The return of Saharawi hunger striker Aminatou Haidar to Western Sahara is, in her own words, a victory for ‘international law, for human rights, for international justice’.

A prominent human rights activist and former Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Aminatou was expelled from Moroccan occupied Western Sahara on 14th November after she wrote Western Sahara rather than Moroccan Sahara on an airport landing card. Her very public 32 day hunger strike at Lanzarote airport in which she nearly died, attracted huge public support for her and the Saharawi cause. Pressure from the US, France and Spain and interventions from Ban Ki Moon, the Head of the African Union, and the UN High Commissioners for Human Rights and Refugees eventually forced the Moroccan authorities to back down and allow her to return home to much international celebration.
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This may be one battle won, but the fight against human rights violations in Western Sahara continues. The situation in El Aauin where Aminatou lives is extremely tense; the police are preventing journalists from accessing her house; several of her supporters have been arrested. Unlike Aminatou, they can not rely on the power of celebrity as a safety net.

Numerous other Saharawis remain imprisoned for their views. Arbitrary arrest, rape and torture are all very real threats for those who make their views known. Seven other representatives from Saharawi human rights organisations arrested in October for ’attacking the territorial integrity of Morocco’ face trial in a military court for which they may face the death penalty.

It is clear that the human rights situation on Western Sahara is deteriorating. On the 6th November King Mohammed VI signalled an even greater level of intolerance against those who oppose the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara in a speech in which he stated ‘One is either a patriot or a traitor’.

Now the spotlight is finally on Morocco, the world must not look away from the extent of its human rights violations and the ongoing suffering of the Saharawi people.

The EU, through its close relations with Morocco as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy must bear its responsibility for insisting that Morocco stops its abuse of those who peacefully oppose the occupation.

The UN Security Council, which promised the Saharawi people a referendum on the right to self-determination in 1991, must finally get its act together. The UN mission in Western Sahara is the only peacekeeping mission without a mandate to monitor human rights. If anything, Aminatou’s case has highlighted that which should have been obvious. Morocco’s treatment of those who oppose its occupation is unacceptable.

The renewal of the mission’s mandate in April provides an opportunity to extend its remit to include human rights monitoring, which human rights organisations and the people of Western Sahara have repeatedly called for. Aminatou’s brave actions have finally thrust this issue into the spotlight. The world must not look away now.

Visit the Western Sahara Campaign UK to take further action  http://www.smalgangen.org/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=142&art=981
and www.freesahara.ning.com for updates.