javier Bardem
have said Zapatero will be partly to blame if Haidar dies. Media and
the opposition have accused the government of incompetence in allowing
the Moroccans to send her to Spain. (Reporting by Raquel Castillo,
writing by Nigel Davies, editing by Tim Pearce)
The Moroccan authorities confiscated human rights activist Aminatou
Haidar's passport on 13 November and expelled her from the country the
following day. Stranded in Lanzarote Airport, in the Canary Islands,
she has been on hunger strike since 15 November in protest.
Aminatou Haidar was detained at Laayoune airport, Western Sahara on 13
November when she returned from a month-long visit to other countries,
including the USA where she accepted the 2009 Civil Courage Prize,
awarded annually "for steadfast resistance to evil at great personal
risk."
She was questioned about why she had given her home as "Western Sahara"
rather than "Moroccan Sahara" on her landing card; she was also asked
about her travel, as well as her political opinions and affiliations.
Her Moroccan passport and identity card were then confiscated and she
was detained in the airport overnight.
She says that on 14 November Moroccan officials offered to release her
if she would publicly acknowledge Morocco’s “sovereignty” over Western
Sahara. She refused to do so, and a few hours later she was put on a
flight to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.
Aminatou Haidar's family say that she has become physically weak. Her
health is at particular risk because she suffers from anaemia and a
stomach ulcer. She is refusing to take her regular ulcer medication, as
part of her hunger strike.
Insisting on her right to return to Western Sahara, Aminatou Haidar has
rejected the possibility of obtaining refugee status in Spain. Without
travel documents, Aminatou Haidar is effectively confined to Lanzarote.
Her situation is further complicated by the fact that neither she, nor
her family, can access her bank account. An anonymous source has told
her family that a high-ranking Moroccan security agent instructed the
bank to block her account.
On December 4, the Directorate General of the National Police and Civil
Guard in Spain issued an exceptional permission for Aminatou Haidar to
leave the Spanish territory, citing her right to freedom of movement.
That evening, she was accompanied to a plane in a wheelchair by her
doctor, her lawyer and Agustin Santos, a Spanish government official –
only to be informed that permission to land in Laayoune had been denied
by the Moroccan authorities.
Amnesty International believes that Aminatou Haidar's expulsion and
confiscation of her Moroccan identification document and passport are
politically motivated and that she is being punished because of her
stance on Western Sahara's self-determination. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
One woman embarrasses Madrid and Rabat By James Badcock Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Thirty-four years after the so-called Green March laid Morocco’s claim to the neighboring Western Sahara territory in a spectacular fashion, Rabat has yet to secure its prize in the eyes of the international community.
Militarily, it prevailed at the time as Mauritania backed down over its portion agreed with the outgoing colonial power, Spain; and then the pro-independence Polisario Front was forced back across the monumental, and monumentally expensive, wall of sand that Morocco had built up to create a de facto border between its “southern provinces” and the landlocked redoubt of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
However, Morocco’s diplomacy during these more than three decades has been wide off the mark. The country’s political initiatives have been regarded by many in the international community merely as an effort to stonewall the United Nations decolonization and self-determination process, even as Morocco has failed to build meaningful friendships beyond its former European masters: primarily France, but also increasingly in recent years Spain, where conservatives mistrust Moroccan intentions in Ceuta and Melilla, while leftists tend to repudiate the Franco-era abandonment of the Sahrawis to Rabat’s control.
Out after Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero came to power in 2004, a new Madrid-Rabat relationship was forged. The Socialist, self-styled post-9/11 peacemaker seemed eager to invest part of his political capital in lauding the “reformist” tendencies of King Mohammad VI, and showing more of a willingness to exchange the emotional Sahrawi ties for security, anti-immigration cooperation, and other tangibles once considered the exclusive preserve of France. But now, and over an incident that seems relatively trivial in the scheme of things, Morocco has blundered into a dust-up with Spain, as a veteran Sahrawi protester keeps up a public hunger strike at an airport in the Canary Islands.
Aminatou Haidar has been recognized by fellow human rights defenders and was even nominated for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. But she has never been as well known as today thanks the high-handed approach of Morocco’s security apparatus. Flying home to the Western Saharan capital of Laayoune after having won a prize in the United States, Haidar allegedly committed the treasonous act of inscribing her nationality as Sahrawi rather than Moroccan on the immigration form. This was the kind of act of defiance the 43-year-old mother of two could be relied on to deliver after spending decades struggling against a state she perceives to be an occupying power, through periods of imprisonment in horrendous conditions, hunger strikes and other acts of civil disobedience.
In retaliation, the Moroccan police took away her passport and placed her on a flight to Lanzarote in the Canaries, a show of meat-headed arrogance that immediately put Zapatero in a pickle, as his government happens to have a free and curious media scrutinizing its every reaction in such circumstances. Indeed, the leading Spanish daily El Pais revealed that the Moroccan security forces had already booked a seat on the Lanzarote-bound plane for Haidar before she was detained and accused of writing what they took to be the insulting inscription on her entry form.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has found no easy way out of the dilemma. He first suggested that the whole thing was a problem that Haidar and Morocco needed to resolve between themselves. Then he offered the increasingly publicized hunger striker Spanish nationality, before finally asking for assistance from Rabat, the United Nations, and even Washington.
The extraordinary power of Aminatou to shame her hosts, whom she has accused of connivance with Morocco in failing to defend her rights and helping to have her sent home, led a Foreign Ministry representative to tell her in the hall of Lanzarote airport that the Spanish authorities did not actually recognize the 1975 Madrid Accords, which saw her territory carved up without any consultation with the local people.
After five years in which many a Spanish leftist has despaired over what is perceived as a betrayal of the Sahrawi cause by the Socialist government, all the bets are suddenly off in terms of any legitimacy the Moroccan claim might have. As Haidar prepared to enter the fourth week of her protest fast (she does take sugared water) a senior Spanish Socialist Party figure seemed to confirm this, warning that “with this attitude, Morocco runs the risk of undoing all the good work done since 2004.” That was a day before the Moroccan authorities declined to allow a plane complete with medical assistance to fly the ailing Haidar back home.
Despite the increasingly thuggish tones of Morocco’s rhetoric, musing on whether it was still in Spain’s interests to keep the “plagues” of illegal immigrants and terrorist threats south of the Gibraltar Strait, Madrid has shown remarkable patience with its neighbor. Haidar, however, may have just days to live, according to doctors in Lanzarote.
The plight of Aminatou Haidar has not only become a rallying call to Sahrawi supporters, who have visited her at the airport and have written letters of support in the Spanish press; she has also succeeded in shaking the seemingly sure foundations of the Madrid-Rabat understanding built up over recent years. Morocco expelled a nuisance but must now digest another diplomatic debacle.
James Badcock is editor of the English edition of the Spanish daily El Pais. He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.
A Brave Woman Pays the Price for a Misinterpreted Interview
The Huffington Post
16. November 2009
By Carne Ross - Independent diplomat and writer
Being US Secretary of State requires difficult choices and careful words.
There is a balance to be struck between maintaining relations but also
principle. Great harm can be done with a few words. One recent episode
illustrates the risks.
In my work on the Western Sahara (my non-profit group advises the
Polisario Front who represent the Saharawi people), I have met a very
brave and determined woman, Aminatou Haidar, the 42-year old Saharawi
human rights campaigner. What she told me about her abuse by the Moroccan
forces who occupy the Western Sahara, her country, chilled my blood.
I was shocked to learn that last week Aminatou was again arrested and
later expelled by Morocco. She has endured years of imprisonment and abuse
but has continued to speak up for the right of her people to
self-determination. Last month she was in the US to receive the Civil
Courage Award from the Train Foundation, and she was earlier awarded the
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. She was arrested on her return from
the US and is now separated from her children and exiled from her country.
The week before Haidar's arrest, Hillary Clinton visited Morocco. While
there, she gave an interview, unreported here in the US, praising
Morocco's human rights record and appearing to endorse the Bush
administration's policy to support Morocco's plan for the Western Sahara.
Morocco has been in illegal occupation of the Western Sahara since
invading it in 1975. If implemented, Morocco's plan would effectively
bring Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty, a notion rejected
outright by the International Court of Justice and never accepted by the
US.
Ask Aminatou Haidar about Morocco's occupation and she will tell you that
it means continued repression and abuse of the Saharawi people, most of
whom were forcibly expelled from the territory in 1975 and have remained
in desert refugee camps ever since. This is not just Aminatou's view.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and even the State Department
itself have detailed Morocco's systematic abuse and denial of rights to
the Saharawi people.
After Secretary Clinton's interview, Morocco has gone on the offensive
against the Saharawis. Morocco's arrest and expulsion of Haidar, who is
the Saharawis' most prominent and celebrated activist, is clearly meant to
intimidate and silence all Saharawis. In addition to her arrest, Morocco
has decided to try for treason seven other Saharawi human rights
activists. Facing a military court, these six men and one woman now face
the death penalty for their "crime" of visiting their compatriots in the
refugee camps and demanding their legal right of self-determination.
I have no doubt that Hillary Clinton would not endorse this flagrant abuse
of human rights, on the contrary. The trouble is that it is equally clear
that Morocco has taken her words as an implicit permission to enact this
repression, even if she in no ways intended it so. Morocco maneuvers with
great skill, and it has clearly sensed a political opportunity to close
down Saharawi demands for self-determination once and for all. After the
Secretary of State's visit, the King of Morocco gave a speech
unprecedented in its hostility against the Saharawis, accusing them of
treachery.
So the US must now respond. It must demand the release of these brave
campaigners for their rights. Moreover, the US must address the root cause
of Morocco's abuses -- its occupation of someone else's country, the
Western Sahara. The UN envoy is a thoughtful and experienced US diplomat,
Christopher Ross. He can only resolve the long-standing dispute over the
Western Sahara with robust support from his own government in Washington.
This means pressure, at last, on Morocco, to allow a meaningful process of
self-determination.
If this is done, it may be that a misinterpreted interview may trigger --
at last -- the long overdue liberation of an oppressed people. Aminatou
Haidar would consider her arrest and long years of suffering a price well
worth paying for this result.
Carne Ross is a former diplomat. The non-profit advisory group he heads,
Independent Diplomat, amongst others advises the Polisario Front, the
representatives of the Saharawi people.
