Banjul (The Gambia), May 8, 2025 (SPS) – Sahrawi Ambassador, Malainin Lakhal, representing the Sahrawi Republic at the 83rd session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, delivered a brief statement today, Thursday, on the systematic violations suffered by Sahrawi human rights defenders under Moroccan occupation. This came during the Sahrawi Republic’s reaction to the report of the African Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders.
The Sahrawi official called on the Commission to act towards the release of political prisoners and to condemn retaliatory actions against Sahrawi human rights defenders. He also urged the establishment of an independent human rights monitoring mechanism in the occupied territories of Western Sahara in order to lend genuine credibility to the efforts of both the United Nations and the African Union.
Following is the full text:
Hon. Chairperson of the Commission, Honourable Commissioners, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, all protocols observed,
Thank you, Honorable Chairperson, for granting the Sahrawi Republic the floor. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic takes due note of the Chairperson of the ACHPR and Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Reprisals in Africa and congratulates him for his interesting activity report.
We commend the Commission's commitment to protecting human rights defenders across our continent, an exercise that will always need improvement of course because the stakes are very high and the safety of these courageous me
n and women human rights defenders is so important that all efforts to support and shield them are welcomed.
Today, the Sahrawi Republic finds its necessary to bring to the Commission's attention the persistent and escalating repression faced by Sahrawi human rights defenders and civil society activists in general, in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, who work in very difficult conditions, targeted by Moroccan systematic repression and not much unprotected by the International and African human rights mechanisms unfortunately.
In recent days, last April, during the launch of an international campaign in solidarity with Sahrawi political prisoners, the majority of which distinguished human rights defenders, Moroccan forces of occupation assaulted the homes of several families of these political prisoners. These attacks are part of a broader pattern of intimidation and repression aimed at silencing not only the families of prisoners but all voices advocating for the rights of the Sahrawi people in general.
A prominent Sahrawi human rights defender Mrs. Sultana Khaya, endured a de facto house arrest from November 2020 to May 2022. During this period, she and her family (her 80 years old mother included) were forbidden from receiving family members, they were deprived of water in various occasions, also deprived of electricity, they were subjected to multiple police raids and assaults, exposed to sexual violence perpetrated by Moroccan agents. All these crimes, documented and filmed.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for the immediate release of Sahrawi activists detained without due process. Furthermore, UN human rights experts have condemned the attacks on human rights defenders in Western Sahara, highlighting cases of intimidation, harassment, death threats, and physical and sexual assault, but Morocco refuses to positively respond to all these calls and recommendations and enjoys a strange persistent impunity.
In light of these ongoing violations Mr. Chairperson, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic urges the African Commission to:
1. Undertake a fact-finding mission to the occupied territories of Western Sahara to assess the human rights situation first-hand in compliance with the ACHPR’s own Decision of 2016.
2. Condemn reprisals against Sahrawi human rights defenders and issue urgent appeals in the most serious cases.
3. Call for the immediate release of all Sahrawi political prisoners only detained in punishment for their peaceful human rights work.
4. Urge the Kingdom of Morocco to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law and cease the criminalization of civil society actors in Western Sahara.
5. advocate for the establishment of an independent human rights monitoring mechanism in Western Sahara, a long-standing demand of international human rights organizations and a crucial component of any credible UN/AU-led process.
I Thank you.
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