Excerpt of the document:
Amnesty International
Morocco / Western Sahara
Human rights violations in Western Sahara
18.04.1996
AI Index: MDE 29/04/96
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMANDATIONS
A. I. calls on the Moroccan authorities to:
Immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience
and ensure that no one is detained for exercising his or her right to freedom
of expression and association.
Clarify the fate of all those who remain "disappeared",
and to this end cooperate fully with the UN WGEID.
Ensure full implementation of the UN Declaration on Disappearances
and other international human rights standards which include provisions
for preventing "disappearances".
Carry oot full, independent and impartial investigations into past
"disappearances" and bring to justice those responsible.
Provide fair and adequate redress to all victims of "disappearance",
including financial compensation and, when appropriate, medical care and
rehabilitation.
Notify the families of all the "disappeared" who died in
secret detention and give them compensation.
Put an end to the pratice of secret detention. Take the necessary
measures to ensure that all those arrested are held in a recognized place
of detention, with full access to their families, legal counsel and medical
care if necessary, and that effective judicial remedies are available to
enable relatives and lawyers to find out immediately where the detainees
are held to ensure their safety.
Ensure that trials comply with internationally recognized standards
for fair trial, including Article 14 of the ICCPR, to which Morocco is a
state party.
A. I. urges the United Nations to:
Take the necessary measures to ensure that the human rights safeguards
included in the Implementation Plan are respected, and that MINURSO has
full and free access to all parts of Western Sahara and to all individuals.
Widen the mandate of MINURSO to include on-site monitoring of the
human rights situation, investigating allegations of human rights violations
and taking the appropriate measures to stop and prevent human rights violations.
Ensure that all international field personnel, including those engaged
in military and civilian operations, should report through explicit and
proper channels any human rights violations they may witness or serious
allegations they receive. The UN should take appropriate steps, including
preventing measures, to address any violations reported.
Ensure that the UN civilian police is deployed fully and enabled to
carry out its tasks according to the Implementation Plan, and that its mandate
be widened to include human rights monitoring and investigations of human
rights violations. CIVPOL should monitor, supervise and train national police
and security forces and verify their adherence to international human rights
and crminal justice standards. Police monitors should cooperate fully with
any human rights component or mechanisms and should themselves be trained
in and fully respect international human rights and criminal justice standards
at all times. There should be full public report of their activities.
Include full details of the human rights situation, of investigations
carried out into allegations of human rights violations, and of any measures
taken to address human rights concerns in all UN reports on Western Sahara
and on MINURSO's operations.
A. I. calls on the Polisario authorities to:
Take the necessary measures to ensure that no one is arbitrary detained,
tortured or illtreated in the camps administered by the Polisario authorities.
Provide full details of any investigations carried out into past human
rights abuses and of the measures taken to address these outstanding concerns
and to prevent such abuses from recurring.
Ensure that anyone suspected of having been responsible for human
rights abuses is removed from positions of authority or from duties which
bring them into contact with detainees or others at risk of abuse.
WEEK 16
Summary Weekly News,
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