Open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon from the Sahrawi civil society under Moroccan occupation

06 Aug 2007 | Statements

-UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION-
[original : arabic]

El-Ayoune – Western Sahara

6 August 2007

To:
Mr Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General of the United Nations
United Nations
New York, USA

Esteemed Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations,

With Respect and Admiration,

As you know, the Security Council issued, on 30 April 1997, its last resolution on the issue of Western Sahara, Number 1754, which called on the parties to the conflict, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Polisario Front), as the legitimate and sole representative of the Sahrawi people, and the Kingdom of Morocco, as the country which occupies the territory, to initiate direct negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations, and in order to reach a comprehensive solution to put an end to the dispute, which lasted for more than three decades, and to ensure the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. On the basis of this resolution, they held the first round of such negotiations in Manhasset, USA, on 18-19 June 2007.

We, the Sahrawi associations and members of civil society in the cities of Western Sahara under Moroccan occupation pay our tribute to your personal efforts to put an end to the tragedy of the Sahrawi people, which has affected us for more than thirty years.

Yet we also stress the need to respect the substance of resolution 1754 which stipulates respect for the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination through a free, fair and impartial would be an arbiter categorically all options on this conflict and that is consistent with the UN Charter, the resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories, the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Western Sahara (16 October 1975), as well as Article One of the international covenants for Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Esteemed Secretary-General,

Any solution to the Western Sahara issue that does not enable the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination, as the source of sovereignty and control, remain an incomplete solution and an undemocratic one, and can not in any way be a comprehensive solution or lead to stability, security and peace in the Territory and the Maghreb region as a whole. We also want to raise your attention to the deteriorating human rights situation also this Territory, where there is daily serious violations and abuses, degrading to human dignity, despite the presence of United Nations mission in the area.

From 1975 until now, the Moroccan state has continuously committed many serious violations of human rights, which falls in the category of crimes against humanity: abductions, mass murder, systematic torture, forced displacement, in addition to the arrest of individuals, families and groups, ransacked homes, properties destroyed, cattle slaughtered, all of this exercised against the rights of unarmed innocent Sahrawi civilians, in addition to the denial of political and civil rights, suppression of freedoms and the prevention of association and peaceful assembly, and other economic, social and cultural rights.

Mr. Secretary-General,

A reminder that the existence of the territory of Western Sahara is within resolution 1514 of the General Assembly of the United Nations, issued on 14 December 1960, which bears direct responsibility, in legal terms, to provide protection for the unarmed Sahrawi citizens against daily violations committed by the Moroccan State, to create legal mechanisms to protect the wealth of this region against exploitation, and to urgently settle the final status of the Territory.

On the basis of the above, we urge you, Mr Secretary-General, to do the following:

1- Call on the Moroccan state to release all Sahrawi political detainees, as a gesture of goodwill, as is the case with the Moroccan prisoners released by the Polisario Front recently.

2- Ensure the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination through a free, fair and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations in line with the United Nations Charter and the resolutions of the General Assembly.

3- Expand the powers of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara to include the observation of human rights and the monitoring of the status of the province.

4- Pressure the Moroccan state to lift the security and media blockade imposed on the territory and allow media and human rights delegations to enter the region.

5- Work to stop the depletion of the wealth of the province and place under the supervision of head of the United Nations, consistent with the advisory opinion of the legal expert, Mr. Hans Corell, Department of Legal Affairs of the United Nations on January 29, 2002.

6- Publish the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Western Sahara and implement its recommendations.

7- Press on the Moroccan state to allow Sahrawi associations and committees to exercise their right to work in public and legally, as well as the lifting of all harassment and detentions of Sahrawi human rights defenders, to ensure the right of Sahrawi citizens legally and peacefully demonstrate, and to maintain freedom of opinion and expression.

8- Invite competent international de-mining bodies in to oversee the clean up the Territory, particularly along the Moroccan military separation wall; these mines deepens the suffering of the Sahrawi people and have become a real threat to the lives of Sahrawi civilians.

9- Call on the Moroccan state to uncove the truth about the fate of hundreds of Sahrawi civilians abducted since 1975, as well as dozens of Sahrawi prisoners.

Finally, Mr. Secretary-General, please be assured of our highest regard.

Sincerely,
[signed]

1- Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH), Western Sahara

2- Sahrawi Support for the Right of Self-Determination in Western Sahara, Western Sahara

3-Commission for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners in Moroccan Prisons, Western Sahara

4-Saharan Committee of Families of Martyrs who Died in Moroccan Secret Prisons, Western Sahara

5- Saharan Committee of Families of Disappeared Sahrawis, Western Sahara

6- Committee Against Torture in Dakhla, Western Sahara

7- Sahrawi Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Samara, Western Sahara

8- Committee for the Support UN Settlement Plan and the Protection of Natural Wealth of Western Sahara