Sahrawi Refugees Imprisoned, Unnoticed
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The stomach growl heard round the world: Aminatou Haidar, referred to as the “Sahrawi Gandhi” commenced a hunger strike in the middle of November of 2009, lasting all the way three weeks into December, until finally being admitted into a hospital upon nearing death. Her reason? She is striking simply for the right to be recognized as Western Saharan. To be recognized as not Polisario, not Moroccan, not Algerian, and not even as a refugee, says Human Rights Watch.
These particular refugees are ghosts in the eyes of the world. But maybe if you’re like the majority of the world you didn’t even know who the Sahrawi refugees were.
90,000 refugees live displaced without the right to leave in a place called “The Devil’s Garden,” with daytime temperatures exceeding 106 degrees, frequent sand storms, and no vegetation, let alone water. Sahrawi refugees have been refugees for 30 years. Torture runs rampant, there is complete dependence on foreign aid, and the validity behind the suspected stealing of such aid is away from Sahrawi control.
Human rights are of the basis of any right where the right to live is not only basic to such, but intrinsic on it. The right to life, however, and the many forms it takes on, represents a sparse degree of separation from the luxury of simply calling it a “right” when what we should be calling it is clinging to survival, in the case of the Sahrawi.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Sahrawi situation, it came about when Spain withdrew from Spanish Sahara, ceding half of it to Morocco and the other half to Mauritania. An indigenous independence movement called the Polisario then flourished in 1973, expelling the Mauritanians and prompting action from Morocco to force the Polisario to flee along with thousands of refugees.
In 1976, the Polisario formed their own government without UN recognition to this day, questioning its legitimacy for sovereignty let alone its human rights record. The organization became known as The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Operating in Algeria, the country denies responsibility for the refugees now held virtually captive by the Polisario. By keeping these refugees close by and claiming responsibility for them, even without their permission, they legitimize their own political movement while inflicting harsh punishments for extreme laws. Such punishments claim homosexuality is rape, they detain unwed mothers for adultery without trails and without even an end in sight, and let alone are punished for working in Algeria. So many more become detained unquestionably regardless of the reason as well, but most prevalent among those detained are the ones just trying to escape, according to a US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants report.
The UN and the World Food Programme supply rations for over 125,000 people in the Polisario run camps, however through satellite imagery, the number is believed to come closer to about 90,000. An exact number is impossible to come by as the Polisario and the Algerian governments deny access to the refugees for registration and are believed to horde the excess supplies amongst them according to both UN reports and the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
For however dark the situation bears and especially bleak in black and white print, between the lines there are those that fight the social injustice rampant there in the Devil’s Garden. No Sahrawi freedom fighter is more publicly known, however, than Aminatou Haidar and her hunger strike has gained worldwide recognition when she began her hunger strike in Lanzarote airport since she was expelled from Western Sahara by the Moroccan authorities when returning from the US where she received the 2009 Civil Courage Prize for her crusade in gaining independence. She was questioned about why she had given her home as Western Sahara rather than “Moroccan Sahara” on her landing card; she was also asked about her travel, as well as her political opinions and affiliations. Her Moroccan passport and identity card were then confiscated and she was detained in the airport overnight.
She says that on 14 November Moroccan officials offered to release her if she would publicly acknowledge Morocco’s “sovereignty” over Western Sahara. The event had become publically embarrassing for the Moroccan government. She then refused to do so, and a few hours later she was put on a flight to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. As of December 17th, she still refused to be fed through a tube as she remains in intensive care, however after 32 days of striking, Moroccan authorities finally allowed her to return home, the Guardian reported.