GP: Human Rights Not Monitored in Western Sahara

Guest Post: Zineb from Morocco

Morocco: UN 'Misses Opportunity' to Allow Western Sahara Human Rights Monitoring

The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has recently been renewed. The mandate however still fails to encompass a human rights component.
A US suggestion to include a human rights monitoring mandate in the draft resolution under consideration by the Security Council was repressed after protests from the Moroccan government. The Moroccan authorities forcefully rejected the US's proposal to expand MINURSO's mandate, claiming it threatened Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Washington subsequently backtracked, and Security Council members agreed on a new resolution that failed to grant MINURSO the authority to monitor human rights abuses.



The UN Security Council's failure to add human rights monitoring to the mandate of its Western Sahara peacekeeping force - despite ongoing reports of abuses in the region - is a "missed opportunity", Amnesty International said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22189197

Random Zineb Thoughts: The Moroccan authorities constantly argue that they are taking initiatives to improve human rights in Western Sahara. They deny any form of abuses, and often complain that human rights organizations don’t visit the Tindouf camps. Their complaints against the monitoring of human rights are therefore very dubious and inconsistent. All it seems to say is that the Moroccan government has things to hide! Claiming a threat to the kingdom’s sovereignty seems to be a very unconvincing “excuse” to the international community, and ultimately deserves Morocco’s interests, as it gives it a more suspicious image and undermines its credibility. Morocco, which has frequently been accused of abuses against activists in the Western Sahara, would gain more from creating a climate of cooperation and openness than from dismissing such accusations.