Forwarded by:
Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
*** Referendum now! ***
www.sahara-update.org
www.vest-sahara.no
________________________________________________________________________________\
___________
On behalf of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights (RFK Center), I write to inform you of the arrest of 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Laureate Aminatou Haidar of Western Sahara and to solicit your support for her release.
Aminatou was arrested today at the airport in Laayoune, Western Sahara, by Moroccan authorities. She was returning from a visit to the U.S. through Spain. She had traveled to the U.S. to receive the Civil Courage Prize awarded by the Train Foundation for her courageous defense of the rights and liberties of the Sahrawi people. While in the U.S., Aminatou met with several Congressional staff members as well as representatives of UN member states.
Her whereabouts are currently unknown and her family has not been able to contact her. Moroccan officials claim that she was arrested because she refused to complete immigration forms. Her arrest follows a spate of recent arrests and confiscation of the travel documents of several Sahrawi activists by Moroccan authorities. Seven Sahrawi activists who visited Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria in October currently face charges before a military tribunal.
RFK Center has issued a press release calling for Aminatou’s release, a copy of which I am forwarding along with this email. We kindly urge you to call Ambassador Aziz Mekouar of the Moroccan Embassy in Washington DC at +1 202-462-7979 Ext. 27to request Aminatou’s release. We thank you for your support.
Boi-Tia A. Stevens
Senior Advocacy Officer
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights
RFK CENTER CONDEMNS MOROCCO'S DETENTION OF DECORATED HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER, AMINATOU HAIDAR
11/13/2009
Washington, DC
- The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights (RFK
Center) strongly condemns the detention of 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human
Rights Laureate,Aminatou Haidar, by Moroccan authorities today upon her arrival at the airport in Laayoune, Western Sahara.
Ms. Haidar returned to Western Sahara today after a visit to the
United States to receive the Civil Courage Prize awarded by the Train
Foundation for her courageous defense of the rights and liberties of
the Sahrawi people. While in the U.S., she briefed Congressional staff
members on the current state of human rights in Western Sahara. She
also met with representatives of UN member states. Ms.Haidar traveled to Western Sahara escorted by associates from Spain, who have reportedly been detained along with her.
RFK Center believes the detention of Ms. Haidar is directly related to her work in the defense of human rights.
RFK Center urges the authorities in Morocco to:
1. Immediately and unconditionally release Aminatou Haidar;
2. Take all necessary measures to guarantee her physical and psychological integrity;
3 Guarantee the protection of her fundamental human rights, as
enshrined in several international instruments, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Morocco has
ratified; and
4. Guarantee that Ms. Haidar is able to continue her work as a human rights defender without fear of reprisal.
“The Sahrawi people does not benefit from this agreement, signed between Morocco and the European Union. Regrettably, the agreement instead intensifies the Moroccan repression against the Sahrawi people”, Aminatou Haidar told Western Sahara Resource Watch in an interview.
The EU has since 2006 been paying Morocco to fish offshore Western Sahara. The territory of Western Sahara, which is treated as a colony by the UN, has been under Moroccan occupation since 1975. Simultaneously Morocco is profiting from their control over the territory by selling fishing licences to the EU.
Haidar stated that the Sahrawi living in the occupied territories have never been consulted as to whether they would like such an agreement, and that the EU-Moroccan partnership therefore must be in violation of international law.
She praised Sweden for taking the position that the EU fisheries is illegal, and commended the international solidarity movement for campaigning the issue of the international plunder of the natural resources of the territory.
“Your campaign against the plundering of natural resources is very important. You should accelerate the campaign so that it contributes to stop the EU fisheries agreement”, Haidar commented to WSRW.
The statements were given as she visited the US recently, upon receiving the Civil Courage Prize by the Train Foundation. Haidar was last year also awarded with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.
You can support the Sahrawi’s call to stop the EU plundering of Western Sahara by signing a protest letter to the European Commission.
Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) is behind the campaign to stop the fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco. WSRW is a network organisation represented in 35 countries internationally.
No
state in the world has recognised the Moroccan annexation of Western
Sahara. Still, the EU is paying millions of Euros annually to the
Government of Morocco to allow EU vessels to fish in the waters of
Western Sahara. The EU fisheries activities in Western Sahara must
immediately come to an end.
Morocco continues to refuse to
cooperate with the decolonization process in Western Sahara, thereby
defying more than 100 UN resolutions that insist on the Saharawi
people’s right to self-determination. Simultaneously, Moroccan
authorities commit human rights violations against Sahrawis who voice
their political views. No EU states, nor the UN, recognise the Moroccan
sovereignty over Western Sahara.
In this context, cooperating
with Morocco in exploiting Western Sahara’s natural resources is highly
unethical, and clearly jeopardizes the UN’s efforts to find a peaceful
solution to the conflict.
According to the UN, the natural
resources in Western Sahara cannot be exploited without regard to the
wishes and interests of the people of the territory. However, the EU is
transferring European taxpayers’ money to the Government of Morocco for
access to Western Saharan waters, without even consulting the Sahrawi
people.
The EU has the legal and moral obligation to stop
subverting the UN peace process in Western Sahara, by respecting the
Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination over their land and their
resources.
We urge the European Commission to put an immediate
stop to the granting of all licenses to EU vessels fishing in Western
Saharan waters, and we demand that no further EU fisheries operations
take place in Western Sahara until a peaceful solution to the conflict
has been found.
Press release Brussels, 6 Nov 2009 Western Sahara Resource Watch
International campaign to stop illegal EU fisheries
Today an international campaign was launched to make the EU withdraw its vessels from the waters offshore the occupied territory of Western Sahara.
The campaign urges the European Commission to put an immediate stop to the granting of licenses to EU vessels fishing in the waters offshore Western Sahara, and demands that no further EU fisheries operations take place in Western Sahara until a peaceful solution to the conflict has been found.
“Transferring EU tax money to the Government of Morocco so that EU fishing industry can get access to the waters offshore a territory which is illegally occupied, is fundamentally unethical. It is completely counter-productive vis-à-vis the UN’s efforts to decolonise Western Sahara, and clearly contributes to prolong the sufferings of the Sahrawi people,” stated Sara Eyckmans of Western Sahara Resource Watch.
In 2006, when the agreement was initially passed, Sweden voted against, stating that the vagueness of the territorial applicability could allow for the EU to fish in Western Sahara, which would be illegal. At that period, it was still unclear whether fisheries would in fact take place offshore the territory - although such had been the case under previous agreements.
And the current proved to be no exception. Last year, the European Commission admitted to ongoing fisheries in the waters offshore the occupied territory, under the fisheries agreement with Morocco. The European Commission claimed legal support for these activities in a UN legal opinion. The author of the opinion, however, the former UN undersecretary-general for legal affairs, Mr. Hans Corell, has reacted strongly against the EU’s misuse of his analysis. He says that there is no room for such an interpretation of his legal opinion, and that he is “embarrassed” to be European after the EU’s decision to fish in Western Sahara.
Morocco began its occupation of Western Sahara on 6 November 1975, 34 years ago. Since then, a large part of the people of Western Sahara has been living as refugees in Algeria. The Sahrawi people is against the agreement, and has not been consulted prior to it being inked by Morocco and the EU.
Individuals and organisations are invited to sign a protest to the European Commission at www.fishelsewhere.eu.
For questions and comments: Sara Eyckmans Western Sahara Resource Watch
Tel (+32) (0)475-458695 (+32) (0)475-458695 sara_eyckmans@...
The campaign is initiated by Western Sahara Resource Watch, an international organisation represented in 35 countries, researching and campaigning the plundering of the natural resources in occupied Western Sahara. www.wsrw.org.
______________________________________________________________ Source: http://www.fishelsewhere.eu/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=140&art=1040
RABAT (AFP) - Morocco ordered on Wednesday the immediate departure of a
Swedish diplomat accused of handing official Moroccan documents to
Western Sahara-linked "separatists", the foreign ministry said.
4 November 2009
Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri summoned Swedish ambassador
Michael Odevald to tell him of "a serious breach in diplomatic practice
and an unacceptable professional error committed by an advisor at
Sweden's embassy in Rabat, Mrs Anna Block-Mazoyer," a statement said.
Block-Mazoyer "gave an official document that was given by the
foreign and cooperation ministry to the Swedish embassy in Rabat as
part of a diplomatic process to separatist elements linked to Algeria
and the Polisario Front."
"This document then turned up in the hands of enemies of the kingdom's territorial integrity," it said.
The Polisario Front seeks independence for the Western Sahara, a
territory annexed by Morocco after Spanish settlers left in 1975.
The statement said that the foreign ministry had organised a
briefing on Sahara developments to which diplomats were invited,
including from Sweden which currently holds the rotating European Union
presidency.
"Block-Mazoyer's giving away this official document breaches ethical
and diplomatic professional rules (so) Moroccan authorities demand
(her) immediate departure."
The Swedish foreign ministry confirmed it had been informed of the Moroccan request.
"These are bilateral issues, it has nothing to do with the EU
presidency as far as I know," spokeswoman Cecilia Julin told AFP in
Stockholm.
Asked if the diplomat was going to leave the country, she said "normally you respect decisions like that."
UN-backed talks on the territory's future are currently stalled.
Four rounds of negotiations on the territory held in Manhasset, a
suburb of New York, could not bridge the gap between Morocco and the
Polisario Front.
An informal bid to unblock negotiations took place on August 10 in Vienna.
Morocco offers considerable autonomy to the Sahrawi people. The
Polisario Front wants a referendum on self-determination, with
independence as one of the options.
- The
party congress of the Swedish Social Democratic Party has demanded that
Sweden recognise Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara as the first country
in Europe. The party is favourite to with the 2010 polls in Sweden.
At the recent party congress of the
Social Democratic Party in Sweden, there were several motions pleading
for strong party action to "support the struggle for self-determination
of the people of Western Sahara."
The party on Friday ended up demanding a Swedish recognition of Western Sahara should the party win the coming 2010 elections.
The party executive had originally recommended its congress accept some
of the demands for stronger actions, including an extended mandate for
the UN peacekeepers MINURSO to monitor the human rights situation in
the territory, but was hesitant to exclude Western Sahara from all
EU-Morocco agreements, and said no to demands for recognition.
