[GENEVA, 23 March 2018] – The Frente POLISARIO welcomes and recognizes the positive efforts of the supportive states and the delegation of Sahrawi civil society representatives to raise the issue of human rights in Western Sahara during the 37^th session of the UN Human Rights Council. Despite ongoing abuses, Western Sahara has not been on the agenda of the Human Rights Council since 2006. Therefore, it is extremely important to shed a light on the human rights violations perpetrated by Morocco in the occupied Territory of Western Sahara, particularly through a formal resolution of the Human Rights Council.   Throughout this session, members of the Geneva Support Group for Western Sahara and the civil society firmly expressed, through oral statements, side events, and the high-level panel, the need for greater human rights monitoring in Western Sahara. Moroccan security forces have created a climate of fear and suffering, in which disappearances, torture, intimidation, arrests, detainments, abuse in captivity, grotesque sentences, and the denial of fair trials are commonplace. The delegation of civil society representatives from the occupied territories, refugee camps, and those exiled were particularly effective in highlighting the injustices perpetrated by Morocco.   Chija Abdalahi from the American Association for Jurists said ‘I express our deep concern about the systematic, widespread, and serious violations of the fundamental freedoms and rights of the Sahrawi people in the occupied Territories of Western Sahara, including the inalienable right to self-determination and independence. More than forty years of the illegal occupation have also led to numerous violations by the Moroccan Kingdom of the norms of international humanitarian law, some of which may constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and cultural genocide.’   It is essential for the UN to do more to monitor and protect the human rights of the Saharawi people. Only then can a peaceful solution to the conflict be reached. Together with the Sahrawi civil society, we call upon the Human Rights Council to take urgent action to protect and safeguard the rights of the people of Western Sahara more specifically to:   1 –  Recall and uphold the reality that the Saharawi people have for too long been denied the referendum to exercise their right to self-determination as prescribed under the joint OAU-UN Settlement Plan of 1991, endorsed by the UN Security Council in resolution 658 (1990). 2 – Conduct an urgent, unhindered, and comprehensive assessment of the state of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara by giving MINURSO the mandate to observe and report on human rights conditions. 3 – Address the human rights violations related to the treatment of Saharawi political prisoners and call upon the Moroccan government to uphold their judicial guarantees by giving them a fair trial in civilian courts. 4 - Recognise the applicability of the Geneva Conventions and the plight of the Saharawi people as a protected population as defined by Common Article 3. 5 – Include the situation of human rights in Western Sahara on the Human Rights Council Agenda, as it has not been on the agenda since 2006.   For additional comment contact: Omeima Abdeslam, Representative of the Frente POLISARIO to the United Nations in Geneva Email: polisario.swiss@gmail.com