Geneva (United Nations Human Rights Council), June 18, 2026 (SPA) — Today, a high-level symposium is being held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, on the sidelines of the current sixty-second session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, to present the horrific facts contained in the newly issued report entitled: “Western Sahara: Annual Review, Annual Human Rights Report 2025.”
The organization of this event, which will open at 12 noon Geneva time, is jointly sponsored by the Permanent Missions of South Africa and Namibia to the United Nations in Geneva, which reflects continued and firm African and international solidarity with the struggle of the Sahrawi people to decolonize. The proceedings of the event will also be broadcast on the Zoom platform to enable international observers and representatives of global civil society who were unable to attend in person to follow.
The main focus of the side event is based on exposing the sharp escalation in systematic human rights violations, land confiscations, and the structural media blockade imposed by the Moroccan occupation forces over the past year.
The report under review was prepared in a participatory manner by the Working Group on Human Rights in Occupied Western Sahara, with technical and specialized support from international experts, in addition to the Catalan Federation of Associations in Solidarity with the Sahrawi People (ACAT) and the International Institute for Nonviolent Action (NOVAC).
The event will witness opening remarks by a representative of the Permanent Mission of South Africa, while the discussion will be moderated by prominent South African human rights activist Catherine Constantinides.
The core team of speakers brings together a distinguished elite of Sahrawi defenders, researchers, and coordinators of international organizations. Among them are Mohamed Hali, the Sahrawi human rights defender and winner of the Front Line Defenders Award for 2025, Hayat Said, researcher and co-author of the 2025 annual report, and Ghalia Al-Djaimi, the Sahrawi human rights defender.
The team of speakers also includes Mahfouz Bcharri, representative of Western Sahara in the international organization “Nofact,” Lucille Mibon, coordinator of the Maghreb region in the same organization, and Albert Geralt, coordinator of the “ACAPS” organization.
Following the speakers’ presentations, the closing speech will be delivered by Fatima Mokhtar Moulay, representing the Working Group on Human Rights in Occupied Western Sahara. (Was)
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