After a tough debate, however, the party congress accepted most demands
in the motions, including that the party, if they are elected to
government, will recognise the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)
and work for a recognition within the EU.
"Today's decision is historic," said Jytte Guteland after the vote was
clear. Ms Guteland is chairperson of SSU, the Youth League of the
Social Democratic Party. "It is a first step towards a Swedish
recognition of Western Sahara, which for long has been an issue between
us and the party," she added.
"This is something we have worked for within all sections of the
party," commented Johan Buser, International Leader of SSU. "Now we
have to win the elections. In that case, Sweden will be the first
member state of the EU to recognise Western Sahara."
Sahrawi Deputy Minister of European Affairs Mohamed Sidati, who was
invited to speak at the Swedish party congress, also strongly welcomed
the decision. "This initiative, in addition to being a bold action in
favour of the struggling Sahrawi people, represents an important
opportunity for the Sahwari cause in Sweden and Europe."
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara has been occupied by
Morocco since the colonial power left the territory, leaving most of
its inhabitant in Algerian exile. Soon after the proclamation of the
Sahrawi Repulic, the occupied state was admitted as a full member to
the OAS (now African Union).
A majority of African states have recognised the SADR. Further, many
Latin American countries and some Asian countries have recognised
Western Sahara.
No European country so far has recognised SADR as an independent state.
On the other hand, no country has accepted Morocco's territorial
expansion either. Several political parties in Western and Northern
Europe are currently working for a recognition of SADR by their
countries' governments.
Swedish Social Democratic Party demands recognition of SADR
The party congress of the Swedish Social Democratic Party demands that Sweden recognise the Western Sahara republic.
30 October 2009
At the still ongoing Party Congress of the Social Democratic Party in Sweden, there were a number of motions pleading for strong Party action to support the struggle for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.
The party ended up demanding a Swedish recognition of Western Sahara should the party win the coming 2010
elections.
The Party Executive had recommended Congress accept some of the demands for stronger actions, including an extended mandate for MINURSO to monitor the human rights situation in the territory, but was hesitant to exclude Western Sahara from all EU-Morocco agreements, and said no to demands for recognition.
After a tough debate late Thursday 29th, however, the Congress accepted most demands in the motions, including that the Party, if they are elected to Government, will recognize the SADR, and work for a recognition within the EU.
- Today's decision is historic, said Jytte Guteland, chairperson of SSU, the Youth League of the Social Democratic Party. It is a first step towards a Swedish recognition of Western Sahara, which for long has been an issue between us and the Party.
- This is something we have worked for within all sections of the Party, said Johan Buser, International Leader of the SSU. Now we have to win
the elections. In that case, Sweden will be the first member state of the EU to recognize Western Sahara. It shows that SSU's commitment to an issue can be decisive.
SSU is one of 26 member organisations of the Swedish Western Sahara Action.
________________________________________________________________
This
Capitol Hill forum was co-hosted by the Defense Forum Foundation and the Robert
F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights
Â
THE STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN OCCUPIED
WESTERN SAHARA
Â
WELCOME:
SUZANNE SCHOLTE, PRESIDENT, DFF
Â
SPECIAL
REMARKS: BOI-TIA STEVENS, ROBERT F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR JUSTICE& HUMAN
RIGHTS
Â
INTRODUCTION
OF SPEAKER: JOHN TRAIN, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, CIVIL COURAGE PRIZE
Â
SPEAKER:
AMINATOU HAIDAR, SAHRAWI HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Â
FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 23, 2009, 12:00 P.M.
B-339 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Â
Transcript
by
Federal News Service
Washington, D.C.
Â
SUZANNE
SCHOLTE: Good afternoon. If I could have your attention,
please? I’m Suzanne Scholte, the president of the Defense Forum
Foundation, and it’s a great pleasure to welcome you to today’s forum with
Aminatou Haidar, this year’s recipient of the Civil Courage Prize, last year’s
winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights Award, and I also might
add, the recipient of the Defense Forum Foundation’s Freedom Award back in
2006.
I have worked in human rights issues for nearly 30 years, and I have never met
a more remarkable people than the Sahrawis of Western Sahara or a more just
cause than what they seek: the simple right to vote on their future.Â
Having been invaded by their neighbor, they have for 35 years sought
self-determination first promised by Spain, affirmed by the International Court
of Justice in 1975 and then promised once again by the United Nations in
1991.Â
The Sahrawi have relied on the rule of law, the justness of their cause.Â
And despite the atrocities and injustices committed against them every day by
Moroccan authorities, they have worked through peaceful, non-violent means to
press their cause. Even today, seven Sahrawi human rights defenders are
in terrible danger because they were arrested at Casablanca earlier this month
after returning from a visit to the refugee camps. Their very arrest
sends a chilling message to human rights defenders around the world, and is
absolutely unheard of, unprecedented, that they would be tried before a
Moroccan military court, which is what they are facing.
Â
This
is a test by Morocco of our resolve – how will we respond? There’s a
letter that our foundation recently sent to Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton. But I want to urge all of you, especially those of you with
members of Congress, to send letters to the king of Morocco calling for the
immediate release of these seven Sahrawi human rights defenders.Â
Now, before beginning the program, I do want to acknowledge the special guest
that we have, and especially our co-host for today’s forum. From the
diplomatic community, it’s a great pleasure to welcome the ambassador of Algeria,
Abdallah Baali. (Applause.) Dear friend to many of us, my brother,
Ambassador Mouloud Said of the Sahrawi Republic. (Applause.) The
Sahrawi Republic’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ahmed Boukhari.Â
(Applause.)Â
I’ve been actively involved in this issue since 1993, and it’s been a very long
struggle. Those of you who have been involved in this know that.Â
But a man who’s inspired me more than he knows is also here today from
Norway. His group is one of the best on action and information on this
issue. And sometimes just getting his news and his updates has kept me
inspired. So it’s a great honor to have Ronny Hansen of the Norwegian
Support Committee for Western Sahara. Ronny, if you could stand up.Â
(Applause.) And if you’re not on his e-mail list, make sure you get on
it. (Laughter.)
Â
Now,
also from the Defense Forum Foundation, we have the former deputy chairman of
the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Western Sahara who is beloved by the Sahrawi
and many others because he blew the whistle on the Moroccan obstruction of the
referendum. He’s never stopped speaking out on this issue. He
continues to write about this, and just recently had a letter to the editor
published in The Washington Times on Western Sahara. He’s also, I’m very
pleased and very honored to say on our board of directors. And
that’s Ambassador Frank Ruddy. (Applause.)
Another member of our board of directors who’s our vice chairman is Ty McCoy
who’s been a great friend to me and a wise counselor and encourager on all of
our work as we’ve done more and more on defense foreign affairs and human
rights issues. Ty McCoy. (Applause.)
And also our director of projects and grants, back there, Henry Song.Â
(Applause.) We also have with us Barbara Becker of EqualShot who’s been
working on the Civil Courage Prize Committee events, organizing meetings and
accompanying Ms. Haidar for both of her events in New York and in Washington,
D.C., Barbara. (Applause.)
I also want to acknowledge, especially for someone like me that does not speak
Arabic, that Senia Abderahman – and I know I’m pronouncing your last name
wrong. But I want to acknowledge Senia who’s been translating and who’s
just done a wonderful job translating for Aminatou Haidar for her
meetings. If you could just stand. (Applause.)
And perhaps most important, I want to recognize our co-host today, Marselha
Margerin. Marselha, if you could stand. (Applause.) And
Boi-Tia Stevens – Boi-Tia is right here – (applause ) – of the Robert F.
Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. It’s been just wonderful to
be able to co-host this event with them and to work with them on this
issue.Â
To me, the selection of Aminatou Haidar for the Robert F. Kennedy Award will be
seen in the future textbooks of the Sahrawi Republic as a turning point in
their history because when this group recognizes you, they also become your
partner. And this will change everything to have the Robert F. Kennedy
Center as advocates for self-determination and human rights for Western Sahara.
I’m going to ask Boi-Tia to describe some of the work that the center is doing
on behalf of this cause. Boi-Tia.
BOI-TIA STEVENS: Thank you very much, Suzanne. Every year, the Robert
F. Kennedy Center selects an individual whose courageous activism is at the
heart of a human rights movement, and in the spirit of Bobby Kennedy’s vision
for a better world and a more peaceful world.Â
As Suzanne indicated, in 2008, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award
recipient was Ms. Aminatou Haidar. Aminatou was recognized because of her
peaceful and tenacious struggle against Moroccan control of her country and
human rights abuses against her people the indigenous people of Western Sahara,
the Sahrawis. Since 2008, the Robert F. Kennedy Center entered into a
partnership with Ms. Aminatou Haidar, and our work primarily focuses on
advocating on human rights issues which are Aminatou’s cause as well.Â
We advocate on Capitol Hill and in the United Nations as well on three main
areas:Â One, the registration of human rights organizations in Western
Sahara, specifically CODESA, which is Aminatou’s organization, realizing that
Morocco has denied the right for these organizations to register.
The second area in which we focus is political prisoners. There are a number of
prisoners languishing in jails and prisons in Morocco and Western Sahara
because of the views on the issue of self-determination and other human rights
issues. And our goal is to seek favorable detention conditions for them
and their eventual release.
The third area in which we focus on is the creation of a human rights mechanism
in the region which would monitor and report on human rights abuses, both in
Western Sahara and in the camps in Algeria. Our belief is that if there
is a human rights mechanism that is present on the ground, it would aid
tremendously in curbing human rights abuses against the Sahrawi people.
In the next few months and weeks and years, we will be knocking on your door as
we continue with our advocacy work on behalf of Aminatou’s cause. But
today, we will let Aminatou speak and tell you what is going on in Western
Sahara. Thank you. (Applause.)
MS. SCHOLTE:Â Now we are very blessed to have the founder of the Civil
Courage Prize, and the chairman of the Civil Courage Prize Committee, who
traveled here from New York for purposes of introducing our
speaker.  I mentioned that I believe the involvement of the Robert
F. Kennedy Center on this issue will be pivotal. But I also believe that
the awarding of the Civil Courage Prize will be life-saving. Giving this
award and further raising the statue of our heroine, Aminatou Haidar, will help
protect her life and her noble work, because when she leaves the USA to return
to occupied Western Sahara, her life and her work will once again be in
danger. I am so grateful to John Train and the Civil Courage Prize
trustees for their acknowledging Aminatou Haidar for her steadfast resistance
to evil at great personal risk. And it is a great honor to now turn this
program over to Mr. John Train. Thank you for being here, Mr.
