The World Peace Council (CMP) expresses its unrestricted solidarity with Sultana Khaya and her family, who have been under house arrest for more than 140 days, victims of incessant harassment by the authorities of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Sultana, like other Saharawi human rights defenders in the territory occupied by Morocco, has been the target of intimidation since returning from Spain on November 18, five days after Morocco violated the ceasefire in place for three decades, leading to the resumption of war in Western Sahara. The abuses against Sultana are constant and diverse, and extend to her 84-year-old mother and a sister, who was severely beaten by elements of the Moroccan police forces and denied medical assistance.

The very serious case of Sultana is in addition to that of several other Saharawi activists, including human rights defenders, journalists, environmental activists, political prisoners and many more, of whom there is no lack of reports on the seriousness of the systematic violations of which they are victims in the largest portion of Western Sahara, occupied and recolonized by Morocco.

For this reason, the WPC joins the voices of peace around the world in the demand for the immediate inclusion of protection of the human rights of Saharawis in the mandate of the UN mission also in place for three decades. Such an objective cannot remain pending any diplomatic advances, as it is about defending the life and the most basic rights of the population under occupation.

Fundamentally, the WPC calls on the UN to ensure compliance with Security Council Resolution 690 of 1991, which created MINURSO to hold the referendum for the self-determination of the Saharawi people, whose longing has always been, as the UN itself has recognized since the 1960s, for the decolonization of the territory and independence.

The WPC expresses its solidarity with the Saharawi people in the occupied territories and in the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, at this time of pandemic; and with the legitimate representative of the Saharawi people, the POLISARIO Front, fighting against the Moroccan occupier and defending their territory. Thus, we join the internationalist movement in support for the struggle of the Saharawi people for their national self-determination.

22 April 2021 The Secretariat of the WPC