National Union of Sahrawi Women

The National Union of Sahrawi Women (Arabic: الاتحاد الوطني للمرأة الصحراوية; Spanish: Unión Nacional de Mujeres Saharauis, UNMS) is the women's wing of the Polisario Front.

It was created in 1974, and claims to have 10,000 members, divided between the Sahrawi refugee camps, the Liberated territories, the Moroccan-occupied part of Western Sahara and the Sahrawi diaspora (including for instance Spain, Mauritania or France).

As a consequence of this, and of the special circumstances of the Western Sahara war years, the situation of Sahrawi women has improved noticeably.

Keltoum Khayati, a former secretary general of the UNMS, fled to Morocco and is defending the Moroccan position in the conflict.

[citation needed] Fatma Mehdi Hassan has been secretary general since 2002.

Sectorial workshop during the 5th Congress of the "National Union of Sahrawi Women", at the Sahrawi refugee camps (April 6, 2007).
Opening session of the 5th Congress of the "National Union of Sahrawi Women", at the Sahrawi refugee camps (April 5, 2007).