SAHARA PRESS SERVICE

27 February School 28/03/2004(SPS) The 11th seminary of Saharawi Women National Union (UNFS) opened on Saturday in the Centre, Naaja Ali Brahim, in the 27 February School, under the chairmanship of the UNFS's Responsible for Information and Cultures, Mrs Khadija Hamdi, SPS did noted.

Under the theme «the Women and the Law », this seminary to which guests and law specialists from the Arab world are participating, (Algeria, Syria, Lebanon) will continue for three days, to « spread a mature juridical culture able to reinforce the Woman in her rights and duties », indicated Mrs Khadija in a speech she gave in the opening session.

In this respect, three commissions will study varied themes going from family code, the juridical situation of the Saharawi Woman in exile and under occupation and the repercussions of international conventions on Women's situation, to present their conclusions in the plenary session of the seminary expected this Tuesday.

Members of the National Secretariat and the Government and some important political figures and representatives of the different institutions of the country took part to this seminary.
 
«The emancipation of the woman, the reinforcement of her rights and duties and her equality with the man, has always been among the preoccupation of the Saharawi political elite», testified the UNFS's Secretary General, Mrs. Fatma Mehdi.

Two women are among the Governmental team, while 24% of the members of the Parliament elected last November are women. (SPS)

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SPS
UN/COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS/MOROCCO
The International League for the Rights and the Liberation of the People denounces the illegal exploitation of Saharawi natural resources
 
Geneva, 28/03/2004 (SPS) The International League for the Rights and the Liberation of the People (LIDLIP) denounced, in front of the UN's 60th Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, «the illegal exploitation» of Saharawi natural resources, underlining that Morocco «has no sovereignty» upon Western Sahara and that its presence is «illegal in this territory».
 
«Western Sahara is in the list of the non-self-governing territories since 1963, regarding to the XIth chapter of UN's charter and this was reinforced by UN's Judicial Affairs Department, which has ratified and confirmed, in January 2002, the verdict of the International Court of Justice issued in 1975, in response to the request of Security Council», noted the organisation which has a special consultative status.

Calling to the attention that «the violation of the permanent sovereignty upon Western Sahara's natural resources is another serious consequence of the occupation of the territory», The LIDLIP underlined that European Union, by negotiating with Morocco about fishing in Western Sahara's waters, «is internationally considered as sharing the responsibility of the illicit exploitation of the natural resources of a still non-self-governing territory».

To the International Law, SADR «can ask for the relevant indemnities, in the same way that Namibia has done with those who had illegally negotiated with Pretoria's regime», the League indicated.

The organisation has also deplored the inactivity of the UN in front of the pillages of the Saharawi territory.
 
«In this respect he passivity of UN is surprising, because while it had denounced some companies during the Namibian conflict, it openly ignored the question in the Saharawi», considering that «the exploitation of the resources of the territory, mainly phosphate, makes Morocco responsible from the international point of view for the same reason ».
 
To the LIDLIP, the nature of Western Sahara's problem is «a decolonisation affair», clearly pointing out that Morocco « is not registered as the administrating power», and as a consequence it has no sovereignty upon Western Sahara what makes «its presence illegal in this territory ».
 
«Western Sahara's conflict is, after Chypra's and Palestine's, the oldest of those in front of UN and the last important decolonisation process», concluded the report, of which SPS received a copy. (SPS)

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SPS
SADR/ALGERIA/UN
Algerian Ambassador to the UN calls for the acceleration of the decolonisation of Western Sahara

Geneva, 28/03/2004 (SPS) Algerian Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Algeria to UN's headquarter in Geneva, Mohamed Saleh Dembri, called to the acceleration of the decolonisation of Western Sahara, by giving an impulse to the resolution 1495 of the 31st July 2003 on Western Sahara, considering that it is time for Saharawi people to seize back their right to self-determination.

Intervening, last 22nd March, during the debates of the 60th session of the commission for Human Rights, under the chapter of « right of the peoples to govern themselves and its implementation for the peoples subjected to a colonial or a foreign domination», Mr. Dembri underlined that UN, which remains more than before «committed to the reinforcement of the inviolable principle of self-determination, should, now, give an impulse to the resolution 1495 of the 31st July 2003 especially that voters census was achieved».

The Algerian Ambassador deplored the important delays registered by UN considering the decolonisation of the Saharawi territory.

«The situation of the last non-self-governing territory in Africa, Western Sahara, remains unresolved despite of 48 Security Council's resolutions, a UN's peace plan called Baker's plan 15 times recommended and about fifty reports of three successive Secretary Generals», he stressed.
 
To Mr. Dembri, the free practice of the popular sovereignty of the populations under occupation should no more be a subject to «comprehension» and «bargaining» from international community, and this within the concern designated by the same, «to accelerate the construction of democratic Maghreb where the
walls of separation and misunderstanding will fall».

It should be recalled that the 60th Session of the UN's Commission for Human Right is held from the 15 March to the 23rd April 2004. (SPS)
 
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