Latin America and the Caribbean, February 15, 2023
ETHICAL, POLITICAL AND LEGAL CONTRADICTIONS OF A PRE-FORUM ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE HUMAN RIGHTS PRE-FORUM IN THE KINGDOM OF MOROCCO
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN PLATFORM OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE SAHARAWI PEOPLE. (PLACSO)
Considering:
That a Pre-Forum will be held in Rabat, Morocco, on 17 and 18 February, in the framework of the 3rd World Forum on Human Rights, which will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 20 to 24 March 2023.
That we understand that the Human Rights Forums and Pre-Forums are spaces for civil society organisations, including associations and committees of friendship and solidarity with the Saharawi people, to expose our causes and weave alliances for the promotion and defence of human rights, regionally and globally.
We denounce:
That the Kingdom of Morocco maintains an invasion of the territory of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, SADR, since 1975, in open violation of international law as expressed in the Charter of the United Nations and the Statute of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
That this monarchic, feudal and authoritarian regime has maintained a policy of serious and systematic violations of the human rights of the Saharawi people denounced in the Security Council, the General Assembly and its Fourth Committee, the Special Committee on Decolonisation and the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, as well as in the organs of the African Union and the European Union, and that it is still today resisting the usurpation of the territories that have been dispossessed.
That under the same condition of invader, the Kingdom of Morocco maintains a daily plundering of the natural resources of Western Sahara for its own benefit, without the consent of the Saharawi people, depriving them of the means to sustain a life in dignity.
That the Kingdom of Morocco is in open contempt of around eighty resolutions of the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union, international bodies which have demanded that the process of decolonisation of Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa, be completed and that the Saharawi people be allowed to decide on their self-determination and independence, with the holding of a referendum that should have been held in 1992, the implementation of which has been obstructed and boycotted constantly by the feudal Moroccan regime.
That the Kingdom of Morocco has built what is known as the “Wall of Shame”, a wall of more than 2,700 km across Western Sahara, preventing the Saharawi people from recovering their territories, as well as dividing their families for decades.
That the “Wall of Shame” contains more than eight million anti-personnel mines along its entire length, a military infrastructure that violates international human rights treaties and international humanitarian law, as more than two and a half thousand people have been injured, maimed or killed since 1975.
That currently the Kingdom of Morocco maintains an irrational military offensive against the POLISARIO Front, the national liberation movement fighting for self-determination and independence of Western Sahara, which few media analyse and report on, due to the silence imposed by the Moroccan feudal monarchy, using for this purpose the natural resources plundered from the Saharawi people.
That the war of the Moroccan feudal monarchy against Western Sahara is not only fought in the military sphere, but also in the economic, political, social and symbolic spheres, preventing the Saharawi people from having access to work, health and education, outlawing their customs and practices and establishing settlers in the Occupied Territories in Western Sahara.
That the attitude of the International Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights (ICPDH) in organising a Pre-Forum in a country that has never respected human rights, not only in Western Sahara illegally occupied by this feudal monarchy, but in the Kingdom of Morocco itself, is not only an aberration and international political blunder, but becomes a defiant attempt to whitewash the image of this feudal monarchy and its international responsibility for gross and systematic human rights violations.
That the Argentine Republic, which is a member of the Human Rights Council and which attaches significant importance and priority to the work of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation, cannot and should not, under any circumstances, promote and/or accept the holding of events for the promotion and defence of human rights in countries that systematically violate them, as is the case of the Moroccan regime.
Antonio Velázquez Abdallahy
Amigos por un Sáhara Libre, México
Esteban Silva Cuadra
Asociación Chilena de Amistad con la RASD, Chile
Katheryne Aldana Villalobos
Asociación Colombiana de Amistad con el Pueblo Saharaui, Colombia
María José Maninha
Associação de Solidariedade e pela Autodeterminação do Povo Saaraui (ASAARAUI), Brasil
Susana Peñafiel Acosta
Asociación Ecuatoriana de Amistad con el Pueblo Saharaui (AEAPS), Ecuador
Erick Romero
Asociación Hondureña de Amistad con la RASD, Honduras
Magdalena Enríquez Beitler
Asociación Nicaragüense de Solidaridad y Amistad con el Pueblo Saharaui (ANSAPS), Nicaragua
Gloria Esther Castillo
Asociación Panameña de Solidaridad con la Causa Saharaui (APASOCASA), Panamá
Ricardo Fuentes Gómez
Asociación Mexicana de Amistad con la RASD, México
Emiliano Gómez López
Asociación Uruguaya de Amistad con la República Saharaui, Uruguay
Marisol Formoso
Asociación Venezolana de Solidaridad con el Sáhara (ASOVESSA), Venezuela
Nora Podesta
Comité de Amistad con el Pueblo Saharaui, Argentina
Néstor A. Suleiman
Comité de Cooperación Latinoamericano Saharaui, Argentina
José Manuel Félix
Comité Dominicano de Amistad con el Pueblo Saharaui, República Dominicana
Lirio Reyes De Lorza
Fundación Sáhara Libre-Venezuela
Aida García Naranjo M.
