EUCOCO 2015: Call for respect for human rights, release of Sahrawi prisoners

MADRID- The participants in the workshop on human rights and the occupied territories denounced Saturday in Madrid the violations and acts of violence by the Moroccan forces in the occupied Sahrawi territories, and called for the immediate cessation of human rights abuses and the release of all Sahrawi political prisoners held in Moroccan jails.

"We continue to support the struggle of Sahrawi people in the occupied territories," said the participants in the workshop of the 40th International Conference for Support and Solidarity with Sahrawi People (EUCOCO).

They called for "rapid holding of the referendum on self-determination of Sahrawi people."

They also called for the "cessation of human rights abuses and the release of all Sahrawi political prisoners," adding that "the international organization (the United Nations, the European Union, and the UN Human Rights Commission) should urge the Moroccan government to implement the adopted resolutions."

These participants, from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, underlined the need to "protect Sahrawi human right activists," and demand the "opening of the occupied Sahrawi territories to international observers and media."

As regards the UN Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the participants call for the extension of its mandate to human rights monitoring and protection in the Sahrawi territories, illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975.

They also proposed an action plan to assist the Sahrawi people in their struggle for independence.

The 40th edition of EUCOCO, being held under the slogan "Western Sahara decolonization, guarantor for peace and stability in the region," opened Friday in Madrid with the participation of some 400 activists from all over the world supporting the independence of Western Sahara.