The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its consideration of decolonization items yesterday afternoon, hearing more petitioners on Western Sahara. Weary of ‘empty words’, speakers urge administering powers to live up to international obligations, set self-determination processes in motion.
BOUGUETTAYA SADDEK, lawyer, said that the United Nations considered Western Sahara in the early 1960s as a territory under colonization, and hence decided that its people had a right to self-determination and independence. It could not be argued or denied, he said, that, in its legal opinion of 16 October 1975, the International Court of Justice had stated that Western Sahara was not a Moroccan territory before the Spanish colonization, and that no sovereign ties existed between Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco.
He mentioned “three main facts” in that incomplete decolonization process, namely that the people of the Territory had been prevented by force from exercising their inalienable right to self-determination; that Spain had “scandalously” abdicated its international obligations in handing over the Territory to Morocco; and that a State occupied the Territory and tried to impose by military means a fait accompli, oppressing the Saharawi people, denying them rights, and looting their natural resources.
The United Nations bore a clear responsibility as long as the Saharawi people were denied the opportunity to express their will through a free, fair, democratic and transparent referendum organized and supervised by the United Nations in cooperation with the African Union. In this context, he said, the 1991 United Nations settlement plan, signed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Frente Polisario) and Morocco and endorsed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, and the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), remained the sole reference for a just and lasting solution and a genuine framework to end the conflict.
There was no alternative to self-determination, he said, and it was unreasonable to annul the 1991 settlement Plan and the Houston accords of 1997. That was a “grave mistake” which would have dangerous consequences for the whole region. Spain, which was still the legal administering Power of Western Sahara, should fulfil its legal and political responsibilities just as its neighbour Portugal had done in East Timor.
AHMED BOUKHARI, Representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Frente Polisario), said that one could not help but wonder how it was possible that today, in the twenty-first century, the United Nations had not been able to put an end to the last colonial case in Africa, which had been inscribed on its agenda for more than 40 years. Morocco had been trying to implicate the United Nations in the acceptance of a de facto situation that was completely contrary to international legality. Its proposal of autonomy for Western Sahara, presented in April 2007 in the framework of what it unilaterally called “Moroccan sovereignty”, was symptomatic of that attempt.
He said negotiations between the two parties, called for by the Security Council and supported by the General Assembly, which began in Manhasset in June 2007, were undermined by the fact that Morocco did not want to discuss or negotiate anything except its plan of the called “autonomy” -- a plan that implied accepting beforehand that Western Sahara was already an integral part of the Kingdom of Morocco.
That precondition therefore violated the letter and spirit of the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly. Morocco continued to harbour the colonial illusion of annexing Western Sahara, ignoring not only the position of the international community, but also its own commitments it had recognized before the United Nations. Furthermore, Morocco had not only managed to deliberately frustrate the prolonged and persevering efforts of the international community to hold a simple self-determination referendum, but it had also managed to implicate the international community in abandoning the defence of the human rights of a small and innocent people, he said.
MICHEL DE GUILLENCHMIDT, Professor at the University of Descartes and at the Sorbonne, said that the unacceptable slander against Morocco with regard to human rights must be stopped, as the “system” denouncing the violations by Morocco was based on erroneous information. Nothing was ever completely black or white, he said. Despite humanitarian efforts made by MINURSO, and by Morocco to attain respect for freedom in Morocco and throughout the rest of the country, a jurisdiction had been established, which should be used to judge the situation. He said there had been a high participation in the elections, active exercises by trade unions, freedom of association, and a systematic opening to the regions of the south which had been stated to be closed.
The “regularly revived” slander must be stopped, as it only impeded a solution. The international community must welcome the steps taken by the Polisario and pay tribute to its courage and reasonableness. The state of autonomy proposed by Morocco was modern, validated by referendum, and did not challenge the territorial integrity of Morocco. The Moroccan project would have a parliament, composed of representatives of the tribes, elected by direct universal suffrage. The new body would have its own financial resources and national solidarity. However, this was being rejected by the Polisario. The parties must not get bogged down in an “artificial situation”, he said, which most often went nowhere, otherwise peaceful cooperation would not be moved forward between the peoples of the Maghreb.
PEDRO PINTO LEITE, of the International Platform of Jurists for East Timor, said that last year in the Fourth Committee, he noticed smiles on the faces of many delegates when two petitioners for Morocco had accused Polisario of “genocide and even cannibalism”. It was indeed amazing how far Moroccan propaganda could go, and how ridiculous it could be. The pro-Moroccan petitions in the Committee avoided the issue of Morocco’s occupation and didn’t mention the referendum. Instead, they portrayed Polisario as a separatist group driven by Marxist or Islamist ideology, and tried to discredit Polisario through accusations of slavery, terrorism, and fundamentalism, while Morocco was portrayed as a very democratic regime.
