International Conference in Geneva Highlights Human Rights Violations in Western Sahara

The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted Tuesday an international conference on “Monitoring Human Rights in Conflict Zones,” where the participants underscored the Moroccan occupation’s violations of human rights in Western Sahara.

The conference was organized by the Geneva Support Group for Western Sahara, on the sidelines of the 61st session of the Human Rights Council, in coordination with the Polisario Front’s representation in Geneva. During the event, participants spotlighted the flagrant abuses of human rights in Western Sahara, according to the Sahrawi news agency (SPS).

The conference, led by Mozambique’s Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, featured interventions that serve as “authentic testimonies” of the ongoing repression and violations committed by the Moroccan occupier against Sahrawi civilians.

The participants reaffirmed that the continued disregard for international law and the United Nations resolutions regarding the occupied territory poses “a direct threat to regional peace and stability, and further intensifies the suffering of the Sahrawi people under Moroccan occupation.” Lectures were also delivered on cases of occupation that lead to severe human rights violations, including various forms of persecution, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, restrictions on fundamental freedoms, and obstacles facing human rights defenders, all despite clear international obligations, and the devastating consequences these abuses have on civilian populations.