Joint Communique: 16th anniversary of the enforced disappearance of our 15 young saharawi people by Morocco

 

For the truth, justice, reparations and ensuring this never happens again

 

 

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the enforced disappearance of our 15 young sons, who were abducted on December 25, 2005 after the Moroccan naval forces intercepted their boat in the Atlantic Ocean using live ammunition.

After their arrest, the Moroccan occupying authorities transferred them from the occupied cities of Bojador and El-Aaiun to the headquarters of the Moroccan navy in Agadir, and subsequently were transferred to a number of secret detention centers, where they are still suffering from enforced disappearance without the Moroccan state ever formally charging them or bringing them to justice.

In their continued journey of struggle to find the fate of their sons, the Committee of Mothers has been faced with the Moroccan occupying state’s constant denial in an attempt to coverup the crime of abducting their sons. However, contradictory statements by Moroccan officials have reveal these failed attempts to mislead and hide the truth. In 2006, the families were summoned by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to inform them that the Moroccan authorities suspected that two bodies that emerged from the sea could belong to two members of the group. After the families asked the Moroccan state to conduct a DNA test by an independent body, the Moroccan state retracted the statement of the Public Prosecutor. In fact, the former Minister of Justice, Mohamed Bouzoubaa, told the families to forget about the fact that the Public Prosecutor’s Office had summoned them. Instead, the case had to take an international dimension and was filed with the United Nations Group on Enforced Disappearances.

After this, the Moroccan authorities opened an investigation into the complaints submitted by the families. The investigation was superficial, and so the case was quickly closed without taking into consideration what the families had stated regarding the evidence that their children were held in secret detention, and without any reference to the previous statements of Moroccan officials.

After 16 years the forced disappearance of our children, the Moroccan state is still ignoring our suffering as affected families and refuses to release our children, who, according to confirmed information, are held in a secret prison in Morocco.

The families' suffering has also been made worse by the Moroccan authorities' ban on our activities and our deprivation of our right to demonstrate to demand our legitimate right to know the truth and to release our loved ones. In the face of our continued suffering as mothers and families, we in the Committee of Mothers of the 15 Disappeared Sahrawis and the Association of Families of Sahrawi Prisoners and Disappeared Persons, declare the following:

1.      Our strong condemnation of the Moroccan state's continued abduction of our sons and their detention in a secret prison deprived of all their rights.

2.      Our condemnation of the continued efforts by the Moroccan state and its security agencies in denying our legitimate rights, especially our right to demonstrate and protest for truth, justice, reparation and ensure this never happens again.

3.      Our condemnation of the Moroccan state's continued attempt to deny our right to seek justice, by not opening a serious investigation into the disappearance of our sons.

4.      Our denunciation of the Spanish state’s silence and its non-interference in a case that concerns it greatly as the administering power of Western Sahara territory, including its responsibility to provide protection to the Sahrawi people until they are able to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence in fulfillment of Spain’s obligations to decolonize the territory.

5.      Our appreciation of the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, and we urge it to continue its humanitarian endeavors in order to find out the fate of our 15 sons and that of all other missing Sahrawis.

6.      Our appeal to the UN Committee for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance to intervene with the Moroccan state and the Spanish state in order to fully comply with the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

7.      Our appeal to international organizations to intensify their efforts for the release of our abducted sons and all missing Sahrawis.

8.      Our solidarity with Sultana Sid Brahim Jaya and all members of the Jaya family in their fight for freedom and dignity, and we demand an end to the barbaric attack carried out by the Moroccan state and its militias against this family subjected to siege and criminal behavior since more than 400 days.

9.      Our solidarity with all Sahrawi political prisoners, their families and the families of the disappeared, and all the Sahrawi civilians who are victims of daily violations by the Moroccan state in the occupied territories.

10.  Our demand for the Moroccan state to release all Sahrawi political prisoners and to reveal the truth about the disappeared Sahrawis.

11.  Our appeal to the international community to protect the Sahrawi people in the occupied territories from the violations committed by the Moroccan state on a daily basis, and we call on the Security Council to form an independent and credible international mechanism to monitor and protect human rights in Western Sahara.

12.  Our appeal to the Sahrawi people to escalate their struggle in order to achieve all their rights, especially their right to independence and self-determination.

Chahid El Hafed Buyemaa and El Aaiun, December, 25, 2021