Geneva (Switzerland), October 1, 2026 (SPS) – Sahrawi human rights defender Ghalia Djeimi called on the UN Human Rights Council to give serious and sustained attention to the human rights situation in Western Sahara and ensure that the territory is not excluded from international monitoring and human rights mechanisms.
Speaking before the Council during the discussion of Item 8, Djeimi stressed that Western Sahara deserves sustained human rights attention, pointing to concerns previously raised by UN bodies and mechanisms regarding arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment, as well as restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association and the situation of human rights defenders.
In this regard, she called for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to be granted access to the territory and for independent and objective monitoring to be ensured, alongside stronger protection for human rights defenders and the release of political prisoners.
She also stressed the need to guarantee the rights of the Sahrawi people, including their right to self-determination, in accordance with international law and relevant UN resolutions, emphasizing that the territory should not be excluded from international human rights mechanisms on the grounds that its situation is political in nature.
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