LAAYOUNE EVENTS: CCDH STRESSES THAT THE CREDIBILITY OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS NECESSITATES “IMPARTIALITY AND NON-SELECTIVITY”

Following a press release of Front Line, a non-governmental organization based in Ireland, on the events of Laayoune and a letter sent by the organization to the Council on the subject, the Advisory Council on Human Rights (CCDH) stressed that the credibility of any international human rights organization necessitates that they should be “impartial and non-selective”.

In response to Front Line’s letter, in which the organization expressed its “concerns” for the fate of some “human rights defenders” in the city of Laayoune, the Council indicated that, being accredited by the International Coordinating Committee of national human rights institutions as an “A status” national human rights institution, it closely followed the said events. It also confirmed that it will never stop protecting “genuine” human rights defenders and cooperating with credible foreign and international organizations.

Available information, the Council added confirms that the events of Laayoune started as a purely social and economic protest, and was treated as such, through dialogue by the local authorities. However, using violence against children, women and the elderly, some suspects infiltrated into the protest seeking to oblige protesters to stay outside the city, even after all their claims were accepted by both local and central authorities, including employment for graduates and housing for disadvantaged families.”

In light of this situation the security forces intervened without using arms, to set these hostages free and dismantle the camps as they became a breeding ground for crime. Confrontations moved to the city of Laayoune where mobsters and vandals set fire to cars and properties.

The Council pointed out in its letter, dated 19 November 2010, that these painful events resulted in the death of 11 individuals, 10 of whom from the security forces, which confirms the peaceful character of the intervention of these forces and, conversely, the criminal character of the action of the infiltrated individuals.

The Council indicated that credibility necessitates compassion for the victims of the violent action perpetrated by a small group of vandals and concerns for the case of Mr. Salma Mostafa Sidi Mouloud, a high-ranking officer at the Polisario Front, who was arrested for his support to the autonomy plan proposed by the Kingdom of Morocco and whose fate remains unknown.