Lisbon (Portugal) 25 August 2019 (SPS)- 24 Portuguese trade union and organizations co-signed a joint call addressed to their government last Thursday 22 August, calling for a “clear position against the Kingdom of Morocco’s aggressions against the Saharawi people” and “the end of the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.”
Published on various Portuguese website, including on the World Peace Council’s page, the call also demands “the respect for Saharawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination,” in addition to the “creation of a permanent UN mechanism to accompany the respect for the human rights of the Saharawi people in the occupied territories.”
It also tackled the recent violent oppression exercised by the Moroccan authorities of occupation against the Saharawi people in the occupied city of El Aaiun last July 19th.
Here is the full text of the call with the singantories:
Freedom for Western Sahara! End to Repression!
Published: 22 August 2019
This text was promoted by the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation, subscribed by Portuguese organizations, and sent, this August, to the Portuguese Authorities and the General Secretary of the United Nations.
The undersigned organizations, reaffirming their consistent solidarity with the Saharawi people, condemn and demand the immediate end to the violence and repression of the occupying forces of the Kingdom of Morocco, with particular intensity since July 19th.
This new escalation in repression by the forces of Morocco is occurring since July 19th, when the Saharawi people in the occupied territories, particularly in El Aaiun, came out into the streets to commemorate the victory of the Algerian national soccer team in the African Cup of Nations final. The peaceful commemorations, accompanied by demands for the independence of Western Sahara, were violently repressed, with news of the death of a 24-year-old mowed down by Moroccan auxiliary force cars and an unknown number of wounded. The Moroccan forces are using indiscriminate violence against the Saharawi population, including live fire.
Reaffirming the demand for the immediate end of violent repression, the subscribing organization recall that the Saharawi people has lived for decades under the occupation of the Kingdom of Morocco —where they are subject to assassinations, beatings and arbitrary arrests— or are forced into exile, such as the refugee camps, in extremely precarious conditions. The undersigned organizations consider that a just solution for the Western Sahara demands:
The end of the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara;
The creation of a permanent UN mechanism to accompany the respect for the human rights of the Saharawi people in the occupied territories;
The liberation of the Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan prisons;
The respect for Saharawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination.
The undersigned organizations consider that the Portuguese government is obliged to take a clear position against the Kingdom of Morocco’s aggressions against the Saharawi people and demand the fulfilment of the UN deliberations regarding Western Sahara.
Signatory organizations
Conselho Português para a Paz e Cooperação (CPPC)
Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses – Intersindical Nacional (CGTP-IN)
Movimento Democrático de Mulheres (MDM)
Associação Portuguesa de Juristas Democratas (APJD)
Sindicato Nacional dos Trabalhadores da Administração Local e Regional (STAL)
Confederação Nacional de Reformados, Pensionistas e Idosos (MURPI)
União dos Sindicatos de Setúbal (USS/CGTP-IN)
Federação Intersindical das Indústrias Metalúrgicas, Químicas, Eléctricas, Farmacêutica, Celulose, Papel, Gráfica, Imprensa, Energia e Minas (FIEQUIMETAL)
Federação dos Sindicatos da Agricultura, Alimentação, Bebidas, Hotelaria e Turismo de Portugal (FESAHT)
Associação de Cubanos Residentes em Portugal
Associação Intervenção Democrática (ID)
Fundação José Saramago
Sindicato dos Professores da Região Centro (SPRC)
Movimento pelos Direitos do Povo Palestino e pela Paz no Médio Oriente (MPPM)
União dos Sindicatos do Norte Alentejano (USNA)
Confederação Portuguesa de Quadros Técnicos e Científicos (CPQTC)
União dos Sindicatos de Lisboa (USL)
Associação de Amizade Portugal Sahara Ocidental (AAPSO)
Sindicato dos Trabalhadores do Município de Lisboa (STML)
Associação de Amizade Portugal-Cuba (AAPC)
Inter-Reformados/CGTP-IN
Federação Nacional dos Professores (FENPROF)
Colectivo Mumia Abu-Jamal (CMA-J)
União dos Sindicatos do Distrito de Leiria (USDL)
Source: World Peace Council
090/500/60 (SPS)