Frank Ruddy, ex-responsável da missão de paz da ONU no
Sahara Ocidental, e o anterior Enviado pessoal do SG da ONU para o Sahara
Ocidental, Peter van Walsum, escreveram ao presidente francês François Hollande
convidando-o a apoiar a inclusão do monitoramento de direitos humanos no
mandato da Missão das Nações Unidas para o Referendo no Sahara Ocidental (MINURSO).
Na sua carta, alertam para o potencial de conflito e
insegurança no Sahara Ocidental se novas violações de direitos humanos não forem
desencorajadas.
Eis o texto completo da carta:
Dear
President Hollande,
We are
writing to you because of our growing concern about the security situation in
Western Sahara, and to ask you to provide the UN Security Council with
desperately needed leadership in order to avert a potential security crisis in
the region.
In April
2013, the UN Secretary General published a report on Western Sahara in which he
warned of “growing fears [in the region] about the fragile situation of young
people in the refugee camps near Tindouf and in the Territory”. He noted that
many young people “expressed support for radical courses of action such as
resuming hostilities with Morocco”. He also alerted us that frustrated young
Saharawi are “tempting recruitment targets for criminal and terrorist
networks”.
We agree
with the Secretary General that there is serious cause for alarm about the
feelings of young Saharawi both in the camps and the Occupied Territory. We are
very concerned that such feelings are laying the foundation for potential
future violence, conflict, and even extremism and terrorism.
We would
like to draw attention to the link between these feelings of frustration and
the large number of human rights violations perpetrated by the Moroccan
authorities against Saharawi. The UN Special Rapporteur for Torture has
reported hearing “credible testimonies relating to torture and ill-treatment in
the Prison of [El-Aaiún], including rape, severe beating and isolation up to
several weeks, particularly of inmates accused of participating in
pro-independence activities.” He has also reported “a pattern of excessive use
of force in repressing demonstrations and in arresting protestors or persons
suspected of participating in demonstrations calling for self-determination of
the Sahrawi population.” This gives just a small flavour of the severe and
continued human rights violations inflicted on Saharawi. We are deeply
concerned about the anger and resentment caused by these crimes.
Last year,
France was forced to respond militarily to the grave threat posed by renewed
conflict and extremism in Mali. The similarity between Mali and Western Sahara
is striking. Both are in the Sahel region, where extremist groups including Al
Qaeda prey on local grievances to attract recruits and co-opt armed movements.
As in Mali, Western Sahara contains a distinct group of people – the Saharawi –
who do not feel politically or culturally connected to Morocco and who have a
history of armed resistance.
It is vital
that we take pre-emptive action to defuse tensions in Western Sahara in order
to avoid a repeat of Mali, which could endanger French and Western security and
necessitate a similarly challenging intervention.
The renewal
of MINURSO’s mandate by the UN Security Council this April provides an
important opportunity to do this. As an important first step for reducing the
frustrations of Saharawi, we ask you to make a strong call for human rights
monitoring to be included in the mandate.
We have
both been deeply involved in the Western Sahara question, one of us having
served as Deputy Chairman of MINURSO, and the other as the UN Secretary
General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara. We have different views on how the
question of Western Sahara’s status should eventually be settled. Peter van
Walsum has made it clear that, in his opinion, it is not realistic to continue
to demand that Morocco assent to a referendum with independence as an option.
But we do vehemently agree on the urgent need for human rights monitoring.
We believe
this measure will ease tensions and build confidence for future negotiations on
Western Sahara’s status, whatever the outcome of those negotiations may be. It
is a vital step for human rights, stability, and peace.
Thank you
for your consideration and we look forward to supporting you in this endeavour.
Yours
sincerely,
Frank Ruddy
Former
Deputy Chairman
UN Mission
for the Referendum in Western Sahara
Peter van Walsum
Former UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for Western
Sahara
United Nations
Fonte: http://wsaforum.org/
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