Train. (Applause.)
JOHN TRAIN: Thank you, Suzanne. I’m honored to be here, and I’m
honored that you asked me to speak. Your Excellencies, the trustees of
the Defense Forum Foundation, ladies and gentlemen, the few words I can say
about Aminatou Haidar will not compare with what she will tell you
herself. So I won’t go into great length. But the purpose of our
prize is to recognize steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk.
Â
Now,
what is evil? Most people know it when they see it, so we don’t try and
define it. But it’s very, very bad things. My foundation is not
politically active. That’s the work of the RFK Foundation, as we
recognize people. We are politically neutral. And one of our
objectives is, as Suzanne said, that receiving this recognition, which Aminatou
has very much deserved, that receiving this award protects the recipient to
some extent, particularly since we are apolitical.
We do of course agree with Aminatou’s political position that the Moroccans
should, of course, grant the freedom to vote – let the people speak.Â
That’s the position of the United Nations and the position of the United
States. We also want to recognize that the Defense Forum Foundation
nominated her for our reward, a very, very successful choice for which we are
grateful.
One final thing: Someone in this room may save her life, and I’ll tell
you how this could come about. She has a very distinct fear of being
arrested in the airport as she returns to her country. She’s been in jail
before this and she’s been threatened and spent a lot of time in jail –
and disappeared. And if one of you could ask one of your senators or
representative to ask our mission out there to send a car out to pick her up,
that would very likely get her through without serious risk.
Anyway, thank you for listening to me. (Applause.)
(Note: Ms. Haidar’s remarks are delivered via translator.)
AMINATOU
HAIDAR:   Good afternoon. Honorable ladies and gentlemen,
please allow me to welcome all of you and to welcome and thank members of the
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights and the Defense Forum Foundation for
this honorable opportunity, for their continual support on the Saharawi’s
struggle, their just struggle for freedom and dignity.
Please allow me to also thank Mr. Train for coming to participate in this
supportive luncheon. I would also like to take this opportunity to say
that I’m honored that his foundation, the Train Foundation, has given me the
Civil Courage Prize. This prize would be the third prize I received in
the United States, and the first prize I received is the Freedom Award from the
Defense Forum Foundation, which was the first opportunity for me to come to the
United States. And the second prize, which is a prestigious prize, is the
Robert Kennedy Prize for 2008.
Honorable guests, in a deliberate violation of the international law, Morocco
invaded Western Sahara on the day of 31st of October in 1975. This
illegal occupation has hindered the Sahrawi people to exercise their legitimate
right to self-determination which has been recognized by the United Nations
since 1966. Alongside the military invasion, the Moroccan authorities
have exercised policies of collective punishment to the Sahrawi people,
including bombing with phosphorus and throwing people from helicopters and
burying them alive in groups – in massive graves.Â
Â
This
led the Sahrawi people to flee their home country. This led to thousands
of Sahrawi to flee their home countries to find a safe haven. And so
after 34 years, they still live in refugee camps in Tindouf in Southern Algeria
under horrible humanitarian conditions and completely dependent on humanitarian
aid.Â
Meanwhile, the rest of the Sahrawi population lives under occupation and face
human rights violations in the form of torture, arrest and disappearances by
the Moroccan security forces, this without taking into consideration the age or
gender. These forced disappearance have been experienced by men and women
and especially pregnant women and underage children. The period of their
disappearance have ranged from six months to 16 years under unknown
conditions.Â
Ladies and gentlemen, I personally have faced disappearance at a young
age. As a 20-year-old, my life all of a sudden stopped. I found
myself in November of 1987 under torture in a secret location with my eyes
covered, with complete isolation from the outside world or being tried.Â
And I faced physical and psychological torture and many conditions that I will
not be able to express in a few minutes.
Many of my companions have died due to the torture and the horrible conditions
in prisons. We still demand and ask for the fate of over 500 disappeared
– Sahrawis disappeared whose fate is still unknown, in addition to 15 other
youth who have been arrested, who disappeared in 2005.
Honorable guests, the human right violations committed by the Moroccan
government against the Sahrawi people are not part of the history but still
continue today. As I speak now, many people are facing repression and
violation against their basic rights. And children are facing
discrimination and torture, and women are facing torture and sexual harassment
by taking pictures of them naked and the Moroccan authorities threaten to publish
these pictures on the Internet to pressure them psychologically. And the
latest case is the case of the seven arrested human rights defenders.Â
Honorable ladies and gentlemen, the (Moroccan) actions are against all of the
international human right conventions. These are clear violations of
human rights by the Moroccan government against the Sahrawi people because of
the Sahrawis’ views on the Western Sahara issue and their peaceful struggle and
resistance asking for the right to self-determination.
On October 8th 2009, the Moroccan government arrested seven Sahrawi human
rights defenders who are Ali Salem Tamek, Brahim Dahane, Ms. Dagja Lachgar,
Ahmed Anasari and others in the Casablanca Airport in Morocco when they were
coming from Houari Boumediene Airport from Algeria after visiting the Sahrawi
refugee camps. They were interrogated by the Moroccan security forces for
eight days, and they were put in the local prison of Seleh (ph) in Morocco
awaiting their fate to be put before a military court in the Moroccan capital
of Rabat.Â
They may face the death penalty or life imprisonment according to the Moroccan
law due to the made-up accusations against them. On the date of the 5th
of this month, the Moroccan authorities stopped five human rights defenders in
the border with Mauritania, and these people include Sidi Mohammed Dadach and
others who were prevented from traveling to Mauritania after being maltreated
and facing interrogation for seven hours.
Â
They
confiscated all of their personal documents including their passport, national
ID, and their drivers’ licenses. For this they are in a legal situation
with no documents and under house arrest. And this takes place as part of
a campaign that the Moroccan high officials in the Moroccan government are
doing, including the minister of interior and the foreign minister. They
utilize all of the political parties and media outlets against the Sahrawi
human right defenders and against the Sahrawi people who fight for the right to
self-determination to silence their free voices.
Honorable ladies and gentlemen, at this moment, there are about 40 Sahrawi
political prisoners in prison in Moroccan prisons and the black prison in Morocco.Â
And most of them are taking part in an open hunger strike
and they are in horrible conditions. For this as a human right defender,
I also face the threat of being arrested when I return or being under house
arrest.
I would like to state that on the human rights situation in Western Sahara that
international silence encourages the Moroccan government to again put people
before military courts and under house arrest. I therefore ask members of
the Congress and the Senate, civil society and international human rights
organizations, and all of the people involved in establishing peace and
understanding in the world, to take an action immediately, to protect the
Sahrawi people and especially human rights defenders and ask for the release of
the seven human right defenders and all of the Sahrawi political prisoners.
I also ask to put forward a mechanism to protect the human rights and expand
the mandate of the MINURSO to include the protection of human rights. And
I ask the Moroccan government to abide by the (recommendations in) reports from
organizations and international institutions that have visited the Western
Sahara such as the U.N. Human Right Commission, the European Parliament,
Amnesty International, Human Rights International, Front Line and so on, and to
immediately find a solution that would end the suffering of the Sahrawi people
and uphold their right to self-determination. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
MS. SCHOLTE: We have some time for some questions. If we could ask the
congressional staff – I know there are some reporters here – because the
congressional staff have a limited time, if we could take the questions from
the congressional staff, and then if any people from the media who want to
visit with her afterwards, we’ll have time afterwards. Is there any
questions from congressional staff? And if you could identify your name
and the office that you’re with or the committee that you’re with. Yes,
ma’am. I can identify you! (Laughter.)
Q: Kerry McKinney with Congressman Donald Payne. I just wanted to
ask what you’re doing with the U.N. lately and what their response has been.
MS. HAIDAR:Â Politically when it comes to human rights in 2006, the U.N.
Human Right Commission sent a delegation to look at the situation. They
confirmed that the human rights violations are due to the lack of respect for
the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination. And among the request
they put forward was to put a mechanism to protect and to investigate the human
rights violations. However, the U.N. Human Rights Commission Report on
the human rights situation was never put forward and none of the requests have
been abided to. They also asked the U.N. Security General to investigate
the human rights situation. And for the first time they included in their
report the human rights dimension in the mandate. However, this has been
rejected – it was not included in the report that was sent before the
Security Council, and that’s obvious because of France who did not allow that
to happen.
MS. SCHOLTE: Other questions. (Inaudible, off mike.)
Q:Â (Inaudible, off mike.)Â The Moroccan government often says that
the fact that you’re in Morocco as a human rights activist is evidence that
there is freedom there. Could you just respond to that.
MS. HAIDAR:Â The response perhaps was given by the Moroccan government on
October 8th by arresting the seven human rights defenders after visiting their
families in the refugee camps in Algeria, and also by preventing the five human
rights defenders from traveling to Mauritania. And I personally did not
get a passport until 2005. And I’ve been threatened several times that my
documents would be confiscated and I may return to jail.
Q: Yeah, my name is Mohammed Sayid – (inaudible). I’m a Moroccan.Â
Am I allowed to ask a question?
MS. SCHOLTE: Actually, it’s just congressional staff.
Q: Yeah, I’m a member of – (inaudible, off mike).
MS. SCHOLTE: Congressional staff is what I –
Q: No, I’m not going to be offended. I’ll be fair.
MS. SCHOLTE: We’re going to have time afterwards. Really, this is
for –
Q:Â In Arabic or in English?
Â
MS.
SCHOLTE: The Q&A was for congressional staff, as I said at the beginning
because they have to leave shortly but we have time afterwards for people in the
press to ask questions. (Applause.) Congressional staff
members? Any other questions ..yes.
Q: I just have a quick question. (Inaudible, off mike.) I
just wondered if – she’s been able to meet with Ambassador – (inaudible) [Christoffer Ross] – and
how her story has been received.
MS. HAIDAR:Â No, I did not meet with him.
MS. SCHOLTE:Â Sen. Inhofe has an announcement and afterwards we will have
time for people who want to interview her with the media. I thank all of
the congressional staff for attending today. And hold on, we have two
more announcements. I’m sorry?
