Activist’s honour puts pressure on Morocco

Aminatou Haidar talks about Western Sahara during an interview in Washington. Dennis Cook / AP With her hands and feet bound and her body tied to a wooden plank, Aminatou Haidar endured hours of torture, including electric shocks and threats of rape. “My body is only a heap of flesh and bones. The police begin to practise systematic methods of torture and other cruel and degrading treatment,” the Western Saharan activist wrote after her Moroccan captors released her. “The more I resisted, the more the methods of torture diversify and sadism attains its heights.” Ms Haidar, 41, was a 20-year-old student in 1987 when she took part in a peaceful demonstration aiming to earn self-determination for her homeland. After the protest she was detained along with dozens of others and became one of many “disappeared”. Her Moroccan captors released her after four years and her ordeal set in motion her long battle to help get recognition for the Western Sahara. It is a fight that has thrust the divorced mother of two to the forefront of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which has been trying to get its own homeland for more than 30 years from its neighbour Morocco, which is backed by the United States and France. Analysts say a human rights award for Ms Haidar from the Washington-based Robert F Kennedy Memorial, and the appointment of a new UN envoy to the area, could bring the cause enough attention to begin resolving it. On Thursday, Kennedy’s widow, Ethel, will present the award to Ms Haidar, who is seen as an ambassador for her people and has previously been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, in a move that goes against the grain of the US government’s position on the Arab country, which has been embroiled in the bitter dispute since Spain ended its colonial rule in the mid-1970s. “The award adds pressure on Morocco and bolsters Polisario’s case in terms of international thinking,” said Jacob Mundy, a Western Sahara analyst with the Middle East Information and Reporting Project. Stephen Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, said the award gave badly needed publicity to the situation. “It puts Morocco in a difficult situation. It’s going to make it harder for them to arrest and torture her again. “Moroccans have tried to portray anyone opposing them as a Polisario terrorist and she is clearly not a terrorist and is part of a generally popular struggle. The conflict stems from Morocco sending occupying forces into the Western Sahara, one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, after Spain relinquished its claim. The move disobeyed resolutions by the UN Security Council and a ruling from the International Court of Justice that rejected Morocco’s claim on the land and recognised the Western Saharans’ right to self-determination. Polisario fought a guerrilla war against the occupiers until 1991, and since then several peace deals have been rejected by both sides. Last month, the UN General Assembly approved a draft resolution designed to promote a new phase of negotiations. Both parties welcomed the move, but Morocco has not yet backed the appointment of the proposed new UN envoy, Christopher Ross, who is a former US ambassador to Syria and Algeria. The move would put the United States back at the centre of the conflict, but Mr Mundy said Mr Ross could face a tough challenge. “He will have the same limited tool kit, which is all carrot and no stick.” Each side is unflinching in its position and Mr Mundy said the new US administration, led by Barack Obama, would have little effect on the situation because the country is unlikely to change its stance: Morocco is too important strategically. The last US envoy to the area was James Baker, a former secretary of state under George H W Bush. His proposals involved Western Sahara becoming a semiautonomous region of Morocco, with a referendum then being held on independence. Last month, five former US ambassadors to Morocco issued a statement saying independence was out of the question and backed the autonomy plan. Analysts said there are only two likely outcomes for the Western Sahara – resolution through international pressure or an armed uprising by Polisario. Mr Zunes said the best way to effect a resolution was pressure from human rights groups in France and the United States to stop their countries’ support of Morocco. “People in the territories need to take things into their own hands through massive non-co-operation and protests to try to make the territory ungovernable and force the occupiers that the status quo is unacceptable.” Mr Mundy said he agreed, but said the environment for armed conflict still exists. “Unless this becomes a bigger issue for international solidarity networks, unless they can ramp up the pressure on governments, I don’t see the situation improving. “Change will only happen if the situation explodes and Polisario decides to go back to war, or some demonstration boils out of control. “The situation in the Western Sahara could become much more unstable, much more violent.” bslabbert@thenational.ae

