HAIDAR BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL POLITICAL AND DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE

Statement by Aminatou Haidar, 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureate to The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), United Nations, New York, October 7-8, 2008

Read by Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, Advocacy Director
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights

Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates,

My name is Marselha Gonçalves Margerin. I am here on behalf of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and Ms. Aminatou Haidar, a prominent human rights defender from Western Sahara. For forty years, the RFK Memorial has worked for a more peaceful and just world by supporting the work of human rights defenders. Ms. Aminatou Haidar has been awarded the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for her courageous work in support of the selfdetermination of Western Sahara from its occupation by Morocco and against the countless violations of human rights suffered by Sahrawis at the hands of Moroccan authorities.

Upon granting this award, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights launched a partnership with Ms. Haidar and her organization to advance her social change goals.

We thank you for the opportunity to be before this Committee today to read a statement from Ms. Haidar. As the late Robert F. Kennedy once said, “debate is all we have to prevent past errors from leading us down the road to disaster. How else is error to be corrected, if not by the informed reason of dissent?”

[Statement by Aminatou Haidar]

Dear Mr. Chairman:

On behalf of myself and my organization – the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA), which is banned from being registered, it is an honor to address you. We believe in the great role that your Committee is undertaking to achieve peace and harmony and to anchor the principles of humanity and the protection of international human rights conventions.

During this 63rd Session of the United Nations’ General Assembly, our organization would like to take this opportunity to express its deep concern over the dangerous human rights situation in Western Sahara, in southern Morocco and in the Moroccan territories as a whole. Since May of 2008, the Moroccan Government continues to commit gross violations of human rights against civilian Sahrawis because of their political views on the issue of Western Sahara and because of their participation in peaceful demonstrations that have called for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.

The Moroccan authorities’ intention during this period has only been to carry out more serious violations. These have included kidnapping, torture, arbitrary and political arrests, invasion of homes, imposition of cruel and unfair judgments, banning the establishment of institutions, curtailing freedom of expression, all in addition to plundering our natural resources. All of this is in violation of their human rights obligations and in disregard to numerous human rights groups who have called for investigations into crimes against humanity committed against Sahrawi citizens.

As a result of the peaceful demonstrations calling for the rights of the Sahrawi people to selfdetermination and respect for human rights, the Moroccan State launched widespread arrest campaigns against Sahrawi citizens and human rights defenders. The State’s efforts to misrepresent the positions of the peaceful demonstrations and portray them as somehow criminal resulted in harsh and unfair prison sentences of up to twenty years. In some cases, they involved young individuals who participated in a peaceful and civilized way in support of self-determination and independence.

Since 2006, the Moroccan State has on two occasions released several Sahrawi political prisoners and human rights defenders, myself included on one of the occasions after a 52-day hunger strike. Despite that fact, it has rearrested several young people because of their participation in peaceful protests. Dozens of them remain in Moroccan prisons where they suffer from ill-treatment and harsh conditions that have directly affected their physical and mental health. Bear in mind that among these youths are those who have been sentenced to periods of 3 to 5 five years in prison.

Simultaneously, Morocco maintains the state of impunity by releasing two Moroccan policemen directly involved in the torture and killing of a young Sahrawi man - “Hamdi Lambarki” in El Ayoun in Western Sahara on October 30, 2005. Just prior, Morocco had released two members of the Gendarmerie contrary to all evidence pointing to their involvement in the killing of the Sahrawi citizen, “Suleiman al-Shwihi,” inside a judicial police station of the Royal Gendarmerie in Guelmim, southern Morocco.

Mr. Chairman,

As human rights defenders, we are still waiting for the international community to increase its pressure on the Moroccan Government to respect human rights in Western Sahara. More so after a visit to the region by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in mid-May 2006 to investigate Morocco’s gross violations of human rights in response to peaceful demonstrations. We continue to express our deep disappointment that the Moroccan Government continues the kidnapping and torture of Sahrawi citizens, as well as the use of force and terror to impose on them the current reality. A reality that, often forces youth to migrate and take life-threatening boat rides operated by drug and human-traffickers.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights completed its report on the deteriorating human rights situation in the region and related it to the failure to realize the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. However, we were shocked that despite its significance, the report and its recommendations have not only failed to be implemented, but they are still confidential because it was not approved by the United Nations and members of the Security Council. Such a result allowed the Moroccan Government to disregard international legitimacy and consequently continue to commit abuses and violations against Sahrawi civilians. The most recent violent repression against protestors occurred in the town of al-Samara in Western Sahara just last month. Many of those who were injured and detained testified that they were subjected to torture, and abusive and insulting practices inside of judicial police stations.

Mr. Chairman,

The decolonization of Western Sahara has been an issue on the agenda of this Committee of the United Nations for several decades. Upon this premise, both adversaries—the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro and the Kingdom of Morocco—are urged to enter direct negotiations in order to reach a solution to the dispute that is in accordance with the provisions and resolutions of the United Nations and the Security Council. Under the auspices of the United Nations, these direct negotiations have reached their fourth round without the parties reaching an agreement that respects the will of the Sahrawi people in choosing their political future through a democratic, free and fair referendum that is in harmony with the basic principles of the United Nations concerning decolonization and the self-determination of peoples.

We hold the United Nations responsible for the stalled state of affairs that characterizes the issue of Western Sahara and for your complete silence in the face of crimes against humanity being committed by the Government of Morocco against civilian Sahrawis who demonstrate peacefully for the right to self-determination. Thus, we demand your urgent intervention to end the prolonged misery of these people caused by the Moroccan Government’s consistent refusal to accept international legitimacy and all proposals offered by the United Nations to reach a solution that respects the will of the Sahrawi people to determine their fate.

We call upon the United Nations to search for tenable mechanisms for the respect of human rights in Western Sahara by expanding the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara to cover the issue of human rights. In addition, we call upon you to publish and implement the recommendations of the 2006 Report of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Finally, please accept my greatest respect and esteem and I hope that you remain in the service of peace and freedom of all nations and peoples of the whole world.

Aminatou Haidar,
Member of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders

Ms. Aminatou Haidar is the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureate. She is being recognized for her courageous work in support of the self-determination of Western Sahara from its occupation by Morocco and against enforced disappearances and abuses of prisoners of conscience. For forty years, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial has worked for a more peaceful and just world. The Human Rights Award was established in 1984 to honor courageous and innovative human rights defenders throughout the world. Upon awarding a Laureate, the RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights begins a partnership with the Laureate provides technical, advocacy and legal support to achieve their social change goals. Ms. Haidar is to be presented with the RFK Human Rights Award at a ceremony on the morning of November 13, 2008 in the Russell Office Building’s Caucus Room of the United States Senate.

For an Arabic translation, please see the attachment below.