Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1991
WESTERN SAHARA
The sovereignty of the Western Sahara remains the subject of
diplomatic and military dispute. Morocco assumed
administration of the northern three provinces of the Western
Sahara after the withdrawal of Spanish forces in 1975, and of
the southernmost province of Oued ed Dahab in 1979 when
Mauritania renounced its claim to the area. Since 1973 the
Polisario, an organization which Algeria has supported and
which seeks independence for the Western Sahara, has challenged
first Spain's and later Morocco's claim to the territory.
Moroccan and Polisario forces have fought intermittently since
1975. In August 1991, several military actions occurred in the
weeks leading up to the U.N. -monitored cease-fire that began on
September 6.
At the request of the United Nations General Assembly, the
International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion in
1975 that the people of the Western Sahara were entitled to
self-determination and that Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania were
not entitled to exercise sovereignty over the territory. The
Organization of African Unity (OAU) attempted without success
to mediate a solution. In 1981 Morocco agreed to hold a
referendum to determine the population's wishes regarding
independence or integration with Morocco. Attempts to resolve
the question of sovereignty through mediation or referendum
collapsed in 1984 when the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic
(SADR), the civilian arm of the Polisario, was seated at the
OAU summit and Morocco withdrew from the OAU in protest. In
1986 Morocco agreed to revive efforts to reach a solution and
asked the United Nations to administer a referendum; the same
year U.N. Secretary General Perez de Cuellar began efforts to
arrange it. In November and December 1987, a U.N. technical
team visited the territory to explore the practical
arrangements for a referendum. On August 30, 1988, Morocco and
the SADR accepted in principle the Secretary General's proposal
for a referendum under U.N. and OAU auspices, and the Secretary
General named a special representative to work out the details.
In April the Secretary General presented a plan for a
referendum in the Western Sahara in which the Sahrawis would
decide between integration with Morocco and independence.
Under the plan, approved by the Security Council in May, a
cease-fire was to be established under the supervision of a
U.N. Monitoring Force (MINURSO), to be followed within 20 weeks
by a referendum vote. The 1974 Spanish census of the region
was to serve as the basis for the voting list. Morocco
challenged the accuracy and completeness of the list and
presented to the U.N. a supplemental list containing in excess
of 120,000 names. On September 6, the cease-fire went into
effect, and the initial MINURSO forces were deployed. The
weeks leading up to the cease-fire saw the first significant
military action between Moroccan and Polisario forces since
1989 as Morocco moved to drive remaining Polisario forces into
Algeria and Mauritania. The referendum was originally
scheduled to take place in late January 1992, but in December
the Secretary General announced that the resolution of the
voter identification issue would delay the referendum for at
least several months. Before he left office in late December,
the Secretary General presented to the U.N. Security Council a
proposal for resolving the contentious voter identification
issue.
Since 1977 the northern provinces of Laayoune, Smara and
Boujdour have participated in the Moroccan elections. The
southernmost province of Oued ed Dahab also participated in the
1983 and 1984 Moroccan elections. Sahrawis fill all 10 of the
parliamentary seats allotted to the Western Sahara, and 3 of
the 4 governors of the region, who are appointed by the King of
Morocco, are Sahrawis. In December 1989, Moroccan voters
approved (by a majority of 99 percent with a reported
100-percent participation, according to the Government) a
2-year extension of the term of the current Parliament to allow
time for holding a referendum in the Western Sahara. This
delay was based on a Moroccan assumption that the referendum
would favor integration with Morocco, which in turn would
enable Western Saharans to participate in the next
parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held by September 1992.
The civilian population in the approximately 85 percent of the
Western Sahara iinder Moroccan control is subject to Moroccan
law. There are reports that Sahrawis often have more
difficulty obtaining passports, that their political views are
more closely monitored than those of residents of Morocco
proper, and that police and paramilitary authorities react
especially harshly against those suspected of supporting the
Polisario. In addition, Sahrawi prisoners released in June
alleged that they had been physically tortured by Moroccan
security forces. The Moroccan Government denies such charges
and counters with allegations of Polisario human rights
abuses. Given the difficulty of access, we are unable to
confirm these reports. Since there has been no opportunity to
evaluate the human rights practices of the Polisario in areas
outside of the Moroccan Berm, the earthwork defense line that
defines the eastern and southern borders of the Moroccanoccupied
area, these allegations cannot be confirmed or refuted.
In June King Hassan II of Morocco granted a general amnesty to
an unspecified number of Sahrawi prisoners arrested during
military operations or because of their alleged past
cooperation with Polisario. The freed prisoners, who are
estimated to number about 300, reportedly included entire
families and Sahrawis who had "disappeared" in the mid-1970 's.
Despite the releases, the Polisario continued to allege that
Morocco was holding in excess of 800 Sahrawis as political
prisoners. The Government of Morocco vigorously denied that
any more Sahrawis were in Moroccan detention. It is not
possible to establish with certainty how many Sahrawis remain
in detention. A number of Sahrawis who returned to Morocco
from Polisario camps near Tindouf alleged that the Polisario
tortured and mistreated Sahrawis of Western Saharan origin
residing in the camps.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates
that 165,000 Sahrawi (i.e., Saharan native) refugees have
resided in camps near Tindouf in Algeria since the mid-1970 's.
Recently returned Sahrawi refugees in Morocco, however,
estimate that between 40,000 and 50,000 Sahrawis inhabit the
Tindouf camps, along with an additional 20,000 to 30,000 Malian
and Mauritanian refugees. Members of MINURSO similarly
estimate that the Tindouf camps currently hold a total of
approximately 80,000 refugees, of whom 25,000 to 30,000 are
non-Sahrawi (i.e., from other countries in the region).
Freedom of movement within the Western Sahara is limited in
militarily sensitive areas but is otherwise unrestricted, as is
travel in Morocco.
The same labor laws that apply in Morocco apply in the
Moroccan-controlled areas of the Western Sahara, and
enforcement is equivalent to that in Morocco proper.
Within the Western Sahara there is little organized labor
activity. Since salaries in both the private and public
sectors are significantly higher than those in Morocco, wage
demands are not an issue. Unemployment is also not a problem
because of the Government ' s investment in the region and a
program of taking young people out of the region to work in
Morocco.
Outside the territory controlled by Morocco, the Polisario has
established a labor wing called the Sario Federation of Labor
(UGTSARIO), which reportedly enjoys close relations with a few
Arab and African national labor centers. The UGTSARIO does not
engage in customary trade union activities in the Polisariocontrolled
areas.