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Aminatou Haidar address

Special Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

Saharawi human rights activist addressed the audience participating to the reception organised on her honour last Thursday in Washington where she received the Robert Kennedy Award for Human Rights. Here is the complete text of the address: -------------------------------- Remarks by Aminatou Haidar 25th Annual Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, November 13th, 2008 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC As Prepared for Delivery ----- Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends, allow me to thank the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights for uniting us during this event to commemorate together the virtues of a brave man who devoted his life to the fight for freedom and the promotion of human rights. We pay a great tribute to the spirit of Robert Francis Kennedy. "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." Those were the words of Robert Francis Kennedy, and as the 2008 human rights award is bestowed upon me on his behalf, I find myself inspired by the same ideals he defended with such conviction and selflessness. I have to tell you that as Robert Francis Kennedy, I believe that "all can freely speak and act to share in the decisions which shape their lives." Moreover, I share his belief that the fight against injustice is the highest form of courage. My people, the Sahrawi people, have greatly suffered from the consequences of an unfair war waged since 1975 by the Moroccan state against their will. Today more than half of my people live in Diaspora, sometimes in very difficult conditions, far from their country and their families, while the other half continues its heroic pacific resistance against the Moroccan occupation. More than 500 Sahrawis have been declared missing since the Moroccan invasion of Western Sahara and the Moroccan state still refuses to give information regarding their status although it conducts propaganda campaigns under the guise of a so-called truth commission, an organization that is supposedly for equity and reconciliation and that runs around the world without giving any real answers on the grave violations of human rights perpetrated against the Sahrawi population. Since May 21, 2005 a non-violent uprising of the Sahrawi population started, proclaiming its right to self–determination. Since then, wherever there is a strong concentration of Sahrawi, demonstrators have gathered in public squares or on university campuses chanting slogans proclaiming their right to self-determination and waving Sahrawi flags. This is always dangerous for the demonstrators who risk being hit by police batons or even torture, which sometimes leads to death as was the case of three young Sahrawis: HAMDI LEMBARKI, BACHAIKH LAKHLIFI and SIDHA ULD LAHBIB or leads imprisonment for up to fifteen years as is the case of the Sahrawi human rights defender YAHIA MOHAMED LHAFED or can even lead to becoming disabled for life as was the case for the Sahrawi students SULTANA KHAYA who lost her right eye and LWALI QADMI who became paraplegic after being subjected to the brutality of the Moroccan security forces. Not to mention the daily ransacking of homes and the constant intimidation and harassment campaigns against the Sahrawi human rights defenders including arrest on the grounds of human rights activism, the loss of jobs, the prohibition of free movement and more importantly the systematic prohibition to form human rights organizations such as the COLLECTIF DES DEFENSEURS SAHRAWIS DES DROITS DE L’HOMME ‘‘CODESA’’ of which I am President and which is still banned by the Moroccan administrative authorities and the ASSOCIATION SAHRAWIE DES VICTIMES DES VIOLATIONS DES DROITS DE L’HOMME ‘‘ASVDH’’ which is also facing the same fate. Ladies and Gentlemen, as a Sahrawi woman victim of the Moroccan repression, subjected to forced disappearance and arbitrary detention, and also as a