The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), during its 42nd World Congress held in the Colombian capital Bogota, called on the European Union to respect the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, against the backdrop of the recent agreement with Morocco that includes the occupied Western Sahara.
In a recommendation passed at the Congress, the Federation underscored the severe and systematic human rights violations committed against the Sahrawi people in the occupied territories, as documented by international human rights bodies and the United Nations reports, including those published by the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA), which uncovered practices of repression, arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment of human rights defenders.
In this regard, it affirmed that the European Union’s agreements with Morocco “violate the Sahrawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination and contradict the rulings of the European Court of Justice, that recognized Western Sahara’s distinct legal status and the requirement to obtain consent from its legitimate representatives.” It called on the European Union and its member states to “adhere to the international law, implement rulings by European courts, and terminate support for Moroccan policies grounded in settlement and resource plundering.
The Federation further called on the Moroccan government to “uphold human rights, end repression of Sahrawi civilians and human rights defenders, immediately release all Sahrawi political detainees, and terminate settlement policies without delay,” as well as “permitting independent human rights monitoring organizations access to the occupied territories.”
