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Friday, March 29, 2024
Foreign Activities

Participants at a conference Monday in Geneva, as part of the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), stressed that autonomy is a form of self-determination and offers a suitable solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.



Mr. Miguel Angel Puyol Garcia, president of the Hispano-Moroccan Research Center, after speaking about the autonomy system in force in Spain, praised the benefits of this system, noting that autonomy in the Sahara is more applicable since that Morocco has continued to undertake democratic reforms. 

He likewise stressed the obstacles, including demographic, which rendered impossible the holding of a referendum on self-determination in the Sahara.

The speaker has also delivered a comparison of the situation of human rights in the southern provinces and in the Tindouf camps. In Laayoune, thanks to the democratic climate that prevails, I was able to make documentaries on television, something I could not do in the camps of Tindouf, which resemble to a prison, "he said.

Garcia also criticized the embezzlement of humanitarian aid for the populations of the Tindouf camps which is sold, he said, in Mauritania.

The conference, held at the Palais des Nations, also attended by Dr. Lahcen Haddad, academic and activist of Human Rights, which argued that advanced autonomy is an innovative and just means to arrive to self -determination. The two concepts are not contradictory; it is, in case of small states, a means of resolving conflicts through democracy and good governance within the framework of territorial integrity, he argued.


He explained that advanced autonomy proposed by Morocco to settle the conflict in the Sahara meets the needs of both parties since it produces a win / win solution, has a unifying and inspiring role and enable people to self-governing in a democratic way.

The Moroccan project, he added, favors a quick resolution of the problems of populations held in the Tindouf camps whose rights to identity, political expression and movement, as men, women, youth and children are abused daily and since the 70s.

Mr. Haddad added that the Moroccan autonomy proposal also allows to solve the humanitarian crisis endured by the Sahrawi people, including family separation and sequestration in Tindouf camps. With the implementation of this proposal, he said, these families can live together and all Sahrawis will live in peace and decide their future themselves.

The meeting, moderated by Sidati Mohamed El Galloui, former Polisario representative in Rome, was attended by Ms. Hajbouha Zubair, member of the Women's Action Union (UAF), who stressed that the autonomy proposed by Morocco offers a just solution to the Sahara conflict, and guarantees to the people concerned the social, economic and cultural rights. 

She mentioned the human plight of people in the Tindouf camps, deploring and denouncing family deprivation of these people of their basic rights. She cited the case of Mr. Mostafa Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud who was jailed and then expelled from the camps by the Polisario leaders for the simple reason that he opted for independence and decided to defend it. 

Ms. Zubair also called for the opening of these camps for international organizations to inquire about the situation of human rights, and conduct a census of these populations.






Mr. Hamdi Cherifi, President of Al Intimae NGO for the development of human rights and coexistence in Laayoune highlighted the relevance of the autonomy initiative as a democratic solution to the Sahara issue.

He developed aspects relating to respect for human rights contained in the autonomy plan presented by Morocco, stating that the text has created mechanisms to ensure compliance with and enforcement of rights.

The floor was then given to Moulay Ahmed Mgizlate, member of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), who indicated that the autonomy proposal is based on reconciliation which is a conscious and deliberate choice in the best interests of Moroccan people. This proposal, he said, has also put an end to separatism that Polisario has cherished for over thirty years. 

In addition, he eferred to the experiences of transitional justicein Morocco, South Africa, Peru and Argentina.

The conference was organized by the International Democratic Centre and the Union of Women's Action.

Source: MAP
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