Geneva, 2 October 2026 (SPS) – Sahrawi human rights defender Hamdi Mhamedou called on the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday to grant international mechanisms independent and sustainable access to Western Sahara to monitor human rights conditions and ensure accountability, as well as to immediately and unconditionally release all Sahrawi political prisoners.
In an oral statement delivered at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Mhamedou highlighted the violations and restrictions facing the Sahrawi people and human rights advocates. He stressed that treating expressions of Sahrawi identity and peaceful activism as security threats perpetuates discrimination and racism.
He also raised concerns over the situation of the Gdeim Izik group prisoners currently on a hunger strike in Moroccan prisons to protest their detention conditions and demand transfers closer to Western Sahara, noting the critical health decline of prisoner Mohamed Bani, who was forced to suspend his strike. He concluded by emphasizing that the absence of an independent UN monitoring mechanism prevents impartial verification of abuses and undermines accountability in the territory.
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