The forgotten occupation

“Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war and until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes. And until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there is war. And until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, rule of international morality, will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained... now everywhere is war.”

Haile Selassie I

28 June 2007

Secretary general of the Saharawi Union of Journalists and Writers (UPES) Malainin Lakhal talking about about the human rights situation in Western Sahara.

“The Moroccan government has lately passed an anti-terrorism law that allows the security services to arrest, detain and interrogate anyone they like, without even excuses or reasons”. “They didn’t need that to commit human rights abuses in the occupied territory - they’ve been doing it since ’75 - but the situation is getting worse, not only for the Saharawi but also for the Moroccans.”

“Governments are tending to be dictatorships, even those governments that are the result of a democratic process are tending to make use of the same practices that they used to criticise, which are used by dictators in the Third world. I personally think that the international citizen - we the people - need to think about what our governments are doing and find a way to say no to them and stop them from abusing our rights.”

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