Ljubljana (Slovenia), May 18, 2026 (SPS)– The University of Ljubljana hosted today, Sunday, an international seminar entitled “Human Rights and the Right to Self-Determination in Occupied Western Sahara,” presented by Sahrawi human rights defender Aminatou Haidar, in the presence of academics, human rights activists, journalists, and representatives of Slovenian media outlets, including Slovenian national television.
The seminar, moderated by internationally renowned Photographer Arne Hodalič, featured a series of documentary photographs highlighting the suffering of the Sahrawi people under occupation, as well as the conditions of Sahrawi refugees and the violations committed against civilians in the occupied territories.
In her official address during the seminar, Aminatou Haidar, president of the Sahrawi body against the Moroccan occupation (ISACOM), affirmed that Western Sahara remains “the last colony in Africa,” recalling that the Sahrawi people have continued for more than five decades their struggle to secure their legitimate right to self-determination and independence.
Haidar also recounted her personal experience as a human rights defender, noting that she, like thousands of Sahrawis, had been subjected to enforced disappearance, torture, and arbitrary detention because of her peaceful advocacy for the right to self-determination. She further spoke about what she described as a “systematic policy of repression” pursued by the Moroccan authorities against activists, journalists, and human rights defenders in the occupied territories.
The Sahrawi human rights defender stressed that the Moroccan authorities prohibit all forms of peaceful expression supporting self-determination and rely on various methods, including arrests, “unfair” trials, defamation campaigns, and electronic surveillance through the use of the “Pegasus” spyware program, in addition to restrictions imposed on Sahrawi human rights organizations.
She also addressed the illegal exploitation of Sahrawi natural resources, considering that the continued exploitation of the territory’s resources by the occupying State constitutes a clear violation of rulings issued by the European Court of Justice, which has repeatedly affirmed that Western Sahara and Morocco are two separate and distinct territories.
On the political level, Haidar criticized the positions of certain international powers which, she said, provide political support to Morocco within the United Nations Security Council, thereby obstructing the decolonization process and the holding of the self-determination referendum stipulated in the 1991 UN Settlement Plan, a situation that negatively impacts the overall human rights conditions of the Sahrawi people.
She also warned of the dangers of military escalation in the region, referring to the use of Moroccan drones against Sahrawi civilians, which has reportedly resulted in casualties and the displacement of thousands of civilians, considering that this threatens to widen tensions in the region.
In concluding her address, Aminatou Haidar called on Slovenia and the European Union to take practical steps in support of the rights of the Sahrawi people, including the dispatch of an international fact-finding mission to the occupied territories, pressure for the release of Sahrawi political prisoners, the expansion of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to include human rights monitoring, as well as support for the organization of a free and fair self-determination referendum.
Following the speech, the floor was opened for discussion, and the seminar witnessed broad interaction from participants, who raised questions regarding developments in the Sahrawi issue, the future of the UN settlement process, and the humanitarian and human rights situation in the occupied territories.
Aminatou Haidar had arrived in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, Sunday evening, where she was welcomed by the Polisario Front representative in Slovenia, alongside the Front’s representative in Sweden and Norway, who accompanied her throughout the various activities scheduled for today.
The Sahrawi human rights defender also held several meetings with media representatives, in addition to a meeting at the Slovenian Parliament with the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who held a joint press conference with her earlier today. (SPS)
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