Q: Is it possible to stay on mike while we – the press can ask
questions.Â
MS. SCHOLTE: Yeah, but what we’re going to do – we could have her
come back up, but we need to let the Congressional staff go and we need to
finish up the program. We have a couple of quick announcements
before people need to leave to get back to their offices. (Applause.)
Joel, right? This is Joel Starr with Sen. Inhofe’s office that wanted to
make an announcement.
JOEL STARR: Thank you very much, Suzanne. I appreciate it.Â
Nice to meet you. Hello. I’m Joel Starr from Sen. Inhofe’s
office. And Ms. Haidar visited with Sen. Inhofe yesterday and told her
about the situation in Western Sahara, and specifically about the people who
were detained at the airport that she just spoke about and have been
incarcerated and were convicted in a military tribunal.
She
so inspired Sen. Inhofe that he got on the horn last night and contacted
Senators Issakson and DeMint, and we cranked out a letter last night and we’ve
actually just it to the Moroccan ambassador – it’s addressed to the king – just
this morning. And I wanted to read you just a quick excerpt of it.
“Dear King Mohammed, We’re writing to express our concern for the arrest of the
seven Sahrawi human rights activists who were detained on October 8th, 2009, at
the airport. The seven human rights activists have been involved in
peaceful efforts to raise the issues of the Sahrawi people through their
various organizations. It is disconcerting to see that these civilians
detained – were detained and placed before a military court for exercising
their right of freedom of expression.â€
And it ends by saying, “For over 30 years, the conflict over the Western Sahara
have gone unresolved. There have been negotiations. It is our hope
that a resolution will be reached in the near future.Â
Â
On
October 9, 2009, in a statement to President Obama, you said, quote, ‘My county
always supports your efforts to uphold the universal values of freedom,
democracy, solidarity, justice and brotherhood, and to promote the lofty ideals
of human rights to which both our peoples are deeply committed,’ end
quote. We commend you in these efforts and we hope that you will apply
them specifically to the Sahrawis. We would like to ask you to release
the human rights activists, and in doing so, uphold your commitments to human
rights for all people.â€Â Signed Sen. Inhofe, the ranking member of the
East Asian and Pacific Committee on the Senate Foreign Relations; Johnny
Isaskson, a ranking member on the Subcommittee on African Affairs; and Jim
DeMint, the subcommittee ranking member on European Affairs. (Applause.)
MS. SCHOLTE: A couple of other quick announcements. There are
handouts -- a letter feel free to pick up and take a copy – that we sent to
Secretary Clinton. There’s also the remarks that Aminatou made at the
Civil Courage Award ceremony and in their newsletter that’s available to
everyone.Â
And I highly encourage – I highly encourage those of you with members of
Congress to encourage your members to go to the refugee camps, but also to
visit occupied Western Sahara. I really feel that if we can get a
delegation of members of Congress to go to this area, it’s going to – it will change
everything.Â
And it’s been really difficult to – I know Sen. Inhofe went into the camps some
years ago. I don’t know if he’s been to the occupied territory. But
I think that for members of Congress that to do that, it will be really
powerful. I know a lot of you have been on our staff trips with
congressional staff, just to be able to learn about it and see the situation
first hand. It makes a huge difference.
Thank you, everybody, for coming today. I want to announce that our next
forum is going to be Friday, November 13th, with Dr. Shiyu Zhou, who is the
head of the Global Internet Freedom Consortium. His topic is going to be
“Tearing Down the Cyber Wall, How Chinese American Human Rights Activists are
Changing the Global Internet Landscape.â€Â
This is the group that’s behind breaking down the censorship in China. It
will be a very powerful forum. The software they develop could have
ramifications through any country that has Internet access where the government
is trying to block the people from being able to have access to the Internet,
specifically China, Iran and other countries. So I hope you’ll join us
November 13th. Thank you all for being here today. (Applause.)
(END)
 ________________________________________________________________
The Honorable Hillary Clinton Secretary of State 2201 C Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Secretary Clinton:
We are writing to urge you to call upon Morocco to release the seven Sahrawi human rights defenders arrested by Moroccan police as they arrived in Casablanca on October 8, 2009. They were first held incommunicado and are now facing a military court. Ironically, these seven were arrested as they were returning from a visit to the Sahrawi refugee camps outside of Tindouf, Algeria, an area Morocco claims is inaccessible to visitors, but where there is an on-going United Nation’s presence. In fact, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has worked to facilitate visits between family members living in occupied Western Sahara and those living in the refugee camps in Algeria.
These seven human rights advocates are known for their peaceful efforts to raise the unlawful and inhumane treatment of Sahrawi citizens in occupied Western Sahara as well as their support for the right to vote, specifically support for the long-promised referendum on self- determination on Western Sahara. Those arrested include:
1) Brahim Dahane, President of the Saharawi Association of Victims of Serious Violations Committed by Morocco (ASVDH); 2) Ali Salem Tamek , First Vice President of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) and member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH); 3) Ahmad Anasiri: General Secretary of the Saharawi Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Smara and President of AMDH Smara Chapter; 4) Ms. Dagja Lachgar, Member of the Executive Office of ASVDH; 5) Yahdih Ettarrouzi, Member of AMDH Laayounne Chapter; 6) Saleh Lebayhi: President of the Forum for Protection of Sahrawi Children and member of the Laayoune Chapter of CODESA and AMDH; and 7) Rachid Sghayar, Member of Committee Action against Torture
Most have previously been imprisoned by Morocco including Brahim Duhane and Ms. Dakja Lashgar who were among the “disappeared” from the 1980s, a period when hundreds of Sahrawis disappeared into Moroccan prisons and were tortured and held for many years without any acknowledgment by Moroccan authorities of their existence. Additionally, Ali Salem Tamek was one of Amnesty International’s Prisoners of Conscience for being held in prison in Morocco for his support of human rights and self-determination.
We believe that if the United States does not intervene with Morocco to immediately release these seven human rights defenders that their lives will be in grave danger. Furthermore, their arbitrary arrest and secret detention will further stymie the efforts of the United Nations to resolve this conflict peacefully.
While we acknowledge and appreciate the long-time friendship between the United States and Morocco, this friendship cannot be an excuse to allow Morocco to commit human rights violations against the Sahrawi people. Finally, we believe that the United States must show solid support for those who work peacefully for justice and self-determination through the rule of law and who renounce terror as a means to achieve own’s objectives, which has been the hallmark of the Sahrawi’s struggle for self-determination.
We thank you for the leadership you have shown in defending and upholding human rights around the world and hope that you will gain the release of these seven human rights defenders.
Sincerely,
Suzanne Scholte Carlos Wilson Chairman Executive Director
U.S. Western Sahara Foundation
cc: Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Ambassador Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Phasing out phosphate imports An Australian fertilizer firm has announced a phasing out of phosphate imports from occupied Western Sahara. Norwatch recently wrote that the Norwegian Government’s pension fund was part owner in the company’s mother firm, Wesfarmers. Norwatch, 23 October 2009.
For at least 20 years, the Australian fertiliser firm Wesfarmers has been importing phosphate rock from Western Sahara through its subsidiary CSBP. Two weeks after Norwatch wrote about the imports of phosphate rock from Western Sahara, and that the Norwegian Government’s pension fund is part owner of the firm, CSBP has announced that they are going to “reduce the company’s dependence on phosphate rock from Western Sahara”.
CSBP does open, however, the possibility that the imports will continue, albeit to a limited degree, depending on price and availability of alternative sources.
Norwatch revealed in the beginning of October that the Norwegian Government's Pension fund has invested heavily in the industry which imports phosphates from the occupied country. Two thirds of all phosphates that are shipped out of Western Sahara, ends up in the hands of 8 pension fund firms, according to Norwatch estimates.
Among these long term importers, are the fertilizer firm CSBP, which is owned by the big Australian company Wesfarmers. The Norwegian Pension Fund had at last New Year invested 224 million kroners in the firm.
The trade with the phosphates is highly controversial, since it supports a violation of international law, and takes place in disregard of the wishes of the people of Western Sahara. Australia is one of the leading importers of this phosphate, an industry that is contributing to finance the Moroccan continued presence in the neighbouring country, which it occupied in 1975.
Totally dependent In a press release that CSBP issued on its homepages last week, the company announced that they are now investing in new technology which will make it possible to use other phosphate sources in the future.
The company announced the release ten days after Norwatch had revealed that the Pension Fund was heavily invested in the mother firm. Also previously, other investors have exerted pressure on the firm. The Norwegian investor KLP divested last year due to the phosphate trade, something also Swedish shareholders have done.
CSBP explains that the main reason of the broadening the supply base is for the benefit of the firm’s business, and that it has been planned for a long time. Still, they explain that they also listen to the critique which has been raised.
“We have also considered the views and needs of a range of stakeholders, including those concerned with the current situation in Western Sahara,” stated CSBP Managing Director Ian Hansen on the homepages.
Hansen said in the announcement that the company so far has imported between 60 and 70 percent of its phosphates from Western Sahara. The phosphate is of a kind which is very well suited for the firm’s demands, according to the release.
From what Norwatch knows, the imports have been going on since at least at the early 90s.
Opens possibility for further imports The final decision of what the company intends to do with the Western Sahara trade, will only be made after the technology has been finally installed in 2 years time.
A possibility is that they will blend phosphate from different sources. The company does not rule out the possibility that in the future they might still be dependent on phosphate rock from Western Sahara.
“The installation of the [technology] does not necessarily foreshadow a complete end to imports of phosphate rock from Western Sahara because factors such as the operational efficiency of the new technology, and the price and reliability of alternative sources will all have to be taken into account when considering future supply arrangements”, stated Hansen.
In a statement last week, the EU Commission again omitted a central point from the UN opinion on natural resources in Western Sahara : the Sahrawis’ wishes.
“I am afraid that Commissioner Borg has been ill advised”, stated the former UN Legal Counsel and UN Under-Secretary General for Legal Affairs, Mr. Hans Corell, last year, after learning one of the many strange conclusions the EU had drawn from the analysis he made to the UN Security Council in 2002.
During the controversies over the EU fishing in the waters off Western Sahara, the EU has used, and still uses, the 2002 UN opinion in search for legal arguments.
