Open message from UPES to the international public opinion on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day
03/05/2008

The Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union issued an open letter to the international public opinion and international community to condemn the Moroccan systematic human rights violations in Western Sahara.

It also reminded the "United Nations, especially the Security Council, that the Saharawi people has got an inalienable right to self-determination and independence, and that the Saharawi people only, are the side that have the power to decide over the political future and status of Western Sahara. The right to self-determination is a fundamental right granted by the UNs Charter and international legality to all peoples, and thus the Saharawi people will exercise it, and will make use of all relevant means to do make this happen", the letter reads.
Here is the complete text of the letter:
Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union
Secretary General
Message on World Press Freedom Day

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared in Article 19, sixty years ago, that the right of everyone to freedom of opinion and expression "includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

In a message he wrote today on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, the UNs Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, said that "A free, secure and independent media is one of the foundations of peace and democracy. Attacks on freedom of the press are attacks against international law, against humanity, against freedom itself -- against everything the United Nations stands for".

He also called on "all societies to spare no effort in bringing to justice the perpetrators of attacks on journalists. I pay tribute to all who work in difficult and dangerous conditions to provide us with free, unbiased information. And I call on every one of us to work for the freedom -- and the safety -- of the press everywhere".

The Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union, while celebrating this international day, would like to recall the international public opinion and the international community that the freedom of expression and all political freedoms are violated on a daily basis for more than 33 years by the Moroccan State in the occupied zones of Western Sahara without any clear reaction or denunciation from the bodies and foundations of the United Nations. In the meantime, Saharawi journalists and intellectuals suffer a lot of problems and obstacles imposed on them because of the Moroccan illegal occupation and because of the conditions of exile, factors that hinder their abilities to achieve their duty as they wish.

The Moroccan regime of occupation, and since the first years of the occupation in 1975, managed to liquidate the Saharawi youth and intellectuals, by expulsing, intimidating and harassing them, not to talk about the abduction of many Saharawi intellectuals, who were tortured and in many cases disappeared in complete violations of all freedoms, rights and international law.

The Moroccan forces of occupation exercised since the beginning of the invasion a complete medias blackout on the territory. The Saharawi citizens were unable to have access to information through radio or television, either because the Moroccan authorities blocked the radio of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is still forbidden to this day, or by banning the constitution of any Saharawi newspaper or journal that opposes the Moroccan occupation, in addition to stopping the Saharawi intellectuals from publishing their works despite of the big numbers of poets, writers.

On the other hand, the few Saharawi journalists who managed to get a job in the occupied zones are victims to harassment and sometime to arrest, torture. Two good examples of this category can be represented by: 1- Mr. Mustafa Abdaim, who lives in ZAG (in the south of Morocco) and worked as a reporter to many Moroccan newspapers, has suffered a lot from police harassment and was brought in many times before the Moroccan colonial court because he insists on unveiling the Moroccan violations against Saharawis in his city and because of his clear position in favour of the Saharawi peoples right to self-determination and independence. 2- Mr. Mohamed Salem Dahi, another reporter who worked for some Moroccan newspaper and is suffering from Moroccan harassment because of his positions and work.

The occupied zones of Western Sahara live since 1975 a global military siege. The Moroccan army built a military wall of separation to cut the Western Sahara in two. On the one side, an occupied territory sealed by the Moroccan authorities behind a wall filled by millions landmines and more than 160.000 Moroccan soldiers, on the other side, a liberated zone (about 30% of Western Sahara) under the total control of POLISARIO Front and the Saharawi Republic. Because of this Moroccan military siege hundreds thousands Saharawis were isolated from their relatives in the liberated territories and the refugee camps, where thousands Saharawis were forced to flee the Moroccan military forces massacres in the early seventies and are now living in exile in the refugee camps in the South-west Algeria.

A similar ban is imposed by the Moroccan authorities on the international press and observers, who suffer a lot to reach the occupied zones. They are usually expulsed, intimidated, ill-treated or subjected to blackmailing and attempts to corrupt them are usually carried out by the Moroccan services that make use of all kinds of pressures and temptation to quite any voice that tries to unveil the terrible situation lived by the occupied, impoverished and intimidated Saharawi citizens.

The Moroccan colonial regime, which started a systematic policy to change the demographic reality in Western Sahara since the seventies, obstructs all the attempts by international and Saharawi journalists to get accurate information or demographic statistics related to the Saharawi population, hide all information about the Moroccan illegal exploitation of the Saharawi natural resources not to talk about the adoption of systematic policies to deprive the Saharawi youth from education and push them to forced exile out of the occupied zones because of the political, economical and social problems they face.

In the Saharawi refugee camps, dozens Saharawi journalists work in difficult conditions because of the lack of resources, the harsh climate, and the continuous need of training and the need for sufficient material needs to promote the Saharawi medias work.

The Saharawi journalists and intellectuals in general, face problems in publishing their works in the refugee camps where there are no means or material possibility to convey their points of view and creative work to the world.


Baring all these in mind, the Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union

- Strongly condemns the UNs bodies and organisations reluctance to fulfil their duties in Western Sahara, in imposing the respect of the international legality, monitoring the human rights, protecting the Saharawi natural resources from the Moroccan and European plundering, imposing the respect of the Saharawi peoples right to freedom and independence.

- Reminds the United Nations, especially the Security Council, that the Saharawi people has got an inalienable right to self-determination and independence, and that the Saharawi people only, are the side that have the power to decide over the political future and status of Western Sahara. The right to self-determination is a fundamental right granted by the UNs Charter and international legality to all peoples, and thus the Saharawi people will exercise it, and will make use of all relevant means to do make this happen. The Saharawi people also reject any attempts to avoid this right by any side and under any approach.

- Condemns all forms of flagrant human rights violations committed by the Moroccan State in Western Sahara under the sight of the United Nations, and with the direct or indirect support from France and the USA in special, two international powers that strongly oppose any international condemnation of the Moroccan colonial authorities practices.

- Launches an appeal to journalists and intellectuals around the world to openly and clearly stand up in the face of the Moroccan expansionist regime and its protectors the supporters of the violation of the international legality, the leaders of the new colonialism and international violators of the freedom of expression.

Finally, the Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union pay tribute to all the martyrs of the Saharawi cause, those men and women who passed away defending the legitimate right of the Saharawi people to freedom and independence, including Saharawi journalists and intellectuals who fell in the field of honour by Moroccan soldiers bullets