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Torture and Discrimination in Western Sahara

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Torture and Discrimination in Western Sahara 77 Torture and Discrimination in Western Sahara - niaThe by conflict the Spanish in Western when Saharathey withdrew is one of in the 1976. longest The Mauritaniansrunning and most pulled forgotten out soon in after the world. Known as Africa's last colony, Western Sahara was sold to Morocco and Maurita the International Court of Justice. A sixteen-year war ensued between the Moroccans and the Moroccans annexed much of the remaining territory in defiance of a ruling from - dumand the for Sahrawiself-determination independence was movement,promised, the POLISARIO Front. Under the terms of a but1991 has UN yet ceasefire to be carried agreement, out. a referen Stefan Simanowitz, co-chair of the Free Western Sahara Network, sent to The Equal Rights Trust abundant testimony and background information documenting the torture and discrimination of Sahrawi 2009, some of which is publicised below.1 activists during the period August-October Since the occupation of Western Sahara by by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Morocco in 1975 the indigenous Sahrawi and numerous human rights organisations. population who remained in the territory A 2008 report by Human Rights Watch found that Morocco violated the rights to expression, association, and assembly in thehave failure suffered to holdfrom thediscrimination, referendum arbitraryon self- Western Sahara.2 An Amnesty International determinationarrest and torture. in the Over territory, the years,the native with report of the same year found that "politically Sahrawis from the occupied zone have motivated administrative impediments have been used to prevent human rights groups obtaining legal registration and curtailing repressiondemonstrated as a result.their Despitedefiance the repression,through a their scope of activities".3 There is also thenon-violent uprising civil(or Intifada) struggle, built and inhave its intensitysuffered widespread evidence of the use of torture. As in May 2005 and still continues. signatory to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Serious concerns about human rights Disappearance Morocco should, according violations against the Sahrawis who have to campaigners, reveal the truth about the remained in Western Sahara have been raised hundreds of disappeared Sahrawis. Over The Equal Rights Review, Vol. Four (2009) 78 the past three decades more than 500 for 24 years (of which he spent 14 years indigenous Sahrawis who have challenged on death-row) and the President of the the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara Sahrawi Committee for the Right of Self- Determination, says with bitterness that the young people who were born and grew up Thehave Process “disappeared”. of Moroccanisation under occupation start to lose command of the Hassanyia language. Morocco has engaged in a massive campaign aimed at the Moroccanisation of The rules for immigration and naturalisation Sahrawi culture and identity. Throughout show the racial discrimination that the the disturbing narratives of struggle and Sahrawi community faces within the resistance, the nation-building policies administration and military regime bodies. promoted by the Moroccan regime or the politics of Moroccanisation are denounced and fought by the Sahrawi activists. Despite Sahrawis have Moroccan identification the Sahrawi culture being threatened by thecards, other but side,are markedthe only differently available passport in order isto thewarn Moroccan about their one Sahrawiand this origins.fact is yetOn Sahrawi: another source of much anger. This situation these efforts at Morroccanisation, says one “we have coexisted, not integrated to deal with the Moroccan documentation with the Moroccan culture (…) we have the whensuffocates they proceed those exiled to legalise Sahrawis their situation,who have complicity of the Sahrawis in the refugee for instance in Spain. An exile who prefers to camps because they have preserved 95% pure remain anonymous expresses his resentment our cultural practices.” that: “[I]n my Spanish documentation they wrote that I am Moroccan because of my policy.The first French, harmful classic strategy Arabic highlightedand Moroccan by passport and this is dreadful. I want to dispose dialectsall Sahrawi are usedactivists in schools, is the official administration, language of it because it hurts so much.” market shops, military bodies and in the media. The use of Hassanyia has become The third policy associated with the process limited to the Sahrawis’ social life. Mohamed of Moroccanisation is the enforcement of a Daddach, victim of forcible disappearance national core curriculum in schools, along The Equal Rights Review, Vol. Four (2009) 79 with the fact