Again, last week, the EU Commission used the analysis to defend the fisheries. And once more, the EU Commissioner seems to have been erroneously advised. The Corell opinion is completely misrepresented:
“With respect to the present situation, according to the legal adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations (12 February 2002) and on the basis of international law, activities related to natural resources undertaken by an administering power in a non-self-governing territory are not illegal so long as they are not undertaken in disregard of the needs, interests and benefits of the people of that territory”, stated Mr. Joe Borg , European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs.
The statement came as a reply on 9 October 2009 to questions from two Green MEPs, Caroline Lucas and Raül Romeva (see questions at the end of this article).
The Commissioner’s argument, which the EU also has stated before, is basically that the fishing in Western Sahara is allowed because they, and Morocco, know what is in the interests of the people of Western Sahara, and how well the people will benefit from financial contributions. The Commission has repeatedly tried to find support in the UN 2002 opinion for that argument. But it is impossible.
The Legal Opinion does not refer to the “needs, interests and benefits”, as a criterion for legality, such as the Commissioner stated last week. The three words are more or less synonymous.
What the UN opinion states is that natural resource exploration and exploitation would be in violation of international law if it is “in disregard of the interests and wishes of the people of Western Sahara.” Download the 2002 UN legal opinion here.
The word that keeps escaping the Commission’s mind is “wishes”.
“It is quite straightforward, and therefore it is rather incomprehensible that the EU Commission never gets the point in the UN legal opinion,” said Sara Eyckmans of Western Sahara Resource Watch.
“The Sahrawi have a right to self-determination over their territory and its natural resources, meaning they have the right to decide on the future status of the territory and its possessions. The wishes of the Sahrawi people are part of that sacred trust that the EU cannot look away from. This is a key point to understanding the entire concept of self-determination, which the EU is claiming to defend. Ignoring the Sahrawi people’s rights to self-determination, is exactly why the fisheries agreement is both in violation of international law and highly unethical”, said Eyckmans, underlining it is not sufficient to just give money to the Moroccan government for projects in Western Sahara.
Another unclear point in the Commissioner’s statement, is that it gives the impression that the EU believes Morocco to be the administering power in Western Sahara . It is not.
The same legal opinion that the Commissioner refers to, states clearly that Morocco is not the administering power of Western Sahara. The legal analysis to administering powers was done by analogy. Since Morocco is only de facto administering the territory, stronger regulations apply. But in the Commissions texts, to the contrary, the UN conclusion is rather softened. In the Commissioner’s latest reply, the legal argument has been switched from the UN positive version: “in violation of international law […] if…” to a double negation from the EU: “not illegal...unless”.
UN expert embarrassed The last years’ misrepresentation by the EU Commission of the UN legal opinion in 2008 prompted reactions from the author of the UN opinion itself.
"As a European I feel embarrassed. Surely, one would expect Europe and the European Commission - of all - to set an example by applying the highest possible international legal standards in matters of this nature", Mr. Hans Corell stated in a law conference in South Africa, December 2008.
"It has been suggested to me that the legal opinion that I delivered in 2002 had been invoked by the European Commission in support of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement. I do not know if this is true. But if it is, I find it incomprehensible that the Commission could find any such support in the legal opinion , unless of course the Commission had ascertained that the people of Western Sahara had been consulted, had accepted the agreement and the manner in which the profits from the activity was to benefit them. However, an examination of the Agreement actually leads to a different conclusion".
“According to an article in EU Observer on 9 March 2006 under the title ‘Commission under fire over Morocco fisheries agreement’, EU fisheries commissioner Joe Borg has stated that Morocco is the de facto administrator of Western Sahara and therefore (my emphasis) the Commission proposal is in conformity with the legal opinion of the United Nations issued in January 2002 [...] If this reference is correct, I am afraid that Commissioner Borg has been ill advised"
EU support inside occupied territory It is also interesting to note that the Commissioner now states that EU is supporting fisheries sector in Western Sahara. This is done despite the fact that Western Sahara is not mentioned in the Fisheries Agreement between Morocco and the EU.
It is not known if the EU has done anything to find out if the people of Western Sahara want these projects on their land. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic earlier this year declared Economic Exclusive Zone for the waters offshore Western Sahara.
-----------------------------
E-3756/09EN Answer given by Mr Borg on behalf of the Commission (9.10.2009)
The Commission is aware that the self-proclaimed Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) [1] declared its jurisdiction over a 200 miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the Western Sahara.
The question of the status of Western Sahara, including the declaration of an EEZ, is a complex problem which should be resolved both bilaterally between the parties concerned and within the multilateral framework of the United Nations. In this context, the EU supports the efforts of the United Nations Secretary-General to reach a just and sustainable solution, which is acceptable to the parties concerned, while preserving the principle of self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. This would also relate to the question of jurisdiction over the waters off the Western Sahara.
With respect to the present situation, according to the legal adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations (12 February 2002) and on the basis of international law, activities related to natural resources undertaken by an administering power in a non-self-governing territory are not illegal so long as they are not undertaken in disregard of the needs, interests and benefits of the people of that territory.
In its opinion of 20 February 2006, the Parliament’s Legal Service shared this point of view with regard to the Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) between the European Community and Morocco.
Finally, it should be recalled that the annual financial contribution paid by the Community to Morocco in the framework of the FPA amounts to € 36.1 million, of which at least € 13.5 million are to be used to support the fisheries policy and the implementation of responsible and sustainable fisheries. Support for the fisheries sector, including in the Western Sahara region, is one of the elements of the aforementioned policy and is taken into account in the programming of measures to be undertaken within the framework of this Agreement.
[1] Not recognized by the EU Member States.
-----------------------------
WRITTEN QUESTION E-3756/09 by Caroline Lucas (Verts/ALE) and Raül Romeva i Rueda (Verts/ALE) to the Commission
Subject: Western Sahara resources
In January 2009, the Government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) declared a 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the context of its jurisdiction over its offshore fisheries and mineral and petroleum seabed resources, as provided for under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Under the terms of the fisheries partnership agreement with Morocco, EU-flagged vessels have been pursued fishing activities in the waters included in this declaration of jurisdiction (see answer to question E-4295/08 by Commissioner Borg).
Since Morocco has never declared jurisdiction over these waters, the government of the SADR appears to be the only body that has ever declared such jurisdiction.
Was the Commission aware that such a declaration was made?
What is the Commission's view of the legal status of the declaration? What effect does it have on the EU's bilateral fisheries agreement with Morocco?
Does the Commission agree that the terms of the bilateral agreement should be clarified to specifically exclude the waters south of 28º 44´ North latitude, so as to avoid any possible prejudice to the international status of Western Sahara?
http://www.etan.org/news/2009/09wsahara.htm
Statement on Western Sahara Prepared for Delivery to the United Nations Fourth
Committee
United Nations, New York, October 2009
Petitioner: John M. Miller, National Coordinator, ETAN
Mr. Chairperson, distinguished members of the committee, I thank you for this
opportunity to speak on behalf of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network on
Western Sahara. I also serve as the U.N. representative for the International
Federation for East Timor. Both organizations were long active in support of the
struggle of the East Timorese people for self-determination.
Five weeks ago, I was in the independent Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to
celebrate the 10th anniversary of the "popular consultation" that brought 24
years of illegal Indonesian occupation to an end. Timor-Leste is now a member of
the United Nations and addressed this committee in support of Western Sahara
earlier this week.
Ten years ago, on August 30, the East Timorese people belatedly exercised their
right to self-determination. – They voted in massive numbers, defying the bloody
campaign of the Indonesian military and its militia proxies. In the face of
threats of destructive retaliation that were soon realized, they expressed their
preferred choice of independence.
In doing so, the people of Timor-Leste exercised their inalienable right and
expressed their "passionate yearning for freedom" described by the UN General
Assembly nearly 50 years ago in its 1960 declaration (1514 (XV)) on
decolonization, which unambiguously declared that "all peoples have the right to
self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine political
status…"
It should embarrass this institution – and all of you as representatives of
United Nations member states – that this committee must continue to discuss the
situation of Western Sahara. The discussion should have ended long ago, and its
people should have exercised their right to self-determination.
The parallels between the situations of Timor-Leste and Western Sahara are
clear. In 1975, within weeks, larger neighbors, defying international law and
the UN Charter, invaded both countries as they were on the verge of
decolonization. For decades, Morocco and Indonesia continued to brutally occupy
and illegally exploit the resources of Timor-Leste and Western Sahara in
defiance of UN resolutions. The invaders received weapons and diplomatic support
from the United States and other powerful countries. Both colonies remained on
the General Assembly agenda as non-self-governing territories. Both invasions
were clearly condemned by the Security Council. Both peoples suffered horrendous
human rights crimes, including torture, disappearances, displacement, and rape.
Those who organized and ordered these crimes have yet to be brought to justice.
This only encourages others to defy international law.
While in Timor-Leste, I participated in a conference, "Hametin Solidaridade:
Luta Nafatin Ba Justisa," in English: "Strengthening Solidarity: The Struggle
for Justice Continues." More than 200 people from 18 countries discussed the
continuing need for justice and accountability for human rights crimes committed
during the Indonesian occupation. Many of those attending had long been active
in Timor-Leste's struggle for self-determination both inside and outside the
country; others were young students enthusiastic to learn more about their own
country's and others' struggles. The conference expressed strong support for an
ad hoc international tribunal for Timor-Leste.
However, the focus of the conference was not only on the recently independent
country. We also looked outward to ask where we and the East Timorese people
should extend our solidarity to others struggling for self-determination,
justice and peace. We felt strongly that others should benefit from the
international solidarity extended to Timor-Leste over the decades. The
Conference "enthusiastically endorsed" self-determination for Western Sahara.
I was recently forwarded a statement by the Timorese organization, MEC-TL
(Movimento Estudante Cristaun Timor-Leste). They reject the Moroccan presence in
Western Sahara. They call on France and Spain to consider the Saharawi voice for
independence and call on the United Nations to give Western Sahara its
referendum on independence.
The people of Timor-Leste have much in common with the people of Western Sahara.
They – and those of us who supported Timor's campaign for self-determination --
hope those common experiences will soon include a genuine act of
self-determination.
