[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 177 (Wednesday, December 2, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12152-S12153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            AMINATOU HAIDAR

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to bring to the attention of 
Senators who may not already be aware, a situation that has been 
unfolding in Morocco and the Canary Islands.
  Last year, I had the privilege of meeting Ms. Aminatou Haidar, called 
by some the ``Saharawi Gandhi,'' who received the 2008 human rights 
award from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. 
Ms. Haidar is a focus of attention again today because she is on a 
hunger strike in the Canary Islands after being summarily deported by 
the Moroccan Government on her way home to Western Sahara from the 
United States, where, coincidently, she had been to receive the ``Civil 
Courage Prize'' from the Train Foundation.
  Ms. Haidar is no newcomer to difficulties with the Moroccan 
authorities. She was first imprisoned in 1987 when she was a 20-year-
old college student, after calling for a vote on independence for 
Western Sahara. When she was released after 4 years, during which she 
was badly mistreated, she continued her advocacy for the right of the 
Saharawi people to choose their own future.
  Arrested again in 2005 and separated from her two daughters, she led 
a group of 37 other Saharawi prisoners on a 51-day hunger strike for 
better prison conditions, investigations into allegations of torture, 
and the release of political prisoners.
  Since her 2006 release, she has continued her nonviolent struggle, 
which has brought widespread attention to the cause of the Saharawi 
people. The United Nations Security Council has repeatedly endorsed a 
referendum on self-determination for the people of Western Sahara.
  On November 13, when Ms. Haidar arrived at the airport in El-Ayoun, 
she was detained by Moroccan authorities. She was told that by 
insisting on writing her place of residence as ``Western Sahara'' on 
her immigration form, she was in effect waiving her Moroccan 
citizenship. Her passport was taken, and she was forcibly put on a 
plane without travel documents to the Canary Islands, a Spanish 
archipelago located 60 miles west of the disputed border between 
Morocco and Western Sahara.
  She remains there at the airport, separated from her daughters, in 
the 17th day of a hunger strike, and her health is reportedly rapidly 
deteriorating. She has refused an offer of a Spanish passport, 
insisting that she will not be a ``foreigner in her own country,'' and 
the Moroccan Government refuses to reinstate her passport. She is, in 
effect, a stateless person.
  This is unacceptable. Article 12 of the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights, which Morocco has ratified, states in part, 
``Everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own. . . . 
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own 
country.''
  The situation in Western Sahara is a difficult one for the Saharawi 
people and the Moroccan Government. It is a protracted dispute in which 
the international community has invested a great deal to try to help 
resolve, without success. I recall the time and energy former Secretary 
of State James Baker devoted to it. The solution he proposed was 
rejected by the Moroccan Government.
  Morocco and the United States are friends and allies, and I have 
commended the Moroccan Government for

[[Page S12153]]

positive steps it has taken in the past to improve respect for human 
rights and civil liberties. On a recent trip to North Africa, Secretary 
Clinton was complimentary of Morocco's efforts to reach a peaceful 
solution in Western Sahara. But the Saharawi people, including Aminatou 
Haidar, have passionately advocated for the right to self-
determination, and the international community, including the U.N., has 
long supported a referendum on self-determination, which has thus far 
been blocked by the Moroccan Government.
  I have no opinion on what the political status of Western Sahara 
should be, but I am disappointed that the Moroccan authorities have 
acted in this way because it only adds to the mistrust and further 
exacerbates a conflict that has proven hard enough to resolve. Nothing 
positive will be achieved by denying the basic rights of someone of Ms. 
Haidar's character and reputation, or restricting the right to travel 
of other residents of Western Sahara, as the Moroccan authorities have 
increasingly done in the last 2 months.
  In the past, the United States has opposed proposals to extend the 
U.N.'s mandate in Western Sahara, currently limited to peacekeeping, to 
human rights monitoring. The recent crackdown on Ms. Haidar and other 
Saharawis who continue to insist on a referendum on self-determination 
suggests that human rights monitoring is needed and should be seriously 
considered when the U.N. mission comes up for renewal in April. I 
encourage the Department of State to review this question and to 
consult with the Congress about it.
  I am confident that our relations with Morocco, already strong, will 
continue to deepen in the future. We share many important interests. 
But the United States was also instrumental in the creation of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and while we sometimes fall 
short ourselves, we will continue to strive to defend those whose 
fundamental rights are denied, wherever it occurs.
  I appreciate the efforts the Department of State has made to try to 
help resolve this situation. I urge the Moroccan Government to 
reconsider its decision to deport Ms. Haidar, which will not advance 
its interests in the conflict over Western Sahara. It should return her 
passport, readmit her, and let her return to her home and family.

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