Human rights in Western Sahara
Polisario regards this as a consequence of the vision of a Great Morocco, fuelled in the past by the Istiqlal and Hassan II, and considers itself a national liberation movement aiming at leading the disputed territory to independence under the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
[10] Both Morocco and the Polisario accuse each other of violating the human rights of the populations under their control, in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, respectively.
[11][10] Morocco has been repeatedly condemned and criticized for its actions in Western Sahara by several international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as: Polisario has received criticism from the French organization France Libertes on its treatment of Moroccan prisoners-of-war,[10] and on its general behaviour in the Tindouf refugee camps in reports by the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center.
The government generally respected these rights in practice, as long as Islam, the monarchy, and territorial integrity (the inclusion of the Western Sahara) were not criticized.
Presently, several organisations, such as the ASVDH, operate illegally, with activists occasionally subject to arrests and harassment, whereas others, such as the Polisario close AFAPREDESA, are mainly active in exile.
Sahrawi activists have tried to compensate for this through extensive use of the Internet, reporting from illegal demonstrations, and documenting police abuse and torture through online pictures and video.
[104] The most severe accusations of human rights abuses by the Kingdom of Morocco are the bombings with napalm and White phosphorus of the improvised refugee camps in Western Sahara in early 1976, killing hundreds of civilians, as well as the fate of hundreds of "disappeared" Sahrawi civilians sequestered by Moroccan military or police forces, most of them during the Western Sahara War.
Amnesty International stated in a 1999 report that:[citation needed] "The men, women and even children who "disappeared" in Western Sahara came from all walks of life.
Others, including elderly people and children, "disappeared" because of their family links with known or suspected opponents to Moroccan government policy in Western Sahara.".
[109] Resulting from the "Reconciliation tribunals" in Morocco in 2005, some graves of political dissidents of Hassan II regime (Sahrawis & Moroccans) were uncovered, although the responsible persons of those crimes have never been judged or their identities revealed.
[110] In March 2010, a new grave was found by Bou Craa workers on a phosphate mine with 7 corpses, supposedly Sahrawi nomads killed by Moroccan forces during the mid-1970s.
[112][113] After repeatedly calling attention to alleged human rights violations in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, Amnesty International (AI) received, in April 2006, two detailed responses from the Moroccan Ministry of Justice.
It stressed that they were guaranteed their full civil liberties and gave precise details concerning the investigations in progress into the allegations of torture relating to Houssein Lidri and Brahim Noumria.
Amnesty International responded by claiming that the authorities have not answered the principal concern of the organization regarding the equity of the lawsuits of Sahrawi protestors.
[114] In June 2006, Amnesty International released its 2005 report on Morocco and Western Sahara,[115] again citing excessive police force, leading to the death of two demonstrators.
Fourteen and fifteen-year-old boys in southern Morocco and in the occupied territory of Western Sahara have been allowed to enlist",[117] further citing a source from 1994 that "there are many human rights abuses against the Sahrawi population.So far there has been no investigation of the conduct of the Moroccan army in this conflict.
Morocco long denied holding any war prisoners, but in 1996 released 66 Polisario Front POWs, who were then evacuated to the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria under international supervision.
Sara stated that despite being Evangelic, she is a philologist, and that she exclusively taught Spanish language classes, using the money she earned for a centre for handicapped persons.
The report details several eyewitness testimonies regarding violence associated with the Independence Intifada, particularly of the Moroccan police against peaceful demonstrators.
The third group joined the rest in a house in El Aaiun, surrounded by the police, and finally held a sit in protest in the street, with their mouths taped-up.
The "Gdeim Izik" campament was surrounded by troops of the Moroccan Army and policemen, who made a blockage of water, food and medicines to the camp.
[134][135] On 24 October, a SUV that was trying to enter the camp was machine-gunned by Moroccan soldiers, killing Elgarhi Nayem, a 14-year-old Sahrawi boy, and wounding the other five passengers.
[139] On 31 October, Tiago Viera (president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth) was expelled from El Aaiun airport, first to Casablanca and then returned to Lisbon, for alleged "irregularities" when he was trying to visit the camp.
[144][independent source needed] In April 2010, the Sahrawi government called on the UN to supervise Human rights in the liberated territories (Free Zone) and refugee camps, hoping that Morocco would do the same.
[158] In April 2003, the France Libertés foundation led an international mission of inquiry on the conditions of detention of Moroccan prisoners of war long held by the Polisario Front in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Algeria and in the Liberated Territories of Western Sahara.
[citation needed] In its report, the French foundation produced detailed accusations of torture, forced labour, arbitrary detentions and summary executions of captured soldiers, and claimed that these and other systematic abuses had evaded the Red Cross.
[163][164] In a report published in 2003 Amnesty International concluded that "Freedom of expression, association and movement continued to be restricted in the camps controlled by the Polisario Front, near Tindouf in southwestern Algeria.
"[167] The main concern of most human rights organizations seems to be the refugees' problems of basic subsistence, living on a meager diet of foreign aid.
Human Rights Watch[168] carried out an extensive research mission in the region in 1995, visiting Morocco, Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugees.
Its conclusion on the human rights situation for the Sahrawis in Tindouf was that "we found conditions to be satisfactory, taking into account the difficulties posed by the climate and desolate location".
