HRW hails Sahrawi group’s legal recognition by Morocco

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has hailed a decision by the Moroccan authorities to legally recognize a Western Sahrawi human rights organization.

“Moroccan authorities have for the first time allowed a Sahrawi human rights organization fiercely critical of the government to legally register,” the New York-based rights group asserted in a Monday statement. “This advance for freedom of association in Morocco came ten years after the Western Sahara group applied and nine years after a court ruled that the government had unlawfully impeded the group from registering.”

HRW called on Rabat to end what it described as the “arbitrary obstacles” hindering the activities of the group, known as the Association of Victims of Human Rights Abuses Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH), “including a de facto prohibition of public rallies and sit-ins”.

The government, HRW went on to assert, “should allow the registration of all peaceful associations in Morocco and Western Sahara whose registration authorities have [previously] blocked”.

The statement also quotes Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW’s Middle East and North Africa director, as saying: “By recognizing a group that unsparingly criticizes government abuses of Sahrawi rights, Morocco has taken a positive step.”

Tawfiq al-Berdigi, head of a local human rights council, told Anadolu Agency that the ASVDH had secured its regisration by resorting to legal channels.

“There are very few Sahrawi groups that haven’t been legalized – less than five organizations, compared to thousands of NGOs active in the region,” he said.

Regarding HRW’s appeal to Rabat to end what it described as “arbitrary obstacles” to the registry of NGOs, al-Berdigi said that the only such obstacles still in place were of an administrative or procedural nature.

He went on to call for legal reforms with a view to removing all outstanding hindrances to legal recognition.

The dispute over Western Sahara dates back to 1975, when former colonial power Spain divested itself of the region.

Since then, Western Sahara has been disputed between Morocco – which assumed control of it after Spain’s departure – and the Polisario Front, which demands the region’s independence.

Hostilities between the two sides ended with a UN-backed ceasefire signed in 1991. In the 14 years since, repeated attempts to hold a referendum to decide whether the region should be independent or remain part of Morocco have stalled.

Currently, Western Sahara’s legal status remains unresolved, with sovereignty over the region still disputed between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

The UN, for its part, describes Western Sahara – which is comprised of roughly 266,000 square kilometers of land – as a “Non-self-governing territory”.