Madrid, July 02, 2020 (SPS) – A European university study revealed how France prevented the expansion of the mandate of the UN Mission (MINURSO) to monitor human rights in occupied Western Sahara, in the Council of security of the United Nations.
In this study, the professor of public international law at the Spanish university of Cadiz, Juan Domingo Torrejon Rodriguez, underlined the role of France within the Security Council «to hinder the international efforts aiming at endowing MINURSO with the mission for monitoring human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara «.
In order that MINURSO does not carry out its task of monitoring Moroccan human rights violations in Western Sahara, he said, Morocco, with the support of France,» tried to persuade the member states of the Security Council not to vote in favor of the extension of the mandate of MINURSO and its enlargement to monitor human rights «.
The study, prepared by the Journal of International Studies for the Mediterranean, concluded that «the United Nations Mission for the Referendum Organization in Western Sahara (MINURSO) is the only United Nations mission in Africa and worldwide that has no explicit mandate for monitoring human rights. «SPS