The pro-Moroccan petitions also, among other things, portrayed the conflict as one between Algeria and Morocco, rather than between Morocco and Polisario, and insisted on Algeria’s links to terrorists, communists and fundamentalists. He said such petitions also emphasized the “Eastern-block” nature of the countries that had historically supported the idea of independence, hoping that such an emphasis would help to discredit the idea of a referendum on independence. Such petitions also involved the views of the few who supported the Moroccan position, but dismissed views from international bodies when they appeared to support the holding of a referendum or the idea of independence. The fact remained, however, that part of the Territory of Western Sahara was illegally occupied by Morocco, and another part was under the total control of Polisario.
AHMEDOU OULD SOUILEM, founding member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Frente Polisario), said that control by Algeria of all the refugee camps prevented the aspirations of the Saharawi people to come back to their country, and he made an appeal to put an end to the cavalry of his compatriots in the Tindouf camps. He said those people who had been able to “come back” were “lucky,” after surviving the genocide to which they had been subjected. He added that he experienced difficulty saying the word “genocide”, because he remembered those who had been eliminated.
SIXTO PEREIRA GALEANO, Vice President of the Chamber of Representatives of Paraguay, said the conflict regarding Western Sahara had been going on for more than 30 years without a solution. Western Sahara had been inscribed on the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories since 1965, and despite all of the efforts undertaken by the United Nations, the dispute was still unresolved. The Saharawi people, however, continued to suffer the consequences. It was the obligation of the parties involved in the conflict to guarantee respect for human rights of the people of Western Sahara, in both the territory and in the refugee camps.
Furthermore, the role of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara was indispensable to maintain the ceasefire, he said. It was important that the parties to the conflict continued to cooperate with MINURSO, which provided logistical help, among other things. He appealed to the parties to give their support to the efforts of the Secretary-General and his personal envoy, Christopher Ross, to reach a mutually acceptable and lasting solution that would lead to self-determination in Western Sahara. The Manhasset negotiations had not yielded any positive results, he said, expressing hope that the forthcoming meetings would make possible -- still under the auspices of the Secretary-General and in conformity with international law -- negotiations that would enable the application of several resolutions passed on the issue, in order to bring about the final solution on the question of Western Sahara.
ANNA MARIA STAME CERVONE, President of Centrist Democratic Women International, said unity was needed, but that the populations kept by force in the Tindouf camps were victims of Algerian policy. It was a “secret to none” that the camps were a major prison, surrounded by the Algerian army. However, the “Polisario and the intelligence services” had been at work for decades to deceive pubic opinion about conditions, and the world was now beginning to understand the truth thanks to the brave “unbearable” testimonies of those who had managed to escape.
Women and children suffered the worst in the camps, she said, and in addition to severe malnutrition, children were torn from their families early to be sent to other countries and subjected for years to implacable indoctrination and military training. She said groups such as Human Rights Watch had expressed concern that the Tindouf camps were outside the control of the United Nations and other organizations, and that the Polisario monopolized the political discourse and opposed any opposition to its own leadership.
Furthermore, in those instances, the practice of slavery persisted, she said. People living in the camps had no margin of liberty to express their dissidence with regard to the Polisario. However, through the Fourth Committee and the public opinions expressed, more people were now aware of what was happening in the Tindouf camps, so that later no one could say that they did not know. It was “more than urgent”, she said, for the United Nations to carry out its responsibilities to protect the civilian population being kept by force in the Tindouf camps.
ERIK JENSEN said that there were potential dangers when people were deprived of decent living conditions and prospects for a better life. Morocco would prefer a straightforward integration of the territory of Western Sahara into the Kingdom, while the Polisario offered independence. The answer, perhaps, was between those two extremes. Furthermore, the Morocco proposal could at least provide a springboard for talks, and perhaps the two sides could eventually compromise.
The conflict between the two sides impeded development and deprived a burgeoning population, he continued. Unemployment affected 15 per cent of the labour force, and nearly one third of the population was under 15 years of age. There was also a serious terrorist threat in Western Sahara. A concerted effort was necessary to achieve economic and social development, in the interest of everyone throughout the region. In addition, the Maghreb States needed to show political will, and offer encouragement.
FERNANDO FERNANDEZ MARTIN said he had been following the conflict of Western Sahara for the past 40 years. In that conflict, the first victim was human rights, on both sides of the wall. The Frente Polisario was calling for a referendum, and its position had not changed over the years. For its part, Morocco would never succeed in giving independence to the provinces of the south. The United Nations had not been able to bring about agreement.
As he saw it, a military solution was not possible, and a lasting solution could only be achieved through negotiations and dialogue. He believed it was worthwhile to explore the possibilities of autonomy in Western Sahara. It had not been easy for Spain during its dictatorship to become a decentralized State, but it had done so. The balance in Spain was now very positive after more than 40 years. He said he mentioned that fact because of the impact it could have on the Maghreb States, so that they could be united as well.
