Talk:Human rights in Western Sahara

Systematic bias: misrepresenting the proportions of int'l criticism

• Aminatou Haidar, whom I have met personally, certainly doesn't consider herself "free" in the occupied territories. She has been imprisoned several times, tortured, and lives under continual threat. The reason she can carry out oppositional activities now, is that she is in exile. She is dearly afraid of what will happen when she sets foot on Moroccan or Sahrawi soil again -- just last year, Ali Salem Tamek was arrested immediately on arrival at the airport.
• That a single Moroccan newspaper, on the extreme oppositional fringe of that country's politics (for which it has been repeatedely harrassed and fined huge sums of money), has had the guts to challenge authority yet again by publishing an interview with her, hardly changes this fact. Syrian and Burmese dissidents also manage to give interviews from time to time, and get away with it: that is not proof of the liberal attitude of their governments.
• Tel Quel, the other newspaper you cite, belongs to the same category of ultra-oppositional and repeatedly attacked newspapers as Le Journal Hebdomadaire. I direct you for info on the situation of both newspapers -- whose staff I respect and admire for their courage -- to Reporters Without Borders.
• As for the United Nations' Cuba reports, they could certainly be summarized or quoted more effectively. But the reason for their being there at all is that they refute the Moroccan government's allegations of fraud and repression in the framework of the UNHCR programme point by point: if the paragraph is to be shortened, this needs to be clear. It is not just a vague "counter argument" or a "counter report", it is the systematic rebuttal of every single accusation made by Morocco, in a report made at the kingdom's own request.
• What you are doing is taking two reports by two local/national institutes (France Libertes, a Socialist French HR org; and ESISC, a until recently unknown Belgian outfit that Reporters Without Borders describes as a "fake NGO" working for pay to benefit the Moroccan government), and trying to juxtapose that with the multitude -- hundreds, thousands of pages -- of material gathered by the world's top human rights organizations, such as Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, the World Org Against Torture, the UN, the Red Cross, Freedom House, and others. By quoting these two sole reports at length, you are trying to give the impression of parity in criticism of the both parties, which is not only to cheat readers of Wikipedia seeking a fair overview of international commentary on the issue, but also to severely misrepresent documented facts.
• For comparison, if an article about, say, Libya, would give as much space to the hecatombs of material amassed by international human rights organization criticising Muammar al-Qadhafi's goverment, and to two virtually unknown documents on the Libyan oppposition (one of whose credibility is in severe dispute, i.e. ESISC), that would be immediately recognized as a systematic bias to the article.
• In summary, I have no hope of convincing you on this issue, since you apparently only have one goal with your activities on Wikipedia -- i.e. promoting the Moroccan version of events in Western Sahara -- but I hope that other, neutral editors will see what is going on, and put a stop to it.

Best regards, and in the somewhat strained hope of still being able to do this without a revert war, or requesting mediation, Arre 22:57, 22 October 2006 (UTC).

Responses

• "Aminatou Haidar, ...": It is part of the propaganda war. I would be very surprised to hear Aminatou saying she is free to travel and give inflamatory speeches against Morocco. It is an insult to Aminatou's career to say she is carrying opposition because she is in exile: she has been an opponent since the eighties, and inside Morocco. And don't worry, nothing will happen to her when she comes back, even though she wil try to get imprisoned to prove the points she made during her trips. Ali Salem Tamek is a worrior(he is often dressed in military uniform ), and has been vocal about the re-start of war, and was teleguiding the riots, and he did not deny it, on the contrary, Abdelaziz officially declares him the official spokesman of the Sahrawi "human righs" activists.
• "That a single Moroccan newspaper, ...": Le journal hebdomadaire, Assahifa, Telquel, Aljarida alokhra(Now Nichane) are all very critic to the Moroccan policy in general and on the Sahara in particular. There is no publication like le journal hebdomadaire in all the arab world, in its critic to the state. No Arab leader is treated like Mohamed VI is criticized in the JH. Robert Menard, when in a visit to Morocco this year, said the level of freedom of the press in Morocco can't be compared by any North African country. No condamnation has been executed against the cited newspapers, and no journalist was imprisonned. Correct me if I am wrong. None of them had the fate of your follow countryman Ben chico.
• "As for the United Nations' Cuba reports,...": Can you Arre give me one reason why the young kids are sent by the thousands to Cuba instead of the very near Spain?. Don't tell me by chance.
• "...two local/national institutes (France Libertes, a Socialist French HR org;": it used to be one the first and biggest supporters of Polisario before it found out the about he crimes commited by it. Now it seems it is no more important!!
• "... and ESISC, ... that Reporters Without Borders describes as a "fake NGO" " RSF does not say it is fake, because it is a real ONG that has done reports and studies on different fields for different organisms. It is Aboubaker Jamai who said it is fake, and payed by the Moroccan gvt, but failed to prove it in court. The witnesses he tried to get to support him (a Spanish and an Algerian researcher) all let him down in court. Read again your referenced article.
• "For comparison, ..." Arre, I like your way of discussing, but please, don't let that style be contaminated by koavf's virus: the funny and non-sense comparisions to whatever comes to the mind: Mother Theresa, China, etc.
• "In summary, I have no hope of convincing you on this issue, ...": Bravo, here you talked correctly. It is not about convincing each other. I am a Moroccan, and have members of my family living in Dakhla for more that 20 years, and you are an Algerian activist working to give the Algerian official position and the Polisarian version on the Sahara. None of us will change his mind. BUT, it is about giving an article that is balanced and giving both views, and letting the reader decide himself not deciding on his behalf.
• "...but I hope that other, neutral editors will see what is going on, and put a stop to it." It is not in your interest that NEUTRAL editors get to know what has been injected by you and koavf here. I hope they will.

