BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR
2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Report
May 24, 2012
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Morocco claims the Western Sahara territory and administers Moroccan law through Moroccan institutions in the estimated 85 percent of the territory it controls. However, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario), an organization that has sought independence for the former Spanish territory since 1973, disputes Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over the territory.
There has been no census since the Spanish left the territory, but the population was estimated to be more than 500,000, many of whom were attributable to Moroccan in-migration. The indigenous population is Sahrawi, (literally “people of the desert” in Arabic) who also live in southern Morocco, in Algeria, and in Mauritania.
The Moroccan government sent troops and settlers into the northern two provinces after Spain withdrew in 1975 and extended its administration to the third province after Mauritania renounced its claim in 1979. Moroccan and Polisario forces fought intermittently from 1975 until a 1991 ceasefire and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping contingent, the UN Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara, whose mandate does not include human rights monitoring. In the late 1980s, Morocco constructed a 1,250-mile stone and sand wall known as the "berm" that effectively marks the limit of its administrative control.
In 1988 Morocco and the Polisario agreed to settle the sovereignty dispute by referendum. The parties did not resolve disagreements over voter eligibility and which options for self-determination (integration, independence, or something in between) should be on the ballot; consequently, a referendum never took place.
There have been several attempts to broker a solution since 2007 in face-to-face negotiations between representatives of the two sides under UN auspices. Morocco has proposed autonomy for the territory within the kingdom; the Polisario has proposed a referendum in which full independence would be an option. Meetings in January, March, June, and July under the auspices of Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara Christopher Ross did not yield significant progress toward a permanent solution.
Morocco considers the part of the territory that it administers to be an integral part of the kingdom with the same laws and structures conditioning the exercise of civil liberties and political and economic rights. Under the constitution, ultimate authority rests with King Mohammed VI who presides over the Council of Ministers and approves members of the government recommended to him by the prime minister. On July 1, Moroccans adopted a new constitution and on November 25, Morocco held legislative elections, which included Western Saharan provinces. (For additional information on political developments in Morocco, see the 2011 Morocco Human Rights Report.)
Apart from government action to restrict pro-independence views and associations, overall human rights conditions in the territory tended to converge with those in the kingdom. Several long-standing human rights issues that continue to be of concern were related to pro-independence activity, including limitations on the freedom of speech and assembly, the use of arbitrary detention to quell dissent, and physical and verbal abuse of detainees during arrests and imprisonment.
Widespread impunity existed, although the government prosecuted at least one official who committed abuses. Corruption continued among security forces and the judiciary. In addition, Sahrawis faced discrimination in the application of the laws on prison visitation rights and NGO registration.
SECTION 1. RESPECT FOR THE INTEGRITY OF THE PERSON, INCLUDING FREEDOM FROM:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
There was one report that a government security official committed an unlawful killing.
In December 2010 an off-duty policeman shot and killed Said Dambar, a Sahrawi resident of Laayoune. Initially denied access to the victim’s body for several hours, Dambar’s family later was told that he had been drinking with the policeman when the latter’s firearm accidently discharged, shooting Dambar in the head. The family refused throughout the year to bury his body until an independent autopsy had been carried out to determine the circumstances of Dambar’s death and clear him of having consumed alcohol. On October 12, a court sentenced the policeman involved in the killing to 15 years in prison, a sentence upheld on appeal. Authorities, however, never authorized the independent autopsy, and Moroccan administrative and law enforcement authorities regularly harassed members of the Dambar family and demanded they bury Dambar’s body. Dambar’s brother lost his eligibility for a position with the Ministry of Finance on October 3 and was told by Ministry of Interior representatives he would obtain the position once he buried his brother.
Many international and local NGOs reported that violent confrontations between Sahrawi protesters and Moroccan security forces, which took place at Agdem Izik in Laayoune in October and November 2010 and resulted in 13 deaths and numerous injuries, exacerbated tensions between the Sahrawi population and Moroccan authorities. The tensions provoked incidents of violence throughout the year.
b. Disappearance
There were no confirmed reports of politically motivated disappearances, but NGOs reported several cases of arbitrary arrest and detention for periods up to 20 days that they claimed amounted to disappearances.
