Menneskerettighetsaktivist Aminatu Haidar var i Norge i 2007, og møtte blant annet representanter for Stortingets utenrikskomite (under). 

Haidar er en sterk kritiker av norsk og internasjonalt næringsliv i Vest-Sahara - og en aktiv motstander av EUs folkerettsstridige handelsavtaler i området. 

Den nye runden vold kom samtidig med at FNs spesialutsending, Christopher Ross besøkte Vest-Sahara denne uken. 

"Det faktum at volden mot saharawiene ikke bare fortsatte, men faktisk økte under ambassadør Ross' besøk, viser hvor livsviktig det er å skape en interansjonal debatt om saharawiienes rettigheter. Den marokkanske regjering tror at det internasjonale samfunn ikke vil holde dem ansvarlige for de vedvarende menneskerettighetsovergrepene", uttalte Kerry Kennedy, styreleder i Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. 

Støttekomiteen arbeidet i år opp mot FNs Menneskerettighetsråd i samarbeid med Kennedy-senteret og Haidars organisasjon CODESA.

"Earlier this week, CODESA chairwoman and RFK Human Rights Award Laureate Aminatou Haidar was stopped by police officers outside the UN mission’s headquarters and placed under police surveillance. Her phone calls and emails are being monitored, and her internet connection was cut. In addition to the increased harassment Ms. Haidar experienced, the RFK Center has received reports of police officers cutting power to areas of the city, breaking into private homes, and intimidating anyone who is seen as a potential critic of the Moroccan occupation.

The next day, November 1, following her meeting with Ambassador Ross, Ms. Haidar was attacked by police in a four hour assault that left her car destroyed and her sister and daughter trapped inside while officers threw rocks at the windows. Ms. Haidar was shoved her to the ground, beaten, and threatened with a knife. She sustained two football shaped hematomas from the public assault, which the Moroccan government denies ever happened."

RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, 03.nov 2012