Country: Morocco

Group: Saharawi

Date FInalized: 08/01/2021

Team: Vianney Mancilla (lead) and Alicia Hernandez

Content Warning: sexual assault, homicide, torture

Approximate Time Period: 1976-1991

Substantial evidence suggests that the Saharawi experienced ethnically targetted lethal violence. The data quality is rated a 3 due to the quality, consistency and credibility of the sources, including the involvement of the Spanish judicial system and the United Nations.

The Saharawi reside mostly in the Western Sahara, which was a Spanish colony up to 1975. From 1976 to 1991, Morocco invaded, annexed, and controlled Western Sahara (Gall, 2015). During this time, the Moroccan military and police officials forced away the Sahrawi people, assassinated 50 people, illegally detained 200 people, and were involved in the disappearance of 500 people (Mallick, 2015; Perez, 2015). Since many of the Saharawi were considered Spanish due to Spain’s prior occupation, the Spanish judicial system opened a case involving the violation of human rights (Gall, 2015). Judge Pablo Ruz ruled that 11 former and current Moroccan officials should stand trial on charges of genocide in connection with killings and torture (Mallick, 2015). The ruling stated that Moroccan officials held detention camps where they “beat, burned, electrocuted, and sexually assaulted” the Saharawi people (Gall, 2015). The United Nations is advocating for a referendum to increase monitoring for human rights violations. However, Morocco has opposed any infringements on its sovereignty (Gall, 2015). The Saharawi people seek independence from Morocco and have gained little recognition as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) (Gall, 2015).

Sources

  1. Gall, C. (2015, April). Spanish Judge Accuses Moroccan Former Officials of Genocide in Western Sahara. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/11/world/europe/spanish-judge-accuses-moroccan-former-officials-of-genocide-in-western-sahara.html on July 19, 2021
  2. Mallick, C. (2015, April). Spain judge upholds genocide charges against 7 Morocco officials. Jurist. Retrieved from https://www.jurist.org/news/2015/04/spanish-judge-upholds-genocide-charges-against-7-moroccan-officials/ on July 19, 2021
  3. Pérez, F. J. (2015, April). Spanish judge indicts 11 Moroccan military leaders for genocide. El Pais. Retrieved from https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/04/09/inenglish/1428592632_385173.html on July 19, 2021