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TITLE: WESTERN SAHARA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
WESTERN SAHARA
The sovereignty of the Western Sahara remains the subject of
diplomatic dispute. Morocco assumed administration of the
northern three provinces of the Western Sahara after the
withdrawal of Spanish forces in 1975 and of the southernmost
province of Oued ed Dahab in 1979 when Mauritania renounced its
claim to the area. Since unifying the territory, Morocco has
undertaken a massive infrastructural and economic development
program that has resulted in substantial growth in the region's
cities.
Since 1973 the Polisario Front, an organization which Algeria
has supported and which seeks independence for the Western
Sahara, has challenged successively the claims of Spain and
Morocco to the territory. Moroccan and Polisario forces have
fought intermittently since 1975, although there have been no
significant clashes since 1991.
At the request of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA),
the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion
in 1975 regarding the status of the Western Sahara. The Court
held that Morocco was not entitled to exercise sovereignty over
the territory. Rather, according to the Court, the people of
the Western Sahara were entitled to self-determination.
Morocco agreed in principle in 1981 to hold a referendum to
determine the wishes of the population of the Western Sahara.
Efforts by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to resolve
the sovereignty question collapsed in 1984 when the Saharan
Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), the civilian arm of the
Polisario, was recognized at an OAU summit, prompting Morocco
to withdraw from the OAU in protest.
In 1986 Morocco asked the United Nations to administer a
referendum, and it has attempted to do so since that time. In
1987 a U.N. technical team visited the territory in order to
determine the practical arrangements necessary for a
referendum. On August 30, 1988, Morocco and the SADR accepted
in principle the Secretary General's proposal for a referendum
under U.N. and OAU auspices, and the Secretary General named a
special representative to work out the details.
In 1991 the Secretary General presented a plan for a referendum
in the Western Sahara in which the Sahrawis (Western Sahara
natives) would decide between integration with Morocco and
independence. The plan called for a cease-fire supervised by a
U.N. Monitoring Force (MINURSO) to be followed within 20 weeks
by a referendum. The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) was to assist Sahrawi refugees living in
Algeria to voluntarily repatriate to the Western Sahara. The
1974 Spanish census of the region was to serve as the basis for
the voting list. Morocco challenged the accuracy and
completeness of the list and presented to the United Nations a
supplemental list containing more than 120,000 additional names.
On September 6, 1991, the cease-fire went into effect and
initial MINURSO forces were deployed. Simultaneously, the
UNHCR sent an international team to assist with the
repatriation of Sahrawi refugees. The referendum, originally
scheduled to take place in January 1992, was postponed pending
attempts to resolve the contentious voter identification
issue. The outgoing Secretary General thereupon proposed five
voter eligibility criteria to the U.N. Security Council. The
Security Council passed a resolution welcoming the proposal
without endorsing it, and subsequent U.N. efforts have focused
upon obtaining agreement by the parties to the criteria and
their application.
In June 1993 the U.N. Secretary General proposed a compromise
which would make more rigorous the documentation needed for a
person to establish the residence or heredity required to
qualify for voter eligibility under the earlier proposal.
Neither the Moroccans nor the Polisario rejected the proposed
compromise out of hand. Direct talks took place between the
two sides in the city of Laayounne during July but no agreement
was reached. The Moroccan Government favors broad-based
criteria for the referendum which would include many whom they
claim left the Western Sahara prior to being counted in the
1974 Spanish census or were born after 1974 to those qualified
under the census. Claiming the risk of fraud, the Polisario
favors more narrow criteria focused on those enumerated as in
the territory during the 1974 census. In his report to the
United Nations Security Council of November 24, 1993, the
Secretary General stated that "while expressing reservations
about the provisions relating to tribal links with the
territory, Morocco acquiesced in the compromise." The
Polisario is described by the Secretary General in that same
report as having "... maintained its substantial reservations
and proposals for amendments..." of the compromise.
