Occupied El Aaiun, 10 December 2025 (SPS) – Sahrawi human rights organizations have condemned the “rapid deterioration” of human rights conditions in the occupied part of Western Sahara, due to the escalating repressive practices of Moroccan occupation forces, in clear violation of all standards established in international conventions.
On the occasion of International Human Rights Day, observed annually on 10 December, the Sahrawi organizations called for the establishment of an independent UN mechanism to monitor the human rights situation in the occupied territory of Western Sahara and to advance the process of decolonization.
In this context, the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA) affirmed that “the continued military occupation of Western Sahara, along with systematic repression, discrimination, the deprivation of all fundamental rights, and the exploitation and plundering of Western Sahara’s natural resources, constitutes a grave and ongoing violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
It stressed that “the continued denial of the Sahrawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination constitutes a blatant violation of the principles and Charter of the United Nations, the two International Covenants, the 1975 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and all rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which have affirmed that Western Sahara and Morocco are distinct and separate territories, and that any exploitation of the Sahrawi people’s resources without their consent is unlawful and contrary to international law.”
CODESA reviewed the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the occupying state, including excessive repression of peaceful gatherings, arbitrary arrests, torture, ill-treatment, unfair military trials, enforced disappearance, and land and resource confiscation. It called for the launch of a genuine political process that guarantees the Sahrawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination in accordance with UN principles and its Charter.
The organization also emphasized the need to enable the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Western Sahara without restrictions or conditions, and for the International Committee of the Red Cross to exercise its legal mandate to protect Sahrawi civilians in Western Sahara. It further called for the release of all political prisoners, an end to all forms of discrimination, torture, ill-treatment, and unlawful detention, disclosure of the fate of those forcibly disappeared, and enabling their families to know the full truth and achieve justice, as well as stopping the plunder of natural resources.
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