We urge Morocco and its allies to end their delaying tactics. The United Nations
and its member states should fulfill its promise to support decolonization
worldwide and more forward with Western Sahara's referendum
There is a truism: "Justice delayed is justice denied." The paraphrase,
"Self-determination delayed is self-determination denied," is certainly as true.
The people of Timor-Leste had their right self-determination denied for nearly
two and one-half decades. The people of Western Sahara have been denied their
rights for 34 years and counting. They should not have to wait any longer.
Thank you.
3 US Senators today sent a letter to Kind Mohamed VI, asking for the release of the 7 Sahrawis who were jailed for visiting their countrymen in the Sahrawi refugee camps.
United States Senate Washington, DC 20510
October 23, 2009
His Majesty the King, Mohammed VI Royal Palace Rabat, Morocco
Dear King Mohammed VI:
We are writing to express our concern for the arrest of the seven Sahrawi human rights activists who were detained on October 8, 2009 at the Mohamed V airport in Casablanca upon their return from the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria.
The seven human rights activists have been involved in peaceful efforts to raise the issues of the Saharawi people through their various organizations. It is concerning to see these civilians detained and placed before a military court for exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of association. Additionally, the international community and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have worked to promote visits between the Sahrawis living in the Western Sahara and those in the refugee camps in Tindouf.
We believe that this action will not advance the confidence building between your government and the Polisario in the conflict in the Western Sahara and could be detrimental to the success of the U.N. sponsored negotiations. Those arrests include:
1. Brahim Dahane, President of the Saharawi Associaion of Victims of Serious Violations Committed by Morocco (ASVDH); 2. Ali Salem Tamek, First Vice President of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) and member of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH);
3. Ahmad Anasiri, General Secretary of the Secretary of the Saharawi Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Smara and President of AMDH Smara Chapter; 4. Ms. Dagja Lachgar, Member of the Executive Office of ASVDH;
5. Yahdih Ettarouzi, Member of AMDH Laayounne Chapter; 6. Saleh Lebayhi, President of the Forum for Protection of Sahrawi Children and member of the Laayoune Chapter of CODESA and AMDH; and 7. Rachid Sgayar, Member of Committee Action against Torture
For over 30 years, the conflict over the Western Sahara has gone unresolved. There have been many negotiations and it is our hope that a resolution will be reached in the near future. On October 9, 2009, in a statement to President Obama, you said, “My country also supports your efforts to uphold the universal values of freedom, democracy, solidarity, justice and brotherhood, and to promote the lofty ideals of human rights to which both our peoples are deeply committed.”
We commend you in these efforts and hope that you will apply them specifically to the Saharawis. We would like to ask you to release these seven human rights activists and in doing so uphold your commitments to human rights for all people.
Sincerely,
James M. Inhofe Ranking Member Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs Committee on Foreign Relations
Johnny Isakson Ranking Member Subcommittee on African Affairs
Committee on Foreign Relations
Jim DeMint Ranking Member Subcommittee on European Affairs Committee on Foreign Relations
Morocco / Western Sahara: Abduction of seven human rights defenders in Casablanca
Posted on 2009/10/09
Please take action on behalf of Ali Salem Tamek, Brahim Dahane, Ahmad Anasiri, Saleh Lebayhi, Dagja Lachgar, Rachid Sghayar and Yahdih Ettarrouzi. Copy the enclosed letter and send it to the address provided.
Target adresses:
His Majesty the King, Mohammed VI Bureau de Sa Majesté le Roi Palais Royal Rabat Maroc / Morocco
On 8 October 2009, seven human rights defenders from Western Sahara were abducted from the Mohamed V Airport in Casablanca, Morocco, allegedly by the Moroccan authorities.
The group of abducted defenders include Ali Salem Tamek, first Vice-President of the Saharawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA); Brahim Dahane, President of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights (ASVDH); Ahmad Anasiri, General Secretary of the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Smara; Yahdih Ettarrouzi; Saleh Lebayhi, President of the Forum for the Protection of Saharawi Children; Dagja Lachgar, and Rachid Sghayar. The seven defenders work for various human rights organisations in Western Sahara, including CODESA, ASVDH, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), the Forum for the Protection of Saharawi Children, the Action Committee Against Torture in Dakhla/Western Sahara, and the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Smara. They had been travelling from “Alhawari boumedyan” Airport in Algeria. Their whereabouts is unknown.
At about 2.00pm on 8 October 2009, the aforementioned human rights defenders, travelling from Algeria on flight number AT561, were abducted immediately after their plane had landed in Mohamed V Airport. They were reportedly taken from the principal door of the plane by Moroccan security agents and taken by car to an unknown location. Another group of human rights defenders reported a high police presence at the airport as they waited for several hours for their colleagues without success. It is thought that the abduction of the seven human rights defenders may be linked to the visits they had made to Sahrawi refugee camps in south-west Algeria during their stay abroad.
I believe that the abduction of these seven human rights defenders is directly related to their work in the defence of human rights, particularly in Morrocan-administered Western Sahara. I am seriously concerned for their physical and psychological integrity.
I urge the authorities in Morocco to:
1.Immediately and unconditionally release Ali Salem Tamek, Brahim Dahane, Ahmad Anasiri, Saleh Lebayhi, Dagja Lachgar, Rachid Sghayar and Yahdih Ettarrouzi as Front Line believes that they are being held solely as a result of their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;
2.Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the abduction of aforementioned human rights defenders;
3.Take all necessary measures to guarantee their physical and psychological integrity;
4.Guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Western Sahara and in Morocco are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 9, 2009 Jeffrey Buchanan 202-463-7575 ext 241 buchanan@...
RFK Center urges Moroccan Authorities to Ensure Due Process of 7 Arrested Sahrawi Advocates
Washington, DC --On October 8, seven Sahrawi advocates from Western Sahara were arrested by Moroccan police at the Mohamed V Airport in Casablanca, Morocco and remain in an undisclosed location. Members of 2008 RFK Human Rights Laureate Aminatou Haidar's organization, Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) and several other human rights organizations based in Western Sahara were among those arrested.
The advocates were returning from a trip to Algeria where they visited Sahrawi refugee camps in the southwest of the country. The group was arrested immediately after their plane landed at the airport in Casablanca. Moroccan security agents reportedly made the arrests at the door of the airplane, and then departed in different cars with all seven advocates to an unknown location. Several of those taken into custody are former political prisoners.
Those arrested include Ali Salem Tamek, first vice president of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) and member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH); Brahim Dahane, president of the Saharawi Association of Victims of Serious Violations Committed by Morocco (ASVDH); Ahmad Anasiri, general secretary of the Saharawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Smara and president of AMDH Smara Chapter; Dagja Lachgar, member of the executive office of ASVDH; Yahdih Ettarrouzi, member of AMDH Laayounne Chapter; Saleh Lebayhi, president of the Forum for Protection of Sahrawi Children and member of the Laayoune Chapter of CODESA and AMDH; and Rachid Sghayar, member of Committee Action against Torture.
The RFK Center is deeply concerned about the safety of these advocates and whether their fundamental human rights are being respected, said Monika Kalra Varma, Director of the RFK Center for Human Rights. We urge the Moroccan authorities to comply with their human rights obligations under international law, ensuring the Sahrawi advocates rights to due process and equal treatment under the law.
The RFK Center urges the Moroccan authorities to: 1. Immediately conduct a thorough investigation into the arrest of these seven Sahrawis; 2. Guarantee the protection of their fundamental human rights, including their right to due process of law, as enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Morocco has ratified;
3. Take all measures to ensure their physical and psychological integrity; and 4. Comply with the Basic Principles for Treatment of Prisoners, adopted in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 45/111 of 14 December 1990.
Source: The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights www.rfkcenter.org
http://www.rfkcenter.org/node/385
______________________________________________________________
Forwarded by: Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
Western Sahara friend Ted Kennedy wins Nansen Refugee Award
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced today that its annual
Nansen Refugee Award will be awarded to the late Senator Edward Kennedy
for his achievements as an unparalleled champion of refugee protection and
assistance. For years Kennedy fought for the rights of the Saharawi people
and refugees around the world. Press release, 15 Sept 2009.
Press release,
Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
15 September 2009
"Ted Kennedy was a steadfast defender of the Saharawi people’s right to
determine its own future, in line with UN resolutions and international
law. We are very pleased that the UN High Commissioner honors Kennedy’s
effort for refugees around the world", said Ronny Hansen in The Norwegian
Support Committee for Western Sahara.
Time and again over several decades, Edward Kennedy championed the Western
Sahara cause in the US Senate and the White House. He repeatedly
criticized the US for not doing enough to pressure Morocco and strengthen
the UN effort.
In 2000 he debated the issue directly with the Moroccan King, Mohammed VI.
“The referendum is an important part of the peace process, and I hope that
it will take place as soon as possible”, Kennedy said in a statement after
the meeting.
In announcing the 2009 Nansen award, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
António Guterres said: "Senator Kennedy stood out as a forceful advocate
for those who suddenly found themselves with no voice and no rights. Year
after year, conflict after conflict, he put the plight of refugees on the
agenda and drove through policies that saved and shaped countless lives."
The Nansen Refugee Award is given annually to an individual or
organization for outstanding work on behalf of refugees. Funded by Norway
and Switzerland it was created in 1954 in honor of Fridtjof Nansen, the
legendary Norwegian polar explorer and scientist, and the first High
Commissioner for Refugees. In this role, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in
1922.
Kennedy made an enormous effort to put the Western Sahara issue on the
political agenda. In 2008 he helped award the Saharawi human rights
activist Aminatou Haidar the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.
"We have lost a loud and clear voice for the Saharawi people, but rejoice
today in celebration of his life and service", says Hansen.
Here you can download some of the letters and statements Kennedy has made
on Western Sahara in the US Senate, going back to 1992:
http://www.vest-sahara.no/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=49&art=1329
See UNHCR statement here: http://www.unhcr.org/4aaf5d4b6.html
Contact:
Ronny Hansen
President, The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
ronnyha@...
Phone: +47 94 25 02 70
The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara is a membership based
NGO that works to promote the Sahrawi population’s right of
self-determination and a free Western Sahara. For more information, visit:
www.vest-sahara.no
“As US. citizens, we are fortunate to live in a country founded on human
rights principles and the right to a government of our own choosing. Our
democratic ideals have inspired peoples in all hemispheres around the
world. Elections during the past twelve months in Russia, Burundi,
Cambodia, Paraguay, and Yemen are examples of the world-wide trend away
from authoritarianism and toward representative government.
