London (United Kingdom), 12 December 2025 (SPS) – The British Parliament hosted Thursday a conference marking International Human Rights Day, with the participation of members of parliament, a lord, human rights advocates, journalists, the POLISARIO Front representation in the UK, and members of the Sahrawi community.
The conference was dedicated to discussing several global human rights issues, including Western Sahara, with a particular focus on the situation in the occupied Sahrawi territories.
During the session, the cause of the Sahrawi people received significant attention. Mr. Mark Luetchford, chair of the Western Sahara Campaign in the UK, delivered an extensive intervention on the human rights situation in the territory, highlighting the ongoing violations in the occupied Sahrawi territories—especially political arrests and the detention conditions of the Gdeim Izik group in Moroccan prisons, thousands of kilometers away from their occupied homeland. He also noted other forms of suffering endured by the people of Western Sahara as a result of the international community, led by the United Nations, failing to uphold its legal responsibilities and the absence of real and sincere political will within the Security Council to complete the process of decolonization in Western Sahara.
Speakers expressed dissatisfaction with the recent shift in the United Kingdom’s position on the Western Sahara issue, emphasizing that any political change must respect human rights principles, international law, and the absolute and inalienable right of peoples to self-determination.
On the sidelines of the event, a new book about Western Sahara was presented by its author, Dr. Ken Ritchie, one of the founders of the chair of the Western Sahara Campaign in the UK and a supporter of the Sahrawi people’s just cause since 1978. The book, “Western Sahara: 50 Years of Occupation and Exile,” received strong interest and engagement from attendees due to its comprehensive coverage of historical and human rights developments related to the issue of Western Sahara.
The conference concluded with participants stressing the importance of maintaining parliamentary discussion in the UK on human rights issues and supporting international efforts aimed at protecting civilians and promoting peaceful solutions to conflicts based on the sacred right of peoples to self-determination.
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