In the October 2010 case of Mohamad Abdellah Dayhani, plainclothes police in Laayoune allegedly abducted Dayhani, whose family reported to the NGO Sahrawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) that they had received no information from authorities after inquiring about his whereabouts at a police station. The government confirmed that Dayhani had been arrested on terrorism charges but claimed it had followed due procedure in the conduct of the arrest. According to authorities, on October 27, Dayhani was sentenced to 10 years in prison for planning to commit acts of terrorism.
Regarding the still-unresolved cases of disappearance dating to the 1970s and 1980s, the governmental National Council for Human Rights (CNDH) continued to investigate claims of enforced and involuntary disappearances. The CNDH acknowledged that due to a lack of evidence, it likely will be unable to resolve 10 difficult cases. Sahrawi human rights groups and families, on the other hand, claimed that at least 114 cases remained unresolved and that many more were unacknowledged.
As its predecessor, the Consultative Council for Human Rights (CCDH), has done since 2000, the CNDH provided reparations during the year to victims of human rights abuses, including monetary assistance, vocational training, and medical insurance to Sahrawis or family members of those who had disappeared or been detained during the 1970s and 1980s. The CNDH continued to receive and investigate reparation claims throughout the year, although NGOs claimed the 114 unresolved cases had not been accepted by the CNDH for review. The CNDH stated it had shifted focus from individual reparations to community projects, although all the examples of such projects indicated by the CNDH were located outside Western Sahara in internationally recognized Morocco.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
There were credible reports that security forces engaged in torture, beatings and other mistreatment of detainees. Both international and local NGOs continued to report abuses, especially of Sahrawi independence advocates.
2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Report
May 24, 2012
This is the basic text view. SWITCH NOW to the new, more interactive format.
Share on facebookShare on google_plusone
To link directly to this report, use: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt...load_id=186441
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Morocco claims the Western Sahara territory and administers Moroccan law through Moroccan institutions in the estimated 85 percent of the territory it controls. However, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario), an organization that has sought independence for the former Spanish territory since 1973, disputes Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over the territory.
There has been no census since the Spanish left the territory, but the population was estimated to be more than 500,000, many of whom were attributable to Moroccan in-migration. The indigenous population is Sahrawi, (literally “people of the desert” in Arabic) who also live in southern Morocco, in Algeria, and in Mauritania.
The Moroccan government sent troops and settlers into the northern two provinces after Spain withdrew in 1975 and extended its administration to the third province after Mauritania renounced its claim in 1979. Moroccan and Polisario forces fought intermittently from 1975 until a 1991 ceasefire and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping contingent, the UN Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara, whose mandate does not include human rights monitoring. In the late 1980s, Morocco constructed a 1,250-mile stone and sand wall known as the "berm" that effectively marks the limit of its administrative control.
In 1988 Morocco and the Polisario agreed to settle the sovereignty dispute by referendum. The parties did not resolve disagreements over voter eligibility and which options for self-determination (integration, independence, or something in between) should be on the ballot; consequently, a referendum never took place.
There have been several attempts to broker a solution since 2007 in face-to-face negotiations between representatives of the two sides under UN auspices. Morocco has proposed autonomy for the territory within the kingdom; the Polisario has proposed a referendum in which full independence would be an option. Meetings in January, March, June, and July under the auspices of Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara Christopher Ross did not yield significant progress toward a permanent solution.
Morocco considers the part of the territory that it administers to be an integral part of the kingdom with the same laws and structures conditioning the exercise of civil liberties and political and economic rights. Under the constitution, ultimate authority rests with King Mohammed VI who presides over the Council of Ministers and approves members of the government recommended to him by the prime minister. On July 1, Moroccans adopted a new constitution and on November 25, Morocco held legislative elections, which included Western Saharan provinces. (For additional information on political developments in Morocco, see the 2011 Morocco Human Rights Report.)
