Sahrawi Rights Group Condemns Moroccan Occupation’s Confiscation of Sahrawi Lands

The Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH) has denounced the policy pursued by the Moroccan occupation in the occupied part of Western Sahara, which it says is based on the confiscation of Sahrawi lands and the stripping of their historical and legal rights, in violation of human rights and international law.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the association condemned what it described as the Moroccan occupation’s practice of dispossessing Sahrawis, the rightful owners of the land, of their territories and natural resources. It stressed that these actions take place within the context of an imposed occupation rooted in a colonial logic that subjects land to administrative and legal measures enforced by force, with the aim of excluding the indigenous population and enabling companies and settlers brought into the occupied territory to seize lands that do not belong to them.

ASVDH noted that this systematic policy has turned into a tool for plunder and the legitimization of land seizure through the disregard of international law and established norms, and through the imposition of laws and administrative procedures that lack any international or legal legitimacy. The association described this as a blatant violation of the right to property, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law.

According to the association, these practices aim to alter the demographic and economic structure of the occupied territory by encouraging settlement and granting settlers access to land and resources, while displacing Sahrawis and depriving them of their rights and means of livelihood. It warned that such actions constitute a serious infringement on the rights of the indigenous population and on the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to their land, their resources, self-determination, and freedom.

The association called on international bodies and United Nations human rights mechanisms to urgently intervene to put an end to the policy of confiscating Sahrawi lands in Western Sahara.

ASVDH reaffirmed that the imposition of a so-called “fait accompli” through politicized laws or administrative procedures will not change the legal status of the territory nor the just nature of the Sahrawi cause, stressing that land will remain at the core of the conflict and one of the most prominent symbols of the ongoing violations against the Sahrawi people.

APS