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A Western Sahara Story

25 March 2013
Landscape of Western Sahara
Western Sahara Landscape. UN Photos/Evan Schneider

WILPF attended a very touching and moving side event on the Human Rights situation in Western Sahara last week at the Human Rights Council. The event presented numerous reports and statistics on human rights violations taking place against the people of Western Sahara.

WESTERN SAHARA… A DISPUTED TERRITORY IN THE NORTH-WEST OF AFRICA

For more than thirty years, the territory of Western Sahara has been disputed between Morocco and the Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Polisario Front), a national movement catering to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara since Spanish decolonisation in 1975. This has entailed an armed conflict with horrendous humanitarian consequences.

THE ‘DRAMA OF WOMEN’ IN WESTERN SAHARA

Carlos Beristain, a medical psychologist as well as author of numerous books written on human rights violations in Western Sahara, opened the discussion by providing a summary of his studies that analysed 265 cases in the region based on fieldwork and truth commission analysis. His reports included cases of bombing, prisons of war, women and children, arbitrary detentions, and symbolic cases of dismantling a camp.

Beristain stated that few people address “the drama of women” in Western Sahara, a term he improvised at the discussion.

Through the tragic examples he gave, a woman who was tortured during nine-months of pregnancy in prison, was later separated from her new born directly after giving birth. This resulted in her having severe psychological disorders.

Beristain shared another moving story reflecting the tremendous humanitarian consequences of the use of landmines in Western Sahara. It was the story of a woman describing an escape with her husband in the night, fleeing toward the Moroccan border as the camp’s police chased them through a thicket of landmines. Beristain analyses that there is a high percentage of women victims in this conflict simply because, according to their opponents, they are ‘Sahrawi’ women who were born in the ‘wrong’ place. Their participation in demonstrations, peaceful protests and other events increases their risk of detention.

What WILPF found equally interesting is that some women are targeted because of their blood relationships with the Polisario Front members; whether they are the mothers, wives, sisters or daughters of these authorities.

Women of Western Sahara
Women of Western Sahara. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

One cannot help but notice that women are held responsible for things they cannot possibly control. Their very humanity is violated.

According to Beristain, violence against women in refugee camps also has severe consequences in their psychological health. He states that four out of ten women (and men) in refugee camps have been raped. Refugee women have also experienced miscarriages in prisons or have been separated form their children and families.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN WESTERN SAHARA

Mohamed Salem Lakhal, from the Collective of Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA) stated how the violations committed by the Moroccan regime are not mediated and are unknown by most of the public.

Despite the success of the mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Western Sahara in maintaining a ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the situation in Western Sahara is no closer to being resolved now than it was in 1991. According to Mohamed Salem Lakhal, although there is a cease fire, “no peace process exists”. Generations of children are born in this war context and disappearances of more than 400 persons have not been clarified in a manner that is satisfying to the victims’ families.

POSSIBLE PEACE PROCESS?

To conclude, Beristain mentioned that in order to evaluate the human rights situation in Western Sahara, a peace process should be reached. He states that “we need to know the impact of war on the very victims to be on the way to peace”. He further stated that there has been no recognition of the refugees in Algeria, who are seen as a humanitarian problem but not one of human rights.

The war also has an impact on the younger generations. Children are seen in demonstrations in the Sahrawi intifada.

We encourage you to share with us your views on the Human Rights situation in Western Sahara. As always we welcome your thoughts and opinions!

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

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