human rights defender, I reaffirm today that the current situation of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara is tragic and continues to deteriorate on a daily basis. I bear witness to the distress of the Sahrawi population, and call for the protection of their basic rights. It is urgent, it is imperative to renew efforts and intensify the work required to put an end to our suffering. It is widely known that the Western Sahara conflict primarily affects the prosperity of both the Sahrawi and the Moroccan people. It also affects the rest of the Mahgreb and the hopes of its people. The time has come to put an end to the unbearable sufferings that this situation is creating for the population. Shouldn’t the Sahrawi people, in all fairness, benefit from an international protection against the cruel repression that they are being subjected to? How long will the international community maintain its regrettable non-interference approach while a whole people sees its right to self-determination be trampled underfoot by foreign occupation? The time has come to uphold real commitments in order to accelerate the process toward self-determination. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Western Sahara May 15-19 2006 and confirmed in its report that all human rights violations committed by the Moroccan authorities in Western Sahara stem from the denial of a basic right according to the UN, namely the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people, an inalienable and perpetual* right. A fourth round of negotiations between Sahrawi and Moroccan leaders recently took place in Manhasset under the auspices of the United Nations and a fifth round is expected. However, the prevailing feeling among the Sahrawi people, even the most optimistic, is that these discussions seem to remain unsuccessful which unfortunately gives rise to disappointment and a lack of hope in the Sahrawi people . Less than two years from the deadline for the completion of the plan of action of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, which was set in 2010, the Sahrawi people are still expecting to receive the support of the international community and to see the United Nations play an active role in seeking a just and equitable solution to this tragic conflict. Allow me as I stand here, on behalf of all Sahrawi human rights defenders, to urgently call upon the international community and particularly the United States to do all they can for the protection of the Sahrawi citizens under Moroccan occupation. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that about forty Sahrawi political prisoners (among them human rights defenders) are still behind bars in Moroccan jails and in the infamous El Aaiun prison. They are living in deplorable conditions, mistreated and deprived of their basic rights; their only crime is to have defended the right to self-determination of their people. These prisoners need our support and solidarity so that they can find their freedom. Let us therefore together demand their immediate release and demand information on the fate of the Sahrawi missing since 1976. In conclusion, I find myself once again reminded of the hopes of ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY who believed that the influence enjoyed by the United States in the world should be used in support of peace and justice. He said and I quote: "…The great challenge to all Americans…is to maintain loyalty to truth; …to maintain loyalty to freedom as a basic human value, and … to keep in our hearts and minds the tolerance and mutual trust." Finally, I would like to dedicate this prestigious award to the Sahrawi political prisoners, the victims of the Moroccan repression and to the Sahrawi human rights defenders who are performing a noble task and enduring innumerable sacrifices in defending the rights of others. Long live peace – Long live solidarity – Long live friendship. And thank you. Aminatou Haidar, human rights laureate of the 2008 ROBERT F. KENNEDY Human Rights Award