Grupo Impulsor de la Asociación Peruana de Amistad con la RASD, Perú
Ximena Flores Castro
Red Ciudadana Bolivia con el Sáhara, Bolivia
Adhesiones Organizaciones:
Simplicio del Rosario García
Asociación Canaria de Juristas por la Paz y los Derechos Humanos (JUPADEHU), España
Mariano Vázquez
Asociación Federico García Lorca, Argentina
Ma. Inés Miranda Navarro
Asociación Internacional de Juristas por el Sáhara Occidental (IAJUWS), España
Pablo A. de la Vega M.
Asociación Internacional de Juristas por el Sáhara Occidental (IAJUWS), Ecuador
Rosa Salazar
Asociación Nela Martínez (Federación Democrática Internacional de Mujeres,
FDIM Ecuador), Ecuador
Efrén Mantilla
Canal Digital Hechos Ecuador, Ecuador
Yolanda Soruco
Casa de la Amistad Revolucionaria Bolivia-Venezuela, Venezuela
Penélope Alsina
Cátedra Libre de la Mujer María León Gibory de la Universidad Nacional Experimental Simón Rodríguez, Venezuela
Ramón López
Central Clasista de Trabajadores de Chile, Chile
Fito Aguirre
Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina, CTA-Autónoma, Argentina
Ricardo Klapp
Centro Cultural de Derechos Humanos Salvador Allende, Chile
Tania Zabala Penafiel
Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos “Segundo Montes Mozo S.J.” (CSMM), Ecuador
Horacio Nobúa
Centro de Estudios y Pensamiento Comunitario, Óscar Goyena, Argentina
Rey Castillo
Círculo de Profesionales Demóstenes Rodríguez (CPDR), Panamá
Vladimir Andocilla R.
Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Kintyñan, Ecuador
Adriana López
Colectivo Espisahara, España
Manuel Mercedes Medina
Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos – República Dominicana
Billy Navarrete
Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CDH), Ecuador
José Quinteros
Comité Salvador Allende, Venezuela
Mesías Tatamuez Moreno
Confederación Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Clasistas Unitarias de Trabajadores (CEDOCUT), Ecuador
Edwin Bedoya
CEDOCUT Pichincha, Ecuador
Julio Fuentes
Confederación Latinoamericana y del caribe de Trabajadores Estatales, Argentina
Yumac Ortiz
Coordinadora por la Paz, la Soberanía, la Integración y la No Injerencia (CPAZ), Ecuador
Federico Andrés Lopardo
Corriente Nuestra Patria, Argentina
Diana Esperanza Gambelli
Dabeekah Danza y Tuiza Danza Saharaui, Argentina
Isabel Bandrés Gallego
Federación Andaluza de Asociaciones Solidarias con el Sáhara, España
Nery Padilla
Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios del Ecuador (FEUE), Ecuador
Stella Maris Tati Vuillermet
Foro de Géneros, Argentina
Rosalinda Chanagá
Foro Itinerante, Venezuela
Nelson Erazo
Frente Popular, Ecuador
Confederación Unitaria de Comerciantes Minoristas y Trabajadores Autónomos del Ecuador (CUCOMITAE)
Federación de Estudiantes Secundarios del Ecuador (FESE)
Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios del Ecuador (FEUE)
Federación Única de Afiliados al Seguro Social Campesino (FEUNASSC)
Juventud Revolucionaria del Ecuador (JRE)
Mujeres por el Cambio
Unión General de Trabajadores del Ecuador (UGTE)
Unión Nacional de Educadores del Ecuador (UNE)
Diana Fernández Romero
Frontera Cero, España
Claudia Iriarte R.