TANYA WARBURG, Director, Freedom for All, said that for the past 33 years, the world’s second-oldest group of refugees had been forcibly detained in the Algerian-backed Polisario-run camps in Tindouf. There, fundamental human rights were routinely ignored and abused, and freedom of thought and expression were non-existent. Husbands and wives, children and siblings were separated and placed in different, distant camps, violating the right to family life outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and contravening the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees.
She said Algeria also ignored the 2002 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Notice of Protection, which called upon States to respect the principle of freely approved return of refugees to their homes. Children were sent thousands of miles from the Sahara with no parental contact, and forced to work as domestics and labourers in fields and factories. The 90,000 Tindouf detainees relied exclusively on humanitarian aid supplied by international donors. Former Polisario leaders had attested to the near-famine conditions in the camps, where illnesses such as anaemia were rampant. She called upon Algeria to allow the United Nations refugee agency to conduct a census in the camp’s population, to identify and register those in Tindouf.
Professor JEAN-YVES DE CARA said the right of people to self-determination was one of the essential principles of international law, and Morocco had endorsed that for a long time. The exercise of that right involved the free administration of people by themselves, with no colonial context. In the proposal of autonomy for the provinces of the south -- which was considered as being responsible and credible by the Security Council -- Morocco had provided a text that guaranteed freedoms.
It was important to stress that the abuse and questioning of Morocco represented a threat to its integrity. For example, it was excessive to criticize Morocco for public order measures intended to put an end to criminal activities. Such criticisms represented unlawful interference and revealed the “bad faith” of people acting in such a way, he said.
SENIA BACHIR ABDERAHMAN, Saharawi Youth Union, said that in her three years of addressing the Committee on the question of Western Sahara, little if anything had been done regarding Africa’s last colony. Since the invasion of 1975, the Moroccan authority had violated international law and the Geneva Convention, importing thousands of Moroccans into Western Saharan territories. The Moroccan Government went beyond violating human rights to exploiting natural resources and spreading deliberate lies throughout the media.
Since May 2005, many youths were still living in the occupied territories and had taken on a non-violent struggle. However, as had been noted by international groups like Human Rights Watch, dozens of Saharawis had been brutally attacked, arrested and even killed by the Moroccan forces and armed police. Those attacks included severe beatings and sexual abuse. In August 2009, when a group of Saharawi students were banned from travelling to the United Kingdom, they staged an open hunger strike. But after just 23 hours, the students were arrested, with one girl testifying that she was kidnapped, beaten, “sexually harassed” and left lying in the road, naked, outside her city.
That kind of torture was “unacceptable”, and no individual should face it. And yet many Saharawi prisoners were being tortured in Moroccan prisons and disappearing, and many more were discriminated against. In that regard, the Moroccan Government seemed ignorant of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and she urged the United Nations to take immediate action to prevent ongoing human rights violations in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.
JULIEN DEDENIS, Blain Accueil Enfants Sahraouis, said the Moroccan people were being deprived of their free will and their right to self-determination because a solution to the question of Western Sahara was not being reached. The lack of a solution was compounded by the need for pragmatism. He asked, how could one imagine peace if one was deprived of their right to a referendum?
Peace was valuable only if it was lasting or final, he continued. The need for durability could not be sacrificed in order to find a quick solution. A solution could only be reached through negotiations between the Frente Polisario and Morocco. There could be no real solution without respect for fundamental rights, he added.
SYDNEY S. ASSOR, Surrey Three Faiths Forum, explaining that he spoke on behalf of those “downtrodden people” in the Tindouf camps, urged the Committee to stop aid from being diverted from the detainees to markets in Algiers, Nouakchott and elsewhere. He would have hoped that his repeated pleas and personal appeals, including to the head of the UNHCR, would have awakened the Committee and the wider international community to the dire situation in the camps.
He said he would not interfere in the political issues of the Western Sahara, but rather wished to acknowledge remarks by the top UNHCR official in the region that no further help would be forthcoming until a census was held. “We have constantly called for this as it is absolutely necessary,” he said. He urged the Committee to help UNHCR, and further, to not allow another four years to pass before his organization was allowed to visit the camps. The purpose of such a visit would be to assess peoples’ needs and to bring assistance. He also asked that detainees be allowed to “vote with their feet”.
Africa's last colonySince 1975, three quarters of the Western Sahara territory has been illegally occupied by Morocco. The original population lives divided between those suffering human rights abuses under the Moroccan occupation and those living in exile in Algerian refugee camps. For more than 40 years, the Saharawi await the fulfilment of their legitimate right to self-determination.
Since 1975, three quarters of the Western Sahara territory has been illegally occupied by Morocco. The original population lives divided between those suffering human rights abuses under the Moroccan occupation and those living in exile in Algerian refugee camps. For more than 40 years, the Saharawi await the fulfilment of their legitimate right to self-determination.