that the majority of the teachers Moroccan regime. According to Thobhani, are immigrant settlers from Northern throughout the occupied territories Moroc- provinces. Mayara, for instance, explains that can national festivities are marked with she has: “demonstrations and manifestations and dec- laration of loyalty to the king”. However, as El “learnt about her history and her culture only through personal efforts, through the internet, with Sahrawi people, militants Gahlia explains:“[D]uring the king throne festivity on and family.” the 30th of July, the Sahrawi poor people who enjoy the ‘National Promotion’ [a programme According to Bada (an Intifada activist): providing social support] are forced to wear their traditional dressing and go to demon- “[T]he school staff coordinate with strations to show their allegiance to the king the security services and during the national if they do not want to lose [their social sup- Sahrawi festivities our traditional dress is port].” forbidden.” These are the kinds of tools used by Morocco There is no university in Western Sahara. to co-opt the Sahrawi identity and create an This is another strategy which highlights illusionary image of happiness among the the attempts at the Morrocanisation of the Sahrawis. In similar fashion, renaming geo- Sahrawi. The Moroccan authorities are graphical and cultural features according to aware, according to Brahim Elansari, that the Moroccan dialect is harmful for the na- “universities are normally politicised and - could generate civil movements among the nation practiced by the Moroccan regime is students”. This is, indeed, what has happened itstive drive people. to register One illustration the Sahrawi of the people discrimi with with the Intifada, “where Sahrawi students Moroccan names. and teachers in Moroccan universities and schools have played a courageous role in Another deeply harmful, old and visible supporting their compatriots through pacific Moroccanisation practice is the settlement demonstrations”. strategy which has been used as a tool for demographic change. With approximately National symbols and holidays associated 90,000 Sahrawis living on the occupied side, with Moroccan history are imposed by the they have become a minority within their The Equal Rights Review, Vol. Four (2009) 80 The Politics of Terror markets and administration bodies, the ma- jorityhomeland. are settlers On the from streets, the inNorth. the coffee-bars, The North- The politics of terror which were pursued ern settlers are employed in administration and military bodies and are paid 85% more were promoted by King Hassan II and his than their counterparts outside the territory. during the so-called “Years of Lead”, which situation. This has occurred, perhaps most settlers through exemption from income tax aides, have had lasting effects on the current andFurther, subsidised incentives fuel andare food.offered to Northern presence in the territory (around 100,000 soldiers).significantly, According through to Sahrawia notorious human military rights Discriminatory practices at all levels of em- activists, during the last 30 years more than ployment result in widespread unemploy- 260,000 people have been displaced; more ment for native Sahrawis, a situation which than 20,000 arbitrary detentions have taken is worsened by the region’s economic under- place; there have been more than 500 victims development in comparison to Morocco. The of forcible disappearances; more than 120 Moroccan government has also actively “en- murders; and various forms of torture have - nities for Western Saharans inside Morocco, Fatma and Mamia Salek, who have been ex- ascouraged” a means increased of diluting employment the Sahrawi opportu popula- been suffered by thousands of Sahrawis. iled in Tenerife since 1999 and have been tion and their identity. This has, however, not victims of forcible disappearance for sixteen years, explain: the Sahrawi identity. only proven ineffective but has reinforced “[W]hen we were released, we were The family, activists, relatives, friends and like two dead bodies because of the tortures new forms of communication technology are and ill-treatment. After our liberation, we used as a means to struggle against the Mo- passed almost nine years in the occupied zone, roccan claim of a “one identity, one culture, in ‘freedom’, but within a larger prison as we Marroquinité were persecuted all time.” of the Sahara. Even though the Sahrawi iden- one history and one territory” tity and culture are threatened by exposure All testimonies described their experience to Moroccan culture and identity, this has be- as a nightmare, permanents threats, nights without sleeping due to the fear of police resistance and reinforcing Sahrawi identity. harassment, physical and psychological tor- come a powerful force fuelling the flames
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