Babouzeid Mohamad Said Labbihi
Babouzeid Mohamad Said Labbihi is a Sahrawi human rights defender and the director of the Saharawi Collective of Human Rights Defenders (CODESA). His work focuses on the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, and on documenting human rights violations in Western Sahara committed by Moroccan security forces.
The issue of the status of Western Sahara remains unresolved, despite ongoing negotiations between the Moroccan authorities and the Polisario Front. The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), established in 1991, has been extended but continues to have no human rights monitoring component. The dispute over self determination created deep political and security related tensions throughout the Sahara area and affects all aspects of life, including the work of human rights defenders.
Sahrawi human rights defenders continued to be subjected to intimidation, harassment, questioning, arrest, incommunicado detention, and unfair trials.
