During the 27th session of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance (UN CED), Morocco is for the first time placed under review. Hearings began today, 24 September, and will continue until 25 September. During its review, the UN CED will assess information submitted by both the Moroccan State and civil society.

Since its 1975 invasion of Western Sahara, Morocco has systematically used enforced disappearances as a tool of repression and to suppress the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination. Despite these ongoing crimes, Morocco has not been held accountable. Perpetrators of disappearances continue to hold key positions within the Moroccan military and government, perpetuating a culture of impunity and fostering a state of fear and terror. 

Prior to the review of Morocco, Saharawi civil society, represented by the Working Group on Human Rights in Occupied Western Sahara supported by the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, submitted a 114-page long report to the UN CED outlining the issue of Enforced Disappearances in Western Sahara. In submitting the report, Saharawi civil society denounced the impunity given to Morocco, demanding the creation of a new independent body to review the violations committed by Morocco as an Occupying Power in Western Sahara. 

The Working Group also met with Experts of UN CED to express their concern and denounce the impunity given to Morocco. During the meeting, Ghalia Djimi, a former victim of enforced disappearance, told the Committee how enforced disappearances have persisted in Western Sahara for decades, targeting Sahrawi activists, civilians, and their families. She described the lasting impact enforced disappearances have had on the Saharawi people, noting how the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the disappeared creates a climate of fear and intimidation. Families of the disappeared remain in a state of perpetual limbo, unable to mourn or move forward due to the lack of information about their loved ones. This is also the destiny of Ghalia herself, who continues to search for the truth into the disappearance of her mother, as hundreds other families. 

The issue of enforced disappearances in Western Sahara is part of a broader pattern of human rights violations perpetrated by Moroccan authorities, including arbitrary detention, torture, restrictions on freedom of expression, and the suppression of peaceful protests. Alarmed by the absence of human rights monitoring and the barring of OHCHR since 2015 of access to the territory as denounced by the UN Secretary General (A/79/229), the Working Group released its first annual report in June 2024, titled “Voices breaking free from repression”. The report calls on the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Volker Turk, to take urgent action and dispatch a technical mission to Western Sahara. 

This story is also available in Arabic.