New York (United Nations) – Morocco shares the concerns of the UN Human Rights Commissioner (OHCHR) on the situation of refugees who should “enjoy their rights as recognised” at the international level, Morocco’s UN ambassador, Mohamed Loulichki said Wednesday in New York.
The ambassador who was speaking before the 3rd Committee called for “vigilance” concerning the right of refugees to dignity, a census and to repatriation in accordance with the international humanitarian law and the international law.
“The demand of dignity of these people and their legitimate aspirations call not only on the OHCHR but mainly on the conscience of certain host countries who persist in wrapping in secrecy their (the refugees’) numbers, and nurture ambiguity on their real situation,” Loulichki said.
He reminded his Algerian counterpart, who complained the absence of the human rights component in the mission of the MINURSO, that “each [UN] mission has its context, its specificity and its own working process,” which explains why several UN mission don’t include this component.
Algeria is providing full support to the Polisario separatist group, which holds thousands of Moroccans against their will in the arid desert of the Tindouf camps, southwestern Algeria. The Polisario, which lays claims to half of Morocco’s map (the Sahara), is demanding, at the instigation of Algeria, the inclusion of the human rights component in the mandate of the UN mission in the Sahara, MINURSO.
He added that determining the extent of the mandate of each UN mission is the competency of the Security Council alone, noting that despite the oft-repeated attempts of Algeria, the Security Council has maintained unchanged the mission of the MINURSO, which revolves essentially around observing the cease-fire.
Loulichki recalled that the UNSC has hailed the establishment of bureaus of the national council for human rights (CNDH) in Laayoune and Dakhla, and Morocco’s reception of three special procedures.
