SAHARA PRESSE SERVICE

Brussels, 06/10/2006 (SPS) Members of the European Parliament (MEP), Raül Romeva (Greens/ALE) and Karin Scheele (European SP) vividly deplored, on Thursday, Morocco’s refusal to authorise a European Parliament Ad-hoc delegation’s visit and declared to be "surprised" by the annulment by Rabat of this visit planed for last Thursday though is is agreed upon "months ago with Morocco ".

Less than 48 hours before the departure of the EP delegation to Rabat and El Aaiun, Morocco asked for the postponement of the visit, putting forward "that any report from this delegation will only be a plea for the thesis of the Intergroup [Peace for the Western Sahara]" and of Polisario Front’s.

The two MEPs, Mr. Romeva and Mrs. Scheele, rejected this pretext that questioned the fact that three of the five members of the delegation are members in the aforementioned intergroup, what is considered by Morocco as a factor of partiality.

They recalled that since its constitution the delegation "has always accepted to receive any person Morocco proposes, and has never asked about the ideological orientation of any of the laters".

On another hand, they argued and though their mandate do not consider it, the delegation accepted, "after many negotiations", to undertake the visit in two parts. The first part consisted in visiting Algerian, and the second Morocco. Still, while "the first part of the programme" was achieved without any complications, the visit to Morocco "was always faced with all sorts of obstacles".

The European MPs considered it "extremely preoccupying that a third part Government intervenes in the formation of a European Parliament’s delegation", what can only be conceived as an attitude of "disrespect" towards the European body.

They further considered that "questioning the professionalism of the MPs of the delegation on the basis of a possible ideological difference, represents a serious act that should be considered in the future relations between the European Parliament and the Moroccan Kingdom’s representatives".

The MEPs expressed their "most absolute deception in the face of this lack of respect demonstrated by the Moroccan authorities" and charged the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, to transmit, on behalf of the European Parliament, this concern to the concerned bodies of Morocco.

The ad-hoc delegation had expressed before, in a press release publicised by its President, that the composition of the delegation was "was absolutely fixed by the political groups of the European Parliament" and consequently it rejects the Moroccan orders that demand the "right to review the designation of each Member" of the delegation and henceforth wants to interfere in its composition.

"The members of the ad hoc delegation for the Western Sahara, all political tendencies included (seven European Parliament Members from the different groups), deeply regret this attitude of a country that is a privileged partner of the European Union", deplored the press release publicised in Brussels. (SPS)

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SPS
SADR/SPAIN/REFERNDUM

Spanish human rights associations defend Saharawi people’s right to self-determination at the UN

Madrid, 06/10/2006 (SPS) A Spanish human rights associations participated to the UN Fourth Commission’s debates (Commission for political questions and Decolonisation), Thursday and Friday in New York, to defend Saharawi people’s right to self-determination, the associations declared in a press release publicised in Madrid.

''This year there will be the discussion again of the unfinished decolonisation process of the Western Sahara, a Non-Self-Governing territory of which Spain is still the administrating power according to the UN'', these associations recalled underlining that the objective behind their participation to the debates is to ''defend the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination and denounce the blockage of the peace plan, because of the continuous obstruction of Morocco''.

According to the same source, the Spanish delegation ''stressed the condemnation and the denunciation of the brutal repression exercised by the Moroccan Government against the Saharawi population in the Western Sahara, illegally occupied by Morocco, and the ill-treatment underwent by the Saharawi political prisoners in hunger strike, who are submitted to all kinds of harassment, ill-treatment and tortures''.

The Spanish delegation is constituted of Francisco José Alonso, President of the Spanish Human Rights League, Ines Miranda, Member of the International Association of jurists for the Western Sahara and Coordinator of the Observation Mission dispatched to the Saharawi occupied territories by the Spanish General Council of Bars, Txomin Aurrekoetxea, Coordinator of the Associations supporting the Saharawi people and Andres Perello, President of the Parliamentarian intergroup ''Peace for the Saharawi people'' of the Spanish autonomous communities. (SPS)

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SPS
SADR/UN/REFERNDUM

The self-determination, "a fundamental right" that should be implemented with no further delays (HCHR report)

Geneva, 06/10/2006 (SPS) The United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) affirmed, in a recent report, that self-determination is "a fundamental right" that the Saharawi people must enjoy "without more delays".

"As has been stated in various fora, the right to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara must be ensured and implemented without further delay", indicated this report that was elaborated by a HCHR delegation which visited the occupied territories of the Western Sahara, the refugee camps and Algeria last May.

The delegation "concludes that almost all human rights violations and concerns with regard to the people of Western Sahara (...) stem from the non-implementation of this fundamental human right", added the text, termed "not a public report", publicised in 16 pages.

"The efforts of the international community through the Security Council and the Secretary General aiming at assisting the parties to achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution consistent with the right to self-determination of the people of Western Sahara should be fully supported and upheld", the text adds.

The authors of the report recommend a "closer monitoring of the human rights situation" in the Western Sahara.

The United Nations "should explore with all relevant actors the best way to ensure adequate and continuous monitoring of the human rights situation in the region, and to offer effective capacity building, protection and redress", they added, underlining that "all concerned should fully cooperate with the United Nations in the implementation of this task".

The question of the right to self-determination of the people of the Western Sahara, "is paramount to the consideration of the overall human rights situation in the respective territories", the report stressed.

"It is a human right enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The respect of all human rights of the people of Western Sahara must be seen in tandem with this right and a lack of its realisation will inevitably impact on the enjoyment of all other rights guaranteed, inter alia, in the seven core international human rights treaties in force", the report’s authors insisted.

The report indicates that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Louise Arbour, had proposed to carry out a mission to the Western Sahara subsequent to the demonstrations in the occupied city of El Aaiun and other cities of the territory last May 2005, which resulted "in many injuries, the arrest of hundreds of protestors, allegations of torture and a hunger strike by several detainees".

The goal of this mission, the text underlined, was to "gather information" about the human rights situation in Western Sahara the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf and Algeria.

The three members of the delegation met, in the occupied city of El Aaiun, with Moroccan officials, from one side and NGOs, representatives of the families of disappeareds and ex-Saharawi political prisoners, from the other side. In the refugee camps the delegation met with Polisario Front’s officials and representatives of Saharawi mass organisations. (SPS)

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