Usuario:GavinLyttle4726
Washington DC, September 16th, 2008--- Aminatou Haidar is the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureate. Ms. Haidar is being recognized for her courageous campaign for self-determination of Western Sahara from its occupation by Morocco and against forced disappearances and abuses of prisoners of conscious.washingtoninstitute.org Regularly referred to as the "Sahrawi Gandhi," Ms.allafrica.com Haidar is one of Western Sahara’s most prominent human rights defenders. "For me, as an individual, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award represents a great honor. Senator Edward Kennedy. Senator Kennedy has been an outspoken champion of Western Sahara in the U.S. Senate for over two decades. Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy will preent Ms. Haidar with the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award in a public ceremony sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy the morning of November 13th, 2008 in the Russell Senate Office Building’s Caucus Room.
"Aminatou Haidar has shown extraordinary courage and heroic leadership for human rights in Western Sahara, one of the forgotten corners of the world and the last colony in Africa. In 1988, the kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed to settle the dispute through a UN-administered referendum that would allow the people of Western Sahara to choose between independence or integration with Morocco. The vote still has not been held. Ms. Haidar is part of a younger generation of Sahrawi leaders working through non-violent means to organizing peaceful demonstrations in support of the referendum and to denounce the human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict. Her peaceful efforts have been met with increased police aggression and brutality.
In 1987, at the age of 21, Ms. Haidar was one of 700 peaceful protestors arrested for participating in a rally in support of a referendum. Later she was "disappeared" without charge or trial and held in secret detention centers for four years, where she and 17 other Sahrawi women were tortured. In 2005, the Moroccan police detained and beat her after another peaceful demonstration. She was released after 7 months, thanks to international pressure from groups like Amnesty International and the European Parliament. Since then Ms. Haidar has traveled the globe to expose the Moroccan military’s heavy handed approach and to advocate for the Sahrawi people’s right to self determination. Her efforts helped change the Moroccan government’s violent tactics for dispersing pro-independence demonstrations.
Unfortunately, the torture and harassment of Sahrawi human rights defenders continue behind closed doors. For 40 years, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial has worked for a more peaceful and just world. The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was established in 1984 to honor courageous and innovative human rights defenders throughout the world. There have been 38 RFK Human Rights Laureates from 22 countries to date. 30,000 and on-going legal, advocacy and technical support through a partnership with the RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights. Award winners are selected by an independent panel of human rights experts, which this year included: John Shattuck; Gay McDougall, U.N.
Eventually we reached Morocco, although without fanfare as there is no border crossing as such since the Moroccans unofficially control Western Sahara, albeit that this is not recognised internationally. We have visited a number of historic towns in Morocco - Tarfaya, Tafraoute, Tan-tan, Tiznit, Taroudante and are now in Essaouira (pronounced Essa-weera). Lots of exploring the medinas, the old towns contained within the city walls, and wandering through souks. North Africa could not be more different from West Africa. Very easy travelling now as hot water, electricity, wifi, etc are fairly standard. Tafraoute was a beautiful sleepy town in the Anti-Atlas mountains and we did a great day long hike there. Today will be spent exploring Essaouira which is on the coast and is known as the "windy city". I am being slowly eased back into European climates as the last couple of weeks have been markedly colder as we’ve headed north. The final drive day tomorrow into Marrakech where I will be spending three nights before flying back to the UK!
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A Sahrawi refugee and her daughter collect water at a camp in Tindouf. The Polisario Front, the Western Sahara independence movement, should release a dissident detained on September 21, 2010, if the real reason for his arrest is his vocal support for Morocco's autonomy plan, Human Rights Watch said today. Polisario security forces arrested Mostapha Selma Sidi Mouloud, a police officer, as he travelled toward the Polisario-run Sahrawi refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria. His arrest followed a visit to Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, during which he publicly declared his support for Morocco's proposal to resolve the conflict over the disputed territory's future by granting it autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. The Polisario Front, which administers Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria with the approval and support of the Algerian government, demands a popular referendum on the political future of Western Sahara. A UN-backed plan to organize a referendum was set in motion in conjunction with a Polisario-Morocco ceasefire in 1991, but stalled in the face of opposition from Morocco. Morocco rejects independence as an option for Western Sahara and has proposed instead a measure of autonomy under continued Moroccan rule. In the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, support for Morocco's autonomy plan is rarely heard publicly. The Polisario Front and its supporters consider Morocco an occupation force in their homeland and its autonomy proposal a denial of Sahrawis' right to self-determination.
Selma reportedly had no prior political profile in the refugee camps, where he lives in el-Ayoun camp with his wife and five children. At a news conference on August 9 in Smara, Western Sahara, Selma praised the autonomy plan as a viable third option between independence and full integration into Morocco. Following Selma's news conference, Polisario officials promptly denounced "traitors" to the cause, in an apparent reference to him. Reached today by telephone in Smara, Mohamed Sheikh, Selma's brother, said his family in the Tindouf camps did not know where he was being held. Late in the day, a Polisario source informed Human Rights Watch that he was being held in Mehrez, in the small section of Western Sahara that it controls.
Journalists and protesters calling for social justice and political rights were imprisoned, often following unfair trials. Judicial authorities did not adequately investigate reports of torture in detention. Impunity persisted for past human rights violations. Migrants continued to face excessive force and detention. Courts imposed death sentences; there were no executions. Significant and sustained social justice protests took place in Morocco’s northern Rif region. In January, Morocco rejoined the African Union.facebook.com In February, Morocco submitted a request to join ECOWAS. In March, King Mohammed VI appointed Saad-Eddine El Othmani as head of government following a government reshuffle. The authorities used Penal Code provisions on insult and on incitement to protest or rebellion to prosecute and imprison journalists, bloggers and activists who criticized officials or reported on human rights violations, corruption or popular protests.
In the second half of the year, prosecutors investigated at least one protester for "false reporting" after he claimed that the police had tortured him. Courts also convicted and imprisoned journalists and activists on vague and overly broad state security and terrorism offences in what amounted to punishment for their criticism of the authorities. Between May and August, security forces arrested and detained eight journalists and bloggers over critical coverage or online commentary of the protests in Rif.cnn.com Prosecutors charged them with protest-related, state security offences. Hamid El Mahdaoui was convicted of inciting others to take part in an unauthorized protest and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and a fine of 20,000 dirhams (around USD2,100), increased to one year’s imprisonment on appeal.
Seven people, including journalists, activists and the academic Maati Monjib, remained on trial on charges including "threatening state security" for promoting a mobile application for citizen journalism that protected users’ privacy. The authorities imposed restrictions on some organizations in Morocco and Western Sahara perceived to be critical of the authorities. Restrictions included continuing obstruction of the registration of associations, banning the activities of associations, and expelling foreign nationals invited by such associations.earthtouchnews.com Authorities tried and imprisoned hundreds of activists involved in social or environmental justice protests on assembly-related charges. Courts also used trumped-up criminal charges for offences under ordinary law and charges under vaguely defined state security and terrorism provisions to try protesters. In February, gendarmes violently arrested peaceful environmental protesters including Mohamed Akkad, causing significant sight loss in his right eye.
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