Tags : Morocco, United Kingdom, UK delegation visit to Laayoune, Western Sahara, Polisario Front, Algeria, human rights, MINURSO, National Human Rights Council, CNDH,

The document is a confidential report from the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs summarizing the visit of a UK delegation to Laayoune (Western Sahara) from January 20 -22, 2014.

The UK Delegation hold meeting with local officials, civil society, and MINURSO and expressed its concerns about Moroccan authorities’ responsiveness to complaints and encouraged Morocco to enhance support for the National Human Rights Council (CNDH).

According to moroccans, Algeria and the Polisario are accused of exploiting human rights allegations against Morocco and proposed to highlight what they called « Morocco’s human rights efforts to counter Algeria and Polisario’s narrative ». « The goal is to reinforce Morocco’s position at the UN and prevent extending MINURSO’s mandate to human rights monitoring », they noted.

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CONFIDENTIAL

Kingdom of Morocco
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation

Direction of the United Nations and International Organizations

31 JAN 2014

To His Excellency the Minister

Subject: Visit of a delegation from the United Kingdom to the Moroccan Sahara / Debriefing

I have the honor to bring to your attention that I received, at my request, Mr. Hugh Cleary, Political Advisor at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Morocco, who visited Laayoune from January 20 to 22, 2014, in the company of Mr. Greg Shapland, Research Advisor at the British Foreign Office in London. Here are the main points he shared with me:

The British diplomat thanks the Moroccan authorities for the help and assistance provided during his recent visit to Laayoune;

He was able to meet, without any difficulty, the Wali of Laayoune, local elected officials, officials from the Southern Agency, representatives of civil society, the president of the regional commission for human rights of Laayoune Smara and the representative of MINURSO;

The visit was generally positive and he realized the numerous economic progresses made, as well as the stability and security of the region;

The CNDH enjoys increasing credibility with the local population. In this regard, he described the CNDH as a « mailbox » for the benefit of the population concerned, thanks to its appreciable work on the ground and its close collaboration with the local authorities, in order to respond to the complaints and claims of the inhabitants;

Mr. Mohamed Salem Cherkaoui, President of the regional commission for human rights of Laayoune-Smara is particularly well informed on all the events in the region;

The British diplomat highlighted the training courses provided by the CNDH for the benefit of the police;

The representative of the CNDH complained, however, about the lack of responsiveness to the complaints and claims communicated to the Moroccan authorities;

He stressed the importance of national authorities strengthening their assistance and support to the CNDH in order to enhance its actions on the ground.

I took note of these elements by emphasizing, in substance, the following:

Algeria and the Polisario continue to resort, in their strategy, to the shameless instrumentalization of alleged human rights violations in the Sahara, in order to harm Morocco’s image, and undermine its achievements and its irreversible commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights throughout the territory of the Kingdom.

The regional commissions of the CNDH in the Sahara report on certain abuses and systematically inform the local authorities to verify the veracity of the alleged violations and take the necessary measures.

Morocco has honored its commitments in terms of human rights, under resolution 2099 of the Security Council, which welcomed Morocco’s positive interaction with the special procedures of the DH, while Algeria, which is directly concerned by the improvement of the human rights situation in the Tindouf camps under its obligations under international law, has not, to date, invited any special procedure to visit Algeria and the Tindouf camps.

Morocco has been working, since the submission of the autonomy proposal for the Sahara region, for the search for a political solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.

Morocco hopes that the positive report on the visit of the Embassy of the United Kingdom will have, like last year, a positive impact on London so that the United Kingdom adopts the same constructive attitude, during the examination of the Sahara issue, by the Security Council in April 2014, which he suggested he would inform London with a positive note, he said.

At the end of this meeting and in anticipation of the management of the April 2014 deadline, in the framework of the consultations of the P5, the British diplomat suggested that Morocco has everything to gain by undertaking the following actions:

The publication of a report by the regional commission of the CNDH on the work accomplished on the ground on its interaction with the Moroccan authorities, supported by statistics on the responses provided to allegations of human rights violations, sanctions taken…etc. The objective would be to provide clear answers to the allegations made against the representatives of the State and to counteract the attempts to instrumentalize the issue of human rights.
The announcement of an action plan by the CNDH for the year 2014, for the Sahara region.
The enhancement by the Moroccan authorities of the actions undertaken by the commissions of the CNDH in the Sahara, to discredit the discourse of Algeria and the Polisario on the role of the CNDH as a mechanism for the protection of human rights, capable of ensuring the monitoring of human rights and the requirement of an international mechanism to accomplish this task.
This Direction adheres to these three proposals which will have the advantage of strengthening the credibility of the regional branches of the CNDH in the Sahara region as a mechanism of protection and will have an impact on the next discussions of the members of the Security Council on the human dimension of the Sahara issue during its examination next April.

These proposals will constitute a tangible argument to dismiss any possible proposal on the need to extend the mandate of MINURSO to the monitoring of human rights.

Please accept, Sir, the assurance of my highest consideration.

Azzeddine FARHANE

Director of the United Nations

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