19 May 2015:
Amnesty International has published its report ‘Shadow of Impunity : Torture in Morocco and Western Sahara’
“Beatings, stress positions, asphyxiation, simulated drowning, psychological and sexual violence are among an array of torture techniques used by Moroccan security forces to extract “confessions” to crimes or silence activists and crush dissent, according to a new Amnesty International report published today.”
At the ACTU Congress today, 28 May, a resolution was passed on Western Sahara
The Australian Council of Trade Unions notes that
• Morocco has occupied Western Sahara since 1975
• UN efforts to accomplish the decolonisation process in Western Sahara have not been successful;
• Around 165,000 Saharawis continue to live in dire conditions in refugee camps in South West of Algeria;
• Saharawis in the occupied areas endure human rights abuses and denial of their basic rights;
• The only just, legal and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, is to end the Moroccan illegal occupation and allow the Sahara people to exercise their right to self-determination, in accordance with the UN decolonisation doctrine;
Congress:
• Strongly supports the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence;
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