El Aaiun (occupied territories), June 17, 2013 (SPS) - The participants at the international conference of solidarity with Saharawi women, convened in the occupied city of El Aaiun in the period from 15 to 16 June 2013, delivered Monday a letter of condemnation to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara and Head of MINURSO, Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber.
The letter, which handed over to the MINURSO Political Advisor Mr. Edoum Abdullah, included a “deep concern” recorded by the international women network over the Moroccan human rights abuses and ill-treatment practices against Saharawi women.
The delegation visited today the headquarters of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), where they delivered the letter, signed by representatives of political parties, trade unions, associations from Europe, who attended the conference.
The letter expressed “deep concern” about the serious deterioration of human rights situation and the “systematic repression” carried out by Moroccan authorities in the occupied Western Sahara, calling for extending the prerogatives of MINURSO to include the monitoring, protection and report about human rights abuses.
They also called for opening the Territory of Western Sahara for international observers, press and associations.
The participants urged the UN Security Council to assume responsibility vis-à-vis the decolonization of Western Sahara and to accelerate the implementation of its resolutions to end the suffering of Saharawi people.
The letter contained evidences of harassment, close surveillance and provocative words by Moroccan occupation authorities that targeted the participants at the conference, since their arrival to El Aaiun airport.
It, therefore, shed light on the suffering of the Saharawis through testimonies of some victims of Moroccan repression. (SPS)
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