Adress of Kerry Kennedy

Special: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Remarks by Kerry Kennedy 25th Annual Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, November 13th, 2008 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC As Prepared for Delivery ----- On the eve of my father, Robert Kennedy’s 83rd birthday it is a fitting tribute to his life and legacy that we honor Aminatou Haidar, the "Sahrawi Gandhi," with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Aminatou is a courageous leader in her peoples’ almost half-century long battle to realize their inalienable right to self-determination. In 1975, the Government of Morocco invaded Western Sahara on the eve of its anticipated referendum on independence from Spain. The invasion was in defiance of a clear ruling by the International Court of Justice holding that the arguments presented by Morocco "do not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco." Indeed, the Court aligned itself with United Nations resolutions regarding decolonization of the Western Sahara, and emphasized in its opinion "the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the [Sahrawi] people…." In response to the invasion, the Polisario launched an armed struggle against the occupying Moroccan forces. The Polisario established the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in February 1976, which has subsequently been recognized by numerous countries and is a full member state of the African Union. Most of the indigenous Sahrawi people fled the Moroccan troops and went into near permanent displacement, primarily in Polisario-run refugee camps in Algeria. Morocco’s military forces eventually assumed control of most of the territory, including all major towns. Since the first calls for decolonization in the 1960s, widespread international support for the Sahrawi’s right to self-determination has consolidated. As the U.N. Secretary General recently stated, "no member state of the U.N. recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara." To the contrary, in Resolution 2625 the U.N. General Assembly has stipulated that "no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or actual use of force shall be recognized as legal," and the United Nations has passed dozens of resolutions affirming and reaffirming the right of the Sahrawi to determine their own future. In 1991, based on Morocco’s promise to hold an internationally supervised referendum on the future of the territory, the Polisario and Morocco agreed to a ceasefire. But the Government of Morocco refused to allow the referendum to move forward. Instead, it engaged in a relentless campaign of violence as a military strategy to maintain territorial control and suppress civil and political rights. Moroccan troops and government authorities have silenced dissent, suspended rights to free expression and assembly, and harassed, threatened, jailed, tortured, and "disappeared" countless Sahrawi. , Mock trials on trumped-up charges are standard fare, followed by unspeakable cruelty. For years, the suffering of the Saharawi was virtually muted by the Moroccan authorities. But that silence has been broken by one woman. One woman on a mission to give voice to a repressed and impoverished people in a remote portion of the Sahara desert. Aminatou Haidar’s unyielding quest to raise the profile of her beloved homeland has brought the plight of the people of Western Sahara to the corridors of power throughout the world. Aminatou was born in 1967, and grew up amidst the human rights atrocities committed by Morocco’s occupying forces. In 1987, at the age of 21, she joined a peaceful demonstration organized during a visit from a U.N. mission. In response, Moroccan police arrested her along with more than 400 peaceful demonstrators, of whom 70 would lengthen the list of the disappeared. Seventeen of the women, including Aminatou were targeted for unimaginable torture. Abducted by Moroccan police in plain clothes, she was gagged, starved, sleep deprived, subjected to electric shock, severely beaten - and worse. Her meager rations were infested with insects, and lice covered her body. Throughout her captivity, Aminatou’s tormenters refused her access to her family, her lawyer, or any contact with the outside world. To this day, her detention haunts her. She regularly passes her torturers on the street. Threats from police and others are a frequent occurrence. But Aminatou will not be stopped. Aminatou began organizing against the occupation and led efforts for the release of prisoners of conscience. She spoke eloquently regarding the rights of women and children, and the importance of non-violent protest. In June 2005, Aminatou was arrested once again, tortured, and incarcerated in the "Black Prison" of El-Aaiun. A kangaroo court sentenced her to 7 months in jail for her outspoken support of human rights in Western Sahara. Despite the torment, Aminatou refused to be cowed. On the very day of her release she defiantly issued this public statement. "The joy is incomplete without the release of all Saharawi political prisoners and without the liberation of all the territories of the homeland still under the occupation of the oppressor." Although human rights organizations cannot legally register in occupied Western Sahara, Aminatou serves as the President of the Sahrawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA). CODESA is at the cutting edge of social change, advocating for basic rights and defending the oppressed. Bravery is most commonly associated with a single act of daring at a precise moment in time; often in war. But battlefield bravery pales in comparison with the quality of courage exemplified by Aminatou, who, despite bloodshed, torture, starvation, disease, and the savagery of an occupying army which brought death to many of her people, and the rape of her beloved land, has made it her mission to speak the truth to those in power about the plight of her people. She will not be dismissed, and all of us here today will work to ensure that she will not be silenced. Nobel Prize Laureate and holocaust survivor Elie Weisel says that the opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is indifference. For years, indifference has characterized the international community’s posture toward the Western Sahara. But Aminatou’s love for her people is so affecting, and her words of so full of truth and promise, that she may yet turn the tide of history itself and renew our faith that good ultimately triumphs over evil. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease."It is an honor now to join another woman who, like Aminatou, personifies the predominance of courage over timidity and

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Senator Patrick Leahy address

