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Shahid Alhafed, April 20, 2009 (SPS) Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged that "[MINURSO s] mandate be revised to encompass on-the-ground human rights monitoring, or that another UN mechanism assumes this function," In a letter addressed to the President of the United Nations Security Council.
In a letter, dated April 16, as a response to the recently released report by the Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, in which no expansion of MINURSO s mandate was detailed, HRW reiterated the calls it made in its December 2008 report in which the NGO insisted that a human rights component be added to the responsibilities of the UN Mission for a Referendum in the Western Sahara (MINURSO).
“The Security Council should establish such a mechanism because the United Nations has a special obligation to Western Sahara as a designated "non-self-governing territory" whose political future is contested, and where there is no other regular, independent on-the-ground monitoring of human rights,” HRW wrote in its letter, noting that “it can enhance the environment for negotiations by building trust and ensuring that rights are respected.”
It also stressed the important to note that such monitoring is a standard component of peacekeeping operations elsewhere; MINURSO is nearly the only peacekeeping unit under UN auspices that has no human rights monitoring component. The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) for its part conducted a single research mission in 2006, but never formally published its report from that visit, it deplored.
The Organization reminded of its December report on Human Rights in the Western Sahara, ”we found a pattern of violations by Moroccan authorities of the right of Sahrawis to speak, associate and assemble peacefully in support of self-determination.”
The report describes how security forces arbitrarily arrest demonstrators and suspected Sahrawi activists, sometimes beating them and subjecting them to torture, and force them to sign incriminating police statements, all with virtual impunity; the courts then convict and imprison them after unfair trials.
The Organization concluded in its letter, “Even if the Security Council does not expand the mandate of MINURSO to include human rights, it should endorse another monitoring mechanism, such as a field presence of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.” (SPS)
062/090/000 200115 APRIL 09 SPS
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