Since 1977 the northern provinces of Laayoune, Smara, and
Boujdour have participated in Moroccan elections. The
southernmost province of Oued ed Dahab has also participated in
the elections since 1983. Sahrawis fill all 10 of the seats
allotted to the Western Sahara in the new Parliament. Three of
the four governors of the region, who are appointed by the King
of Morocco, are Sahrawis.
The civilian population in the approximately 85 percent of the
Western Sahara under Moroccan control is subject to Moroccan
law. U.N. observers and foreign human rights groups have
reported that Sahrawis supportive of the Polisario Front often
have more difficulty obtaining passports, that their political
views are more closely monitored than those of residents of
Morocco proper, and that they are more likely to be treated
harshly by police and paramilitary authorities.
A number of Sahrawis who have returned to Morocco from
Polisario camps near Tindouf, Algeria have complained that they
and other Sahrawi's were tortured and mistreated in the camps.
Other non-Sahrawi observers who have visited the camps say,
however, that they have found no evidence of torture. Ibrahim
Hakim, a former Polisario earlier who has defected to Morocco,
alleges first-hand knowledge of such mistreatment. The
Government of Morocco's Consultative Council on Human Rights
established a working group to investigate ongoing allegations
of Polisario misconduct in the Tindouf camps. For its part,
the Polisario claims that the Moroccans have tortured suspected
Polisario supporters.
After years of denying that Sahrawis were imprisoned in Morocco
for Polisario-related military or political activity, the
Government of Morocco released 300 such prisoners in 1991.
Among those released were entire families and Sahrawis who had
"disappeared" in the mid-1970's. The Moroccan Government has
failed to conduct a public inquiry or to explain how and why
these persons were held for up to 16 years in incommunicado
detention without charge or trial. The Polisario claims that
Morocco continues to hold more than 800 Sahrawis as political
prisoners. The Government of Morocco formally denies that any
Sahrawi noncombatants remain in Moroccan detention. Amnesty
International expressed concern, however, that hundreds of
Sahrawis arrested by Moroccan security forces between 1975 and
1988 remain "disappeared." Credible sources estimate that 68
Sahrawis remain in detention in Morocco and that between 2,500
and 3,000 Moroccan prisoners are being held by the Polisario
near Tindouf. The Polisario has said it is prepared to release
200 Moroccan prisoners unconditionally, but Morocco, believing
that the offer is predicated upon it's according Polisario
greater legitimacy, has declined to take up the matter directly
with the Polisario Front.
The UNHCR, using figures provided by the Government of Algeria,
estimates that approximately 165,000 refugees reside in camps
near Tindouf, Algeria. Sahrawis recently returned to Morocco
from the camps estimate, however, that no more than 80,000
refugees inhabit the camps. They believe that 40,000 to 50,000
of those are Sahrawis, the remainder coming from other
countries in the region. The Government of Morocco alleges
that the Sahrawis are held in the Tindouf camps against their
will. The Polisario denies this allegation.
Freedom of movement within the Western Sahara is limited in
militarily sensitive areas. While travel is nominally
unrestricted elsewhere, travelers inside and outside the cities
are reportedly subjected to arbitrary questioning, detainment,
and, at times, abuse by the security forces.
The same labor laws that apply in Morocco apply in the
Moroccan-controlled areas of the Western Sahara, and
enforcement is equivalent to that in Morocco proper. Within
the Western Sahara there is little organized labor activity.
Since salaries in both the private and public sectors are
significantly higher than those in Morocco, wage demands are
not an issue. Unemployment has also not been a problem because
of the Government's investment in the region and a program of
bringing young people voluntarily out of the region to work in
Morocco. Outside the territory controlled by Morocco, the
Polisario established a labor wing called the Sario Federation
of Labor (UGTSARIO), which in the past reportedly enjoyed close
relations with a few Arab and African national labor centers.
The UGTSARIO does not engage in customary trade union
activities in the Polisario-controlled areas.
[end of document]
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