Over the last two weeks, Sahrawi students at colleges and universities across Morocco and Western Sahara have been subjected to serious human rights violations. On 23 May, 43 Norwegian civil society organisations signed a letter to the Moroccan government, demanding that the attacks on Sahrawi students are stopped, and that their rights are respected. (24-MAY-07)

Based on the letter sent to the Moroccan government, this article has been edited by HRH F / Nina Luhr.

Sahrawi students at universities and campuses all over Morocco and Western Sahara have since May 2nd this year been attacked in unprecedented ways by Moroccan police and armed mobs. According to leading Western Sahara human rights organisations, Moroccan and international press, witnesses on the scene and the victims themselves, dozens of Sahrawi students have been detained and arrested, while many more have been injured.

Reports say that some of the attacks involve severe beatings and sexual abuse, as well as harassment of hospitalised victims. The worst incident so far was the case of the student Sultana Khaya. Sahrawi students´ living quarters have been ransacked and thrashed by the police and the mobs. The Moroccan police have on several occasions, while carrying out the violent aggressions, pronounced discriminating statements towards the Sahrawis, referring to their political aspirations for an independent Western Sahara. 

Human Rights House Foundation together with 42 other Norwegian civil society organisations stress that all, including Moroccan and Sahrawi students, have a legitimate right to freedom of expression, movement, association and assembly and that the Moroccan government has a duty to respect and protect those rights. Reports from human rights organizations and the media strongly indicate that the Moroccan authorities have not shown due recognition and respect of those rights and have discriminated against Sahrawi students by the use of brute force, arrests and politically motivated charges. As the protest of the Sahrawi students have been centred on the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and freedom from occupation, it is important to remember that this right has been established through numerous United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, as well as in the accords signed between Morocco and Front Polisario. According to the 1991 peace plan, the Sahrawis were to choose between independence and integration in a free, fair and transparent referendum. 16 years later, this agreement has still not been implemented. The Moroccan government today openly rejects these previous agreements, thus undermining the UN´s efforts and continuing to violate international law. 

The growing and quite understandable frustration and despair witnessed among Sahrawi youth and students today, and the brutality with which the Moroccan police chooses to respond to it, risk causing further conflict, violent confrontations and disruption in both Morocco and Western Sahara. The letter therefore strongly urges the Moroccan authorities to do its outmost to protect the rights of all students enrolled at Moroccan universities, particularly the Sahrawi minority, by:  
–  guaranteeing their physical security
–  protecting and promoting their freedom of expression, movement, association and
   assembly
–  prosecuting all those deemed to be responsible for these attacks and take appropriate action to prevent it from recurring
–  ensuring the immediate and unconditional release of those students who have already
   been arrested for political reasons, as well as of all those who have been temporarily
   detained, and are currently awaiting trials, in the cities of Agadir, Marrakech, Rabat
   and Casablanca.

The signatories of the letter also urge the Moroccan government to address the underlying legitimate grievances of the Sahrawi students by respecting Human Rights in occupied Western Sahara and allowing for a free, fair and transparent referendum on independence in the occupied territory.

The letter at the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara´s website .