I thank you Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of a group of 184 organisations; including the Sahrawi National Commission for Human Rights.

Madame High-Commissioner,

We took note with interest of your Annual report and your oral presentation to the Council and welcome your commitment to be the voice of the voiceless.

While sharing the main thematic preoccupations you expressed, we question the silence of the Office on the serious and systematic violations of the civil and political rights, including the right to self-determination and independence, as well as the economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development in the illegally occupied Non-Self-Governing Territory of Western Sahara.

We look forward in reading a comprehensive report in the section dedicated to Human Rights in the next Secretary General’s report to the Security Council on Western Sahara.

In recalling that the Occupying power, supported by France in the Security Council, continues to refuse incorporating a Human Rights component in the MINURSO mandate, we respectfully urge the High-Commissioner to resume the Technical Mission initiated in 2015 as she promised to do during last September meeting with NGOs and to present to this Council a periodic report on the situation in the Occupied Territory of the Non-Self-Governing Territory of Western Sahara.

We also urge the High-Commissioner to implement a specific programme of Technical cooperation and capacity building in cooperation with the Polisario Front, in conformity with relevant General Assembly and ECOSOC resolutions, annually adopted by consensus.

I thank you for your attention.

7th March 2019

Download PDF: 190307 JOS – ID2-HC (WS)

 

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