A human rights report presented in Geneva highlights a significant rise in human rights violations in the occupied Western Sahara during 2025. The report, titled "Western Sahara: Annual Review, Human Rights Annual Report 2025," was compiled by the Working Group on Human Rights in the Occupied Western Sahara with support from international experts and organizations including the Catalan Federation of Associations Supporting the Sahrawi People (Eucaps) and the International Institute for Nonviolent Action (NOVACT).<\/p>\n
The report documented 170 human rights violations in the occupied territories by Moroccan forces. It emphasizes that these figures likely do not represent the full extent of the situation due to the absence of a permanent, independent monitoring mechanism.<\/p>\n
A quarter of the documented cases relate to Sahrawi prisoners. Other significant issues include home detentions, surveillance, house arrest, and restrictions on access to the territory. The report stresses that the repression and retaliatory practices against Sahrawis in the occupied part are "structural and cumulative in nature."<\/p>\n
Individuals perceived as threats to the Moroccan occupation have been targeted for over fifty years, as evidenced by the cases of the "Gdeim Izik" group detainees and ongoing actions against human rights activists.<\/p>\n
The report also highlighted an increase in hostile actions against journalists and restrictions on media freedom through cyberattacks on newspapers and media outlets. These violations not only affect the rights of Sahrawi individuals but also impose concerning limitations on the free flow of information.<\/p>\n
In 2025 alone, an estimated 20 to 25 journalists, observers, activists, and human rights defenders were expelled, denied entry, or prevented from carrying out their monitoring activities. Restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, and association persist, with occupation forces actively prohibiting various forms of gatherings and any political expression in public and societal life.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the report notes a growing crackdown on Sahrawi youth and the student movement within Moroccan universities. Students continue to face unemployment, intimidation, and arrests due to their political activities.<\/p>\n
The document also points to an increasing use of economic sanctions and workplace retaliation as control mechanisms. It also details the accelerating confiscation of Sahrawi land and the continued exploitation of their natural resources, constituting a flagrant violation of judicial rulings.<\/p>\n
The Moroccan occupation continues to seal off the territory from international observers, who face ongoing restrictions, expulsions, and entry bans. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has not been permitted to conduct regular monitoring missions in the region for the past decade.<\/p>\n
The report concludes that the situation in the occupied Western Sahara continues to raise serious concerns regarding the overall human rights landscape, particularly concerning the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination.<\/p>\n
The event, moderated by prominent South African rights activist Catherine Constantinides, featured participation from notable Sahrawi human rights defenders and coordinators of international organizations, including Mohamed Hali, a Sahrawi human rights defender and winner of the 2025 Front Line Defenders award, and Hayat Said, a researcher and contributor to the 2025 annual report, alongside human rights advocate Ghaliya Djeimi.<\/p>\n
Related topics:<\/strong> Western Sahara, human rights violations, Moroccan occupation, Sahrawi people, Geneva report, 2025 human rights<\/p>\n DZWatch provides English-language coverage of Algeria-focused developments for international readers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new report reveals a surge in human rights violations in occupied Western Sahara during 2025, detailing repression, detentions, and restrictions on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economie-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}