--A Jalil 22:20, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

propaganda / false informations

I've removed a picture of a so-disapeared person named "FATIMA LAHMAD" until a reliable source is given.--Yusuf ibn Tashfin (talk) 10:10, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

March 2022

1) When countries violate international law, condemnations usually follow (as was the case when the US "recognized" Morocco's "sovereignty" over the illegally occupied territory of WS). To date, it remains the only country to formally do so. 2) The source cited by the IP is a joke (just look at the Moroccan propaganda outlets cited in it, Moroccoworldnews.com, diplomatie.ma, etc.). 3) Treating the positions of the United Nations, the African Union, the international court of justice, the European court of justice, etc., as equal to those of a country that violate internal law would create a false balance. M.Bitton (talk) 14:28, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

"LGBT rights in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect LGBT rights in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 February 17 § LGBT rights in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic until a consensus is reached. — Red-tailed hawk _(nest) 03:21, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

External links

Further information: Wikipedia: External links

Some things just grow during incremental edits and sometimes get out of hand. The "External links" section, one of the optional appendices, was expanded to 26 entries. Three seems to be an acceptable number, and of course, everyone has their favorite to try to add for a fourth. Consensus needs to determine this.

• A tag indicates concerns.

However, none is needed for article promotion.

Some links may be included in WP:ELNO, or What Wikipedia is not (policy) such as WP:NOTREPOSITORY or WP:NOTGUIDE.

• WP:ELDEAD may apply.
• In some cases ELCITE applies: Do not use {{cite web}} or other citation templates in the External links section. Citation templates are permitted in the Further reading section. Others, listed below:
• ELpoints #3) states: Links in the "External links" section should be kept to a minimum. A lack of external links or a small number of external links is not a reason to add external links.
• LINKFARM states: There is nothing wrong with adding one or more useful content-relevant links to the external links section of an article; however, excessive lists can dwarf articles and detract from the purpose of Wikipedia. On articles about topics with many fansites, for example, including a link to one major fansite may be appropriate.
• ELMIN: Minimize the number of links.

The External links guideline This page in a nutshell: External links in an article can be helpful to the reader, but they should be kept minimal, meritable, and directly relevant to the article. With rare exceptions, external links should not be used in the body of an article.

Second paragraph, acceptable external links include those that contain further research that is accurate and on-topic, information that could not be added to the article for reasons such as copyright or amount of detail, or other meaningful, relevant content that is not suitable for inclusion in an article for reasons unrelated to its accuracy.

• • Please also note:
• WP:ELBURDEN: Disputed links should be excluded by default unless and until there is a consensus to include them. Please do not add back more links without consensus. Simple solution to facilitate career maintenance tag. Move links here for discussion.

Moved links:

• Human Rights Watch: Morocco – Summary page for Morocco/Western Sahara
• IFEX: Morocco Puts Squeeze on Western Sahara News – IFEX
• UNHCR Western Sahara page
• Human Rights Watch: Keeping It Secret – 1995 investigative mission to Western Sahara and Tindouf.
• R.S.F. – Morocco – Annual report 2006
• R.S.F. – Morocco – 2005 annual report
• R.S.F. – Morocco – Annual Report 2002
• N.R.C. Report on Western Sahara: Occupied Country, Displaced People
• El Observador nº 52: Derechos humanos en el Sáhara Occidental (2008) (in Spanish)
• 2008 International Trade Union visit to the occupied territories in Western Sahara.
• ARSO human rights page ARSO's collection of human rights material
• ARSO political prisoners' page
• CLAIHR visiting mission 1997 – conditions in the Tindouf refugee camps
• CLAIHR visiting mission 1999 – conditions in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara (pdf)
• Asociación de Familiares de Presos y Desaparecidos Saharauis (AFAPREDESA) Archived 10 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine – Exile-based Sahrawi human rights organization
• Asociación Saharaui de las Víctimas de las Violaciones de Derechos Humanos por Marruecos (ASVDH) – Illegalized El Aaiun-based Sahrawi human rights organization
• Colectivo Saharaui de Defensores de los Derechos Humanos (CODESA) (in Arabic) – El Aaiun-based Sahrawi human rights collective
• Comité por la Defensa del Derecho a la Autodeterminación para el Pueblo del Sáhara Occidental (CODAPSO) – Western Sahara based Sahrawi human rights committee, declared illegal by Morocco
• Freedom Sun – Organization for the protection of Sahrawi human rights defenders Archived 29 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine – Western Sahara-based Sahrawi human rights defenders organization
• Association Marocaine de Droits Humaine (AMDH) – Moroccan human rights organization
• International Bureau for the Respect of Human Rights in Western Sahara (BIRDHSO) – Sahrawi human rights organization in exile (Switzerland)
• US State Department – 2009 Country Report for Western Sahara
• US State Department – 2005 Country Report for Western Sahara -- Otr500 (talk) 23:58, 13 July 2025 (UTC)