camara.leg.br – The Commission on Human Rights and Minorities of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) is holding a public hearing on Wednesday (14) to debate human rights abuses in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. The request for the debate was presented by MP Orlando Silva (PCdoB-SP).
He pointed out that Brazil, Argentina and Chile are the only South American countries which still do not recognise the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), the former Spanish Sahara, also known as Western Sahara. The territory, located on the northwest coast of the African continent with borders between Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria, is Africa’s last colony. “It is the last people not to exercise their self-determination on the continent, despite the fact that the issue has been on the African Union’s agenda since 1963,” Silva said.
The Brazilian government already recognises the Polisario Front, a political-revolutionary movement in favour of autonomy in the territory of Western Sahara, as the sole and legitimate representative of the Saharawi people, within the framework of the principles and norms of the United Nations Charter. “As if the occupation and theft of their mineral wealth and fishing were not enough, the people of Western Sahara suffer constant human rights violations in the occupied territories by the police forces of the Kingdom of Morocco”, justified the MP in the motion.
The Polisario Front representative for Brazil, Ambassador Ahamed Mulayali Hamadi, was invited to the hearing.
The meeting takes place at 3.30pm in plenary chamber 9.