Apart from government action to restrict pro-independence views and associations, overall human rights conditions in the territory tended to converge with those in the kingdom. Several long-standing human rights issues that continue to be of concern were related to pro-independence activity, including limitations on the freedom of speech and assembly, the use of arbitrary detention to quell dissent, and physical and verbal abuse of detainees during arrests and imprisonment.
Widespread impunity existed, although the government prosecuted at least one official who committed abuses. Corruption continued among security forces and the judiciary. In addition, Sahrawis faced discrimination in the application of the laws on prison visitation rights and NGO registration.
SECTION 1. RESPECT FOR THE INTEGRITY OF THE PERSON, INCLUDING FREEDOM FROM:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
There was one report that a government security official committed an unlawful killing.
In December 2010 an off-duty policeman shot and killed Said Dambar, a Sahrawi resident of Laayoune. Initially denied access to the victim’s body for several hours, Dambar’s family later was told that he had been drinking with the policeman when the latter’s firearm accidently discharged, shooting Dambar in the head. The family refused throughout the year to bury his body until an independent autopsy had been carried out to determine the circumstances of Dambar’s death and clear him of having consumed alcohol. On October 12, a court sentenced the policeman involved in the killing to 15 years in prison, a sentence upheld on appeal. Authorities, however, never authorized the independent autopsy, and Moroccan administrative and law enforcement authorities regularly harassed members of the Dambar family and demanded they bury Dambar’s body. Dambar’s brother lost his eligibility for a position with the Ministry of Finance on October 3 and was told by Ministry of Interior representatives he would obtain the position once he buried his brother.
Many international and local NGOs reported that violent confrontations between Sahrawi protesters and Moroccan security forces, which took place at Agdem Izik in Laayoune in October and November 2010 and resulted in 13 deaths and numerous injuries, exacerbated tensions between the Sahrawi population and Moroccan authorities. The tensions provoked incidents of violence throughout the year.
b. Disappearance
There were no confirmed reports of politically motivated disappearances, but NGOs reported several cases of arbitrary arrest and detention for periods up to 20 days that they claimed amounted to disappearances.
In the October 2010 case of Mohamad Abdellah Dayhani, plainclothes police in Laayoune allegedly abducted Dayhani, whose family reported to the NGO Sahrawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) that they had received no information from authorities after inquiring about his whereabouts at a police station. The government confirmed that Dayhani had been arrested on terrorism charges but claimed it had followed due procedure in the conduct of the arrest. According to authorities, on October 27, Dayhani was sentenced to 10 years in prison for planning to commit acts of terrorism.
Regarding the still-unresolved cases of disappearance dating to the 1970s and 1980s, the governmental National Council for Human Rights (CNDH) continued to investigate claims of enforced and involuntary disappearances. The CNDH acknowledged that due to a lack of evidence, it likely will be unable to resolve 10 difficult cases. Sahrawi human rights groups and families, on the other hand, claimed that at least 114 cases remained unresolved and that many more were unacknowledged.
As its predecessor, the Consultative Council for Human Rights (CCDH), has done since 2000, the CNDH provided reparations during the year to victims of human rights abuses, including monetary assistance, vocational training, and medical insurance to Sahrawis or family members of those who had disappeared or been detained during the 1970s and 1980s. The CNDH continued to receive and investigate reparation claims throughout the year, although NGOs claimed the 114 unresolved cases had not been accepted by the CNDH for review. The CNDH stated it had shifted focus from individual reparations to community projects, although all the examples of such projects indicated by the CNDH were located outside Western Sahara in internationally recognized Morocco.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
There were credible reports that security forces engaged in torture, beatings and other mistreatment of detainees. Both international and local NGOs continued to report abuses, especially of Sahrawi independence advocates.
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