El Aaiún (Occupied Territories), January 14, 2026 (SPS) – Several Sahrawi human rights organizations condemned Tuesday the action taken by the Moroccan occupation authorities to prevent a Spanish human rights monitoring mission from reaching the occupied Sahrawi territories.
They described this as a blatant violation of the principles and provisions of international humanitarian law and a clear attempt to isolate the occupied territory of Western Sahara from any independent international monitoring of the human rights situation there.
The Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA) expressed its strong condemnation of this arbitrary measure with which the Moroccan occupation force has inaugurated the new year, continuing its policy of closure, obstruction, and expulsion against international delegations.
CODESA pointed out that the delegation was on a mission to observe and monitor the human rights situation in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.
For its part, the Sahrawi Body against the Moroccan Occupation (ISACOM) considered the expulsion of the Spanish delegation “an arbitrary step that constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and human rights principles.” It renewed its urgent appeal to the international community, United Nations bodies, and international human rights organizations to intervene in order to put an end to these violations and to guarantee free and unconditional access for international observers to the occupied territories of Western Sahara.
Likewise, the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH) expressed its strong condemnation of this “arbitrary behavior, which reflects a systematic policy aimed at imposing a blackout and closing the territory to international observers, while ensuring impunity from accountability.”
It should be noted that the Spanish delegation from the Canary Islands, which was expelled, included Carmelo Ramírez, Counselor for Institutional Cooperation and International Solidarity at the Council of Gran Canaria Island and President of the Federation of Institutions Supporting the Sahrawi People, as well as Noemí Santana Perera, Member of Parliament for the Podemos party in the Spanish Congress, and Fernando Ruiz Pérez, Secretary-General for Communications of the Podemos party in the Canary Islands.
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