Fundación Constituyente XXI, Chile
Virginia King
Fundación Latinoamericana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos y el Desarrollo Social, FUNDALATIN, Capítulo Argentina
Pablo Sepúlveda Allende
Fundación Latinoamericana Dr. Salvador Allende, Chile
Hugo Sergio Loschacoff
Grupo Por Soberanía (GPS)-Línea Fundadora, Argentina
Iris Avellaneda
Liga Argentina por los Derechos Humanos, Argentina
Luis Enrique Gavazut
Movimiento de Batalla Social Punta de Lanza, Venezuela
Milagros Sefair
Movimiento Internacional de Escritoras y Escritores por la Libertad, MIEL, Argentina
Paola Gallo y Andrea Vlahusik
Movimiento por la Paz, la Soberanía y la Solidaridad (MOPASSOL), Argentina
Clara Merino
Movimiento Nacional de Mujeres de Sectores Populares Luna Creciente, Ecuador
Florangel Valdez
Mujeres por la Verdad y la Justicia (MUVERJUST), Venezuela
Iván Prado
Pallasos en Rebeldía, España
Conrado Cuevas
Partido Comunista de Panamá, Panamá
Irina Santesteban
Partido de la Liberación (PL) de Argentina
Fabián Saldavia
Partido Igualar, Argentina
Darío Iza
Pueblo Kitu Kara, ECUARUNARI (Filial CONAIE), Ecuador
Carlos Aznárez
Resumen Latinoamericano, Argentina
Mulay Ahmed
Sahrawi Association in the USA (SAUSA), Estados Unidos
Manuel Soli
Solidaridad Internacional, España
Fernanda Pereyra
Unión de Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (UTEP), Argentina
Edwin Sánchez
Universidad de la Tierra, Ecuador
Patricio Guzmán
Werken Rojo, Chile
Adhesiones Individuales:
1. Adriana Bruno, periodista, Argentina
2. Alicia Bustamante, artista, Argentina
3. Annabell Guerrero Pita, abogada, Ecuador
4. Atilio Borón, politólogo y escritor, Argentina
5. Fernando Cabascango Collaguazo, asambleísta por la Provincia de Pichincha, Ecuador
6. Fernando Cebamanos Md., Panamá
7. Gustavo Daniel Pescetta, Programa “S.O.S Señal de Radio”, Radio Futura 90.5, La Plata, Argentina
8. Javier Surasky, profesor de Derecho Internacional Público, Argentina
9. José Leonar Botero Martínez, académico, Colombia
10. Juan Contreras, Radio Al Son del 23 y Ex Diputado del PSUV, Venezuela
11. Juan Ramón Guzmán, poeta, editor y articulista político, Venezuela
12. Karina Silvana Krenn, escritora, Argentina
13. Ketty Erazo, activista y defensora de derechos humanos, Ecuador
14. Luis Ávila Linzán, abogado, Ecuador
15. Luz Marina Mateo, abogada internacionalista y docente universitaria, Argentina
16. María Alejandra Korstanje, profesora de la Universidad Nacional de Tucumán e investigadora del CONICET, Argentina
17. María Florencia Ronco, contadora pública nacional, Argentina
18. María Torrellas, documentalista, Argentina
19. Mariadela Villanueva, socióloga y comunicadora, Venezuela
20. Mariano Ali, periodista y antropólogo, Argentina
21. Maribel Lacave, escritora, Argentina
22. Mariel Luján Fernández, abogada, La Plata, Argentina
23. Mireya Pazmiño Arregui, asambleísta por la Provincia de Bolívar, Ecuador
24. Miriam Catan, obrera, Argentina
25. Natalia Köhler, trabajadora autónoma y estudiante universitaria, Argentina
26. Nora Cortiñas, Madre de Plaza de Mayo L.F., Argentina
27. Norman Briski, actor y dramaturgo, Argentina
28. Piedad Córdoba Ruiz, senadora, Colombia
29. Rosana Palacios Barriga, educadora y dirigente sindical, Ecuador
30. Sebastián Salgado, periodista, Argentina
31. Stella Calloni, periodista y escritora, Argentina
32. Teresa Perri Pelle, poeta, Argentina
33. Verónica Raffaelli, fotoperiodista y docente universitaria, Argentina