The 87th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), currently being held in Banjul, the capital of Gambia, once again underscored the growing prominence of the Sahrawi cause within African human rights institutions, amid increasing concern over the situation of Sahrawi civilians in the occupied territories and continued calls for the Sahrawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
In this regard, the President of the Association of Families of Sahrawi Prisoners and Disappeared (AFAPREDESA), Abdeslam Omar, stated that discussions held during the parallel NGO forum, organized ahead of the African Commission’s official session, highlighted the mounting concern within African human rights circles regarding violations committed against Sahrawis in the occupied areas of Western Sahara.
The speaker noted that the prominence of the Sahrawi cause across various discussions related to human rights and decolonization was closely linked to the broader developments taking place within the African human rights landscape, particularly amid the continued policies of repression and restrictions imposed by the Moroccan occupation against Sahrawi activists and human rights defenders through arbitrary prosecutions, bans on demonstrations and media suppression.
He said that the presentation by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic of its periodic report before the African Commission on May 16th represents an important opportunity to shed light on the human rights situation in Western Sahara and expose the obstacles continuously imposed by the Moroccan occupation to prevent international and human rights organizations from accessing the occupied territories and documenting violations there.
For her part, Itsaso Andueza, representative of the Spanish organization “Euskal Fondoa,” stressed that the documentation and research efforts carried out by civil society organizations in solidarity with the Sahrawi people have played a direct role in bringing the Sahrawi cause before African and international human rights mechanisms, despite the Moroccan occupation’s attempts to silence voices defending the Sahrawi people’s right to freedom and independence.
Speaking on the sidelines of her participation in a delegation that included representatives of Sahrawi associations, she added that reports and activities conducted over recent years, with the support of solidarity institutions and organizations, have played an important role in exposing the reality of violations in the occupied territories and revealing the repression and restrictions targeting Sahrawi civilians.
She emphasized that the African sphere remains one of the most prominent platforms where the Sahrawi people’s just cause continues to receive strong recognition.
She also affirmed that Africa remains the natural space in which the Sahrawi people and their legitimate institutions find their political and legal standing, referring to the status enjoyed by the Sahrawi Republic within the African Union, in contrast to the Moroccan occupation’s attempts to erase the Sahrawi identity and undermine the legitimate struggle of the Sahrawi people for freedom and independence.
These human rights and diplomatic efforts come at a time when calls are growing across the African continent for respect for international legitimacy and African Union resolutions concerning the decolonization of Western Sahara, regarded as Africa’s last unresolved decolonization issue, while the Moroccan occupation continues to ignore international demands for the Sahrawi people to exercise their legitimate right to self-determination.
