Bir Lehlou (Sahrawi Republic) 7 May 2025 (SPS) – The Sahrawi Human Rights Commission (CONASADH) issued a strongly worded Press Release today, denouncing the nomination of the Kingdom of Morocco—represented by the President of its National Human Rights Council—for the United Nations’ Nelson Mandela Prize, considering it a flagrant insult to the values Mandela fought for, particularly anti-colonialism and the defense of oppressed peoples.
In a Press Release it issued Today, obtained by the Sahrawi Press Service (SPS), CONASADH stated that nominating a representative of a regime that continues to occupy a UN-recognized non-self-governing territory (Western Sahara) is a direct affront to the sacrifices of colonized peoples.
It described the move as a serious distortion of the United Nations’ reputation and the legacy of Nelson Mandela, urging the nomination committee to reject what it labeled a “political dishonor” of a global icon of dignity and resistance.
Following is the full Press release:
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Sahrawi Human Rights Commission
Press Release
No to dishonoring Nelson Mandela’s legacy by honoring the Moroccan occupying state
Sahrawi Human Rights Commission (CONASADH) is following with deep concern and strong condemnation the news of the nomination of the Kingdom of Morocco, represented by the President of its National Human Rights Council, for the Nelson Mandela Prize awarded by the United Nations to honor those who dedicate their lives to fighting apartheid, colonialism, and defending human dignity.
Portraying the Moroccan regime—still forcibly occupying a territory recognized by international law as non-self-governing—as a nominee for an award symbolizing liberation and justice is not only a betrayal of Mandela’s values, but a direct insult to the sacrifices of peoples still under the yoke of occupation.
Before seeking recognition through a prestigious human rights award, Morocco must first release dozens of Sahrawi political prisoners, end its illegal occupation of Western Sahara, halt its grave human rights violations, and submit to international law and humanitarian law.
Ms. Amina Bouayach, whose nomination is being promoted, deserves no honor or prize so long as the regime she represents plunders the resources of an unarmed people, suppresses their freedom, silences their voice, persecutes activists, tortures prisoners, and tramples on the dignity of detainees—and even boasts of doing so.
This official should be reprimanded for her country’s dark human rights record, not celebrated. Using the United Nations and Mandela’s legacy for a publicity campaign to whitewash the image of Moroccan occupation is a major scandal that cannot be tolerated.
We address an urgent and firm appeal to the nomination committee for the Mandela Prize: do not commit this moral and political sin. The world is watching. Human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, victims, and millions of honorable people around the globe will follow what unfolds in New York and take an irreversible stance.
Those voting on this nomination must think beyond protocols and banquets. They should recall the cries and suffering of the mothers of the forcibly disappeared, the tears of prisoners’ wives, and the anguish of martyrs’ children.
Honoring Morocco with the Mandela Prize—while it has even imprisoned its first human rights minister—is a slap in the face of victims, an insult to their families, and a stain on the UN’s reputation.
Ms. Bouayach, who openly supports Morocco’s denial of the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, has turned her back on international legality. She deliberately ignored the 16 October 1975 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which affirmed there was no Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, as well as UN and African Union resolutions and several rulings by the European Court of Justice rejecting the exploitation of Western Sahara’s resources without its people’s consent.
Nominating someone who denied the existence of political prisoners in Morocco—despite their detention being documented by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch—is an affront to victims and their families, especially the Gdeim Izik group, who endured unfair trials and systematic torture.
Secret prisons such as Tazmamart, Kalaat Mgouna, and Derb Moulay Cherif will not be forgotten. The liquidation of dissidents and the dissolving of their bodies in acid—as happened to Mehdi Ben Barka—will not be erased. Nor will extrajudicial killings be forgiven.
Even if the prize is granted to Morocco, victims will continue their struggle to reclaim it, in loyalty to the thousands of innocent souls lost and the disappeared, the silenced, and the wronged.
Honoring Morocco in the field of human rights amounts to renewed psychological torture of prisoners and their families. It is an offense to Mandela’s dignity and to the credibility of the United Nations.
No to whitewashing occupation. No to glorifying oppressors. No to desecrating Mandela’s name.
Issued by the Sahrawi Human Rights Commission
May 7, 2025
090/500/60 (SPS)
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