Type Non-profit
NGO | ||
Founded May 7, 2005, El Aaiun, Western Sahara Location El Aaiun, Western Sahara Key people Brahim Dahane, President; Elghalia Djimi, Vice President Website Official website (Arabic), (English), (Spanish), (French) | ||
The Asociación Saharaui de Víctimas de Violaciones Graves de los Derechos Humanos Cometidas por el Estado Marroquí (Spanish for the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights Committed by the Moroccan State; Arabic,جمعية الصحراوية لضحايا الانتهاكات الجسيمة لحقوق الإنسان المرتكبة من طرف الدولة المغربية; French, Association Sahraouie des Victimes des Violations Graves des Droits Humains Commises par l’Etat Marocain), or ASVDH, is a Sahrawi human rights organization operating in the Moroccan-occupied parts of Western Sahara (by Morocco considered the kingdom's "Southern Provinces").
Contents
Objectives
ASVDH objectives are:
History
ASVDH was founded in Laayoune on May 7, 2005, by Sahrawi activists, along with President Brahim Dahane, a former prisoner of conscience. Although the association had completed all the procedures under the Moroccan Law of Public Associations, it has been refused permission to operate by the Moroccan authorities, and thus operates illegally, with very limited means at its disposal. Its activities have consisted of researching and recording abuses by interviewing alleged victims of persecution, and releasing documentation and photographs of demonstrations, police interventions and torture scars on the Internet.
ASVDH has been outspoken in its defense of jailed Sahrawi human rights defenders and independence activists, such as Aminatou Haidar and Ali Salem Tamek. These took place during the ongoing anti-occupation protests that broke out in El Aaiun in May 2005, which ASVDH refers to as Western Sahara's "Independence Intifada".
As a result of this, ASVDH has been the subject of harassment and police action. For example, Dahane was detained on October 30, 2005, and later charged with "belonging to an illegal organization", namely ASVDH. This was condemned by Amnesty International and other international human rights organizations, which campaigned for Dahane's release. As part of a general royal pardon, Dahane and other members of ASVDH were set free on April 22, 2006.
The ASVDH applied for official government recognition in 2006 and the following year a court ruled that it needs to be recognized by the government. However, this did not happen until 2015. Moroccan authorities continue to interfere with its work in monitoring human rights abuses. The Moroccan government has called independence movements, such as ASVDH, a threat to security in the region.
The work of the ASVDH has been cited by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.