Special: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

Senator Patrick Leahy Remarks For Presentation Of The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award To Aminatou Haidar November 13, 2008 Thank you for that kind introduction. I also want to thank Ethel, Kerry and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights for inviting me to speak here today. It is an honor to stand in for my good friend Senator Ted Kennedy, who has been, and continues to be, such an eloquent force for human rights in this country and around the world. Whether he is reminding us of our moral obligation to provide a safe haven for Iraqi refugees, leading the fight in Congress against apartheid in South Africa, or championing the rights of political prisoners in China, Senator Kennedy has led the way on the most important human rights issues of our time. It is a remarkable record that the rest of us in Congress should strive to emulate. This is especially important today, after the scandals of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, which have so sullied our international reputation. As the new Obama Administration and the Congress work together to reintroduce America to the world, we must reaffirm our unequivocal denunciation of the use of torture and our commitment to human rights. This is as necessary here at home as it is abroad. The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights is a living reminder of a time when Robert Kennedy, at such a young age, showed this country what the role of the Attorney General of the United States could and should be. He was not just the Attorney General for the President or his Administration. Not just the Attorney General for those of privilege and power. No. He was the Attorney General for upholding the law for all Americans. That principle was trampled on shamelessly during the past eight years. It must never happen again. The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award not only informs us of a laureate’s cause and courage, it also provides the recognition and support to enable him or her to continue working, often at great personal risk, for the principles we cherish. This year’s laureate, Ms. Aminatou Haidar, has been called the "Sahrawi Gandhi." She is one of the best-known human rights activists of her homeland, Western Sahara. Aminatou Haidar’s personal story is both tragic and inspirational. Tragic for the suffering she has endured in seeking to promote respect for universal freedoms. Inspirational for her courage, her devotion to her people and to human rights, and for what her life says about the resilience of the human spirit. Her commitment to non-violence began as a young university student, witnessing the abuses of the Moroccan security forces. As Kerry just described, in 1987 Ms. Haidar was imprisoned and tortured because she dared to speak out. For four years she was "disappeared," and during that entire time she was blindfolded, totally cut off from her family and the outside world. Her health was permanently damaged by the abuses she suffered. After her release in 1991, Ms. Haidar described herself as "a ghost, a living dead, a young woman back from a kind of hell that bears no name." As the Sahrawi poet, Mohamed Ebnu wrote, "And we still wait for a new dawn. We still wait to begin again," Ms. Haidar resumed her work to call attention to the denial of human rights in Western Sahara. In June 2005, when Ms. Haidar was again arrested, again beaten and injured, and again arbitrarily detained, she did not give in to anger or despair. Instead, she and a group of 37 other Sahrawi political prisoners held a 51-day hunger strike in an effort to obtain more humane prison conditions, investigations into allegations of torture, and the release of political prisoners. For seven months she was separated from her two children, knowing nothing of their fate. Those of you who are parents and grandparents, as I am, can only imagine how agonizing that would be, and for her children as well. During her detention, Ms. Haidar gained international renown as a dedicated and determined human rights defender. She was adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, and she gained the support of other human rights organizations and the European Parliament. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights conducted an assessment in the Western Sahara, finding serious human rights abuses and concluding that "the right to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara must be ensured and implemented without further delay." Since her release in 2006, Aminatou Haidar has continued her non-violent struggle tirelessly. She is President of the Sahrawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders – CODESA – which Moroccan authorities have denied the right to legally register in Western Sahara. Her courage to speak out has also provided other Sahrawi women the strength to talk publicly about their own suffering, including those who have been victims of the previously unspeakable crime of rape. Her humility, despite her importance in the human rights movement in Western Sahara, may be one reason that she is so revered. Another, undoubtedly, is her unwavering commitment – with grace and honesty, with bravery as her strongest tool – to end the abuse suffered by her people and to demand their legal and inalienable right to self-determination. A colleague of hers perhaps said it best: "She is neither a polemicist nor an ideologue, but simply a woman who has seen and experienced too many abuses to remain quiet anymore." Over the years, following Senator Kennedy’s lead, I and other Members of Congress have called for a referendum on the future of Western Sahara. The right to self-determination is one that the founding fathers of our own country recognized as both just and necessary. The United Nations has adopted numerous resolutions reaffirming the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination. It is important to recognize and commend the Government of Morocco for its recent efforts to protect human rights. Morocco has become a party to most of the major human rights treaties. It is also a valued friend and ally of the United States. It is now time for Morocco to fulfill its treaty obligations to uphold the civil and political rights of the Sahrawi people. I cannot help wondering where Ms. Haidar finds the strength – despite provocations and abuse, despite the threat of being returned to prison knowing she might not survive. As Robert Kennedy said in Capetown, South Africa, "Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." Perhaps, when Ms. Haidar speaks today, she will tell us. But I do know that her example inspires each of us, not only to continue to support her and the Sahrawi people, but to defend the rights of so many others who struggle as she does, often in obscurity, against forces far stronger. That is the mission of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, and we embrace it again here today.