{"id":7375,"date":"2026-06-17T10:19:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novact.org\/?p=7375"},"modified":"2026-06-17T10:55:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:55:49","slug":"western-sahara-human-rights-report-un-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novact.org\/en\/western-sahara-human-rights-report-un-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"We alert the UN to increasing repression and land grabbing in occupied Western Sahara"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/6&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text]<strong>The report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council documents more than 170 human rights violations in 2025 and warns of a tightening information blockade and the growing economic consolidation of the occupation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On 18 June, the Working Group on Human Rights in Occupied Western Sahara presented its <a href=\"https:\/\/novact.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/informe_sahara_ING_26.pdf\">annual report, Voices from Resistance<\/a>, before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, during an event organised with the support of the Permanent Missions of South Africa and Namibia.<\/p>\n<p>Based on documentation gathered by Sahrawi human rights activists and defenders working in the occupied territories, the report documents more than 170 human rights violations recorded in 2025. This represents a 70% increase compared to the previous year and is the highest figure since this monitoring work began.<\/p>\n<p>The presentation featured Sahrawi human rights defenders Ghalia Djimi and Hayat Said, alongside Mhamed Hali, Mahfud Bechri, Lucille Maybon and Albert Giralt.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More repression, tighter restrictions and greater control over the territory<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The report identifies three main trends shaping the situation in the occupied territories: increasing reprisals against activists, journalists and human rights defenders; the intensification of the information blockade; and the accelerating appropriation of Sahrawi land and natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>Among its findings, the report highlights concerns raised by eight United Nations Special Rapporteurs regarding systematic attacks against 79 Sahrawi activists, journalists and human rights defenders. It also documents cases of arbitrary detention, physical assaults, short-term enforced disappearances and threats against people who denounce the occupation.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding restrictions on access to information, the report notes that between 20 and 25 journalists, activists, parliamentarians and international observers were expelled or prevented from entering the territory during 2025. Since 2014, Morocco has expelled at least 329 international observers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Economic exploitation is accelerating<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The report also warns about the acceleration of economic projects linked to the occupied territories.<\/p>\n<p>According to the investigation, Morocco\u2019s green hydrogen plan, backed by an expected investment of more than USD 35 billion, is facilitating the allocation of Sahrawi land to foreign companies. The report points to projects involving companies such as Acciona, ACWA Power, TotalEnergies and Engie, and also highlights agreements related to the exploitation of mineral resources off the Sahrawi coast.<\/p>\n<p>This trend is accompanied by the international promotion of Dakhla as a tourism and investment destination, a strategy which, according to the report, contributes to the economic consolidation of the occupation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fifty years on, decolonisation remains unfinished<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The data cover 2025, the year marking fifty years since the Madrid Accords and the beginning of Morocco\u2019s occupation of Western Sahara.<\/p>\n<p>Despite international resolutions and rulings from the Court of Justice of the European Union, which has reaffirmed that EU-Morocco trade agreements cannot automatically apply to Western Sahara, the territory remains on the UN list of non-self-governing territories awaiting decolonisation while economic projects linked to the exploitation of its natural resources continue to advance.<\/p>\n<p>The report is the result of four years of documentation work carried out by Sahrawi human rights defenders and activists in the occupied territories, with the support of NOVACT and the Catalan Association of Friends of the Sahrawi People (ACAPS).<\/p>\n<p>Read the full report <a href=\"https:\/\/novact.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/informe_sahara_ING_26.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/6&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/6&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text]The report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council documents more than 170 human rights violations in 2025 and warns of a tightening information blockade and the growing economic consolidation of the occupation. On 18 June, the Working Group on Human Rights in Occupied Western Sahara presented its annual report, Voices from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-7375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-destacat-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>We alert the UN to increasing repression and land grabbing in occupied Western Sahara - Novact<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novact.org\/en\/western-sahara-human-rights-report-un-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We alert the UN to increasing repression and land grabbing in occupied Western Sahara - Novact\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/6&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text]The report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council documents more than 170 human rights violations in 2025 and warns of a tightening information blockade and the growing economic consolidation of the occupation. 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