Brussels, 4 November 2026 (SPS) – Sahrawi human rights activist and President of the Sahrawi Body Against Moroccan Occupation, Aminatou Haidar, stressed that the Western Sahara issue represents a test of the international community's commitment to respecting peoples' right to self-determination, affirming that the dignity and national rights of the Sahrawi people are not negotiable.
In an address delivered on Tuesday before the European Parliament during the screening of the documentary Aminatou, which recounts her hunger strike in Lanzarote in 2009 in protest against her forced deportation, Haidar explained that her personal experience reflects the suffering of an entire people as a result of occupation, exile and repression.
Haidar reviewed the Moroccan violations in the occupied territories, including arbitrary detention, torture, restrictions on human rights defenders and journalists, enforced disappearances, and the denial of access to international organisations, alongside the continued plunder of natural resources and expansion of settlements.
She also warned of the consequences of recent developments concerning the MINURSO mission, describing the failure to renew its mandate as a serious development and rejecting any settlement that bypasses the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination.
Haidar called on the European Union to assume its legal and political responsibilities, end any support that contributes to the continuation of violations, and exert pressure to ensure access to the occupied territories for international human rights monitoring mechanisms.
She also urged the European Parliament not to remain silent on the Western Sahara issue, reaffirming that the Sahrawi people's right to freedom and independence is neither negotiable nor subject to compromise.
The European Parliament is hosting the Western Sahara Solidarity and Awareness Days on 3 and 4 November, at the initiative of the European Parliament's Friends of Western Sahara Intergroup, with the participation of a high-level Sahrawi delegation, European parliamentarians, human rights activists and experts. The events aim to highlight developments in the Western Sahara issue, human rights violations and the plunder of natural resources in the occupied territories.
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