Sadly, this trend has not yet reached all regions of the world. The
indigenous Saharawi people in the Western Sahara have waited more than 18
years to regain their right to self-determination. Hopefully, that right
will soon be restored to them.
Since Morocco's invasion of the Western Sahara in 1975, King Hassan II has
staged a long and costly war against the Saharawi people to obtain
permanent access to that territory's valuable natural resources.”
Ted Kennedy in the US Senate, January 1994.
---
Source:http://www.vest-sahara.no/xpcm.php?rundoc=articles&dl=en&acontrol=showart\
&artid=1329
_________________________________
Forwarded by:
__________________________________
Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
*** Referendum now! ***
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update
_________________________________
Champion of non-violent resistance in Western Sahara
Ms. Haidar is a courageous campaigner for self-determination of Western Sahara from its occupation by Morocco, as well as against forced "disappearances" and abuses of prisoners of conscience. Regularly referred to as the "Sahrawi Gandhi," Ms. Haidar is one of Western Sahara's most prominent human rights defenders.
An Award Ceremony will be held in New York City on October 20, 2009.
Year 2009 Award Recipient
Aminatou Haidar is part of a younger generation of Sahrawi leaders working through non-violent means to organize peaceful demonstrations in support of a referendum to settle the extended conflict between Moroccan military and Sahrawi independence groups, as well as to denounce the human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict. Her peaceful efforts have been met with increased police aggression and brutality. In 1987, at the age of 21, Ms. Haidar was one of 700 peaceful protestors arrested for participating in a rally in support of a referendum. Later she was "disappeared" without charge or trial and held in secret detention centers for four years, where she and 17 other Sahrawi women were tortured. In 2005, the Moroccan policed detained and beat her after another peaceful demonstration. She was released after 7 months, thanks to international pressure form groups like Amnesty International and European Parliament.
Since then, Ms. Haidar has traveled the globe to expose the Moroccan military’s heavy-handed approach and to plead for the Sahrawi People's right to self-determination. Her efforts helped change the Moroccan government's violent tactics for dispersing pro-independence demonstrations. Unfortunately, the torture and harassment of Sahrawi human rights defenders continues.
Ms. Haidar was born in 1967 in El Ayoun, Western Sahara. She is the mother of two children and holds a baccalaureate in Modern Literature. She has been awarded the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2007 Silver Rose Award (Austria), and the 2006 Juan Maria Bandres Human Rights Award (Spain). She was nominated by the European Parliament for the Andrei Sakarov Human Rights Award. Amnesty International (USA Branch) nominated her for the Ginetta Sagan Fund Award. She was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Background to the conflict in Western Sahara, former Spanish Morocco
Once a Spanish colony, Western Sahara has been under strict military control by the Kingdom of Morocco since its invasion in 1975. The region has experienced an extended conflict between Moroccan military and the Sahrawi independence group, the Polisario Front. In response to the International Court of Justice's rejection of Morocco's claims of sovereignty in the region in 1976, the Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as Western Sahara's legitimate government in exile.
In 1988, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed to settle the dispute through a UN-administered referendum that would allow the people of Western Sahara to choose between independence or integration with Morocco. The vote still has not been held. A United Nations' administered ceasefire has been in place since 1991. In 2007, the United Nations began facilitating peace talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front, but talks have stalled over disagreements, including who qualifies to participate in the potential referendum and whether full independence is an option for Sahrawis.
A new round of talks between the kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front of Western Sahara are under way in Vienna, Austria. These talks, characterised as informal by the personal envoy of the UN
secretary general, Christopher Ross, are the latest attempt to bring
peace and security to Western Sahara and to the wider Maghreb region.
We enter them with an unwavering and genuine commitment to finding a
just, mutually acceptable and democratic solution. Will our Moroccan
counterparts adopt the same approach?
In every circumstance,
peace comes at a cost. Somehow, somewhere, there must be a compromise
and someone, generally everyone, must be prepared to search for common
ground and to yield to the higher ideals found there. For the people of
Western Sahara, the price of peace is high.
We have been occupied for over three decades, following an illegal
annexation by the Moroccan kingdom. We have seen our natural resources
become unethical trade boons to the Moroccan economy while our people
languish in refugee camps, unable, or too afraid, to return home.
Yet,
rather than seek to exercise a sense of revenge or frustration, we
stand prepared to engage with Morocco and to enter open discussions
about our joint future. This is long-established policy. In our
statement to the UN security council in 2007, we stated we would
guarantee "the rights and obligations of the Moroccan population in
Western Sahara". We also put on the public record that our readiness
"to participate with Morocco and the countries of the region in the
maintenance of peace, stability and security for the whole region."
The
people of Western Sahara remain committed to the self-determination
process initiated by the UN nearly 50 years ago, and have backed ever
since via various resolutions and statements. For instance, we recall
the security council resolved in 2002 to express "its readiness to
consider any approach which provides for self-determination". It is not
clear how or where Morocco's proposal for autonomy within the Moroccan
state fits in with this basic agenda. A unilateral solution to a
three-decade-long conflict, as is proposed by Morocco, is not only
farcical, it is an option the community of democratic nations cannot
countenance.
The people of Western Sahara have been clear that we
are willing to work with the Moroccan monarchy and will act without
recrimination in relation to Moroccans now living in Western Sahara. We
are aware we do not choose our neighbours and so we are destined to
share a border. This is a form of realpolitik that makes sense at all
levels. We do not seek any victories over Morocco, we only seek parity.
We aim to co-operate in economic and security matters, as any decent
neighbour would be expected to do.
For Morocco, the benefits of
good relations with a free and democratic Western Sahara are immense.
The massive costs of its military occupation have been estimated at 3%
of Morocco's GDP. Analysts suggest the military costs in keeping some
150,000 troops in the occupied territories alone is over $153bn
(£92.3bn) since 1975, or around $12m (£7.2m) for every day it has
occupied Western Sahara. As a result of this extraordinary outlay,
Morocco has the world's fifth highest proportional spend on its
military. Moreover, the long-touted Maghreb union, which has faltered
for decades on the back of the Western Saharan dispute, would at last
be free of this considerable obstacle to better relations.
Quite
apart from the damaging moral position Morocco maintains in Western
Sahara, ending this money drain must surely be a priority for Rabat and
its often impoverished people, as must the prospect of awakening the
sleeping giant of north African economic unity. The UN's way is the
only way forward. A referendum on self-determination, a fundamental
mechanism for all UN-mandated colonies – as Western Sahara is – is the
only viable means of engendering anything like a sustainable common
ground. The future of the Sahrawi people must be in their own hands,
not in any institution and it is certainly not the right of an invading
power, maintaining an illegal and unjust regime.
As we enter
these talks we favour the open-palm approach of US president Barack
Obama. We are willing to pay the price of peace as an investment in our
future. That is our stated agenda going into the Vienna talks. The
people of Western Sahara deserve nothing less from us, for it is peace
and freedom we crave most of all.
* Mohammed Khadad is a senior Polisario official and is a member of its official delegation for the Vienna round of talks
MOROCCO: Western Sahara Drains Development By Daan Bauwens RABAT, Jul 31 (IPS) - Informal talks are being held in Vienna between the different parties involved in the long lasting conflict over the Western Sahara. A new plan proposed by the Obama administration will be discussed between the Polisario and the Kingdom of Morocco.
After his tour of countries in the Arab Maghreb earlier this month, personal envoy of UN Secretary-General for the Sahara Christopher Ross publicly announced that the way is now open to the first informal meeting ahead of formal negotiations.
But it is uncertain that the talks will yield any results. Since 1975, both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi independence movement Polisario, the area's indigenous movement backed by Algeria, have claimed sovereignty over the Western Sahara. Polisario is proposing a referendum that offers full independence as an option. But Morocco wants to grant no more than large autonomy under its sovereignty.
In the meantime, Morocco's enormous expenses in the region, high enough to cripple the country's development, are not being discussed.
Economists Fouad Abdelmoumni and Hugh Roberts raised the question first in February 2008. "I do not believe Morocco will ever change its stance, although it is absolutely necessary to do so: the costs are too high," Fouad Abdelmoumni tells IPS.
Abdelmoumi calls the expenses "stratospherical". "No less than 100 million dirham (ten million euros) a day are being spent on the Western Sahara," he tells IPS. "Maybe other states have that luxury, but that is not the case for Morocco. The expenses perforate our economy, which leads us to be uncompetitive at a global level. There are other causes for our economical frailty, but the Western Sahara is a critical element in the equation."
According to a report published by Abdelmoumni, military expenses amount to five percent of the gross national product. According to the U.S.-based monitoring group Forecast International, the Moroccan army has 250,000 troops, of which 150,000 are stationed in the Western Sahara.
There are costs to Western Sahara other then military ones. In order to attract Moroccans to live in the area, employees receive a bonus of 25 percent to 75 percent over their salary, besides subsidised food. The Western Sahara is the only area in Morocco that offers unemployment relief.
All businesses in the Western Sahara are exempt from taxes. Abdelmoumni describes additionally the "cartiya", a token worth 1,200 to 1,500 dirhams (120 to 150 euros) a month, and free public transport. This is granted arbitrarily or on tribal criteria, but beneficiaries are mostly ex-Polisario members.
The Moroccan state also spends a large amount of money on lobbying to support its claim on the territory. In 2007, The Guardian revealed that the Moroccan American Policy Centre had paid 300 million dirhams (30 million euros) to win support of U.S. lobby groups for Morocco's claim to the Sahara.
"Today the state's full budget is lower than 20 billion euros a year," Abdelmoumni tells IPS. "If we sum everything up, including subventions, tax relief, the black market and the fact that we are completely cut off from our neighbour Algeria, we estimate the total cost of the Western Sahara equals three to five percent of Morocco's gross national product, or 20 percent of the state's full budget."
These expenses deprive Morocco of the resources it could have put into development, says Abdelmoumni. Besides, "it creates a culture of nepotism, the absence of the rule of law, the prevalence of army and security systems, and the logic of taboo, as it is forbidden to raise the issue in Morocco. There is an economical, institutional and cultural rebound." (END/2009)
Offline 
Send Email
