UN Will Not Monitor Human Rights in Western Sahara
Having been let down by Algeria and other defenders of human rights in the region, the Sahrawi people face another setback in their quest for self-determination, writes Kaci Racelma.
Finally, Moroccan diplomacy has managed to prevail over the Sahrawi people’s ambitions for self-determination. Yet, this fact becomes insignificant when faced with the realpolitik imposed by a system that gets its legitimacy from the principle of the strongest.
The UN Security Council that adopted on April 25 a new resolution (2099) reaffirming the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination left some Sharawis unsatisfied and unhappy. Algerians who still believe in this right were also disappointed, first and foremost because it does not expand the prerogatives of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso) to monitor human rights in the region — something that the Polisario front constantly campaigns for.
Moreover, that some countries supposed to be defenders of human rights in the region par excellence change tack and are often the first to ridicule these rights messes up political data in Algeria, as well as in the occupied territories. In this member state of the Arab Maghreb Union, quitting is not something human rights activists can do, especially those in the Algerian National Committee of Solidarity with the Sahrawi people.
“The fight for the protection of human rights in the occupied territories continues.” Such is the credo of this committee that is met with gratitude from Sahrawis, who are also overwhelmed with dissatisfaction.
