In the Hamada desert, more than 174,000 Sahrawi refugees are waiting to return to their homeland Western Sahara. While this is still occupied by Morocco, terre des hommes switzerland is working with the Sahrawi youth organization UJSARIO in the Smara refugee camp to help young refugees. In the midst of the Sahrawi refugee camp Smara between mud huts, picturesque scrap metal and Sahrawi tents
Climate change threatens the future of humanity on our planet. In our project countries in the Global South, young people are directly affected by the impacts of climate change. One example is young people in Mozambique who have lost their homes and loved ones due to the severe cyclones in 2019, or young smallholders in Brazil's northeast whose harvests are being threatened due to the absence of
Away from the current World Cup and the success of the Moroccan team, complaints have been filed against Morocco in UN human rights cases. Sahrawi students are still imprisoned as political prisoners. Morocco achieved a sensation by reaching the World Cup semifinals. The jubilation was great when the team became the first African team ever to advance this far. This success
The phosphate deposits in Morocco and the occupied Western Sahara are among the largest in the world. The raw material plays a considerable role in the forgotten conflict over the last colony in Africa. A recent report sheds light on the mining and trade of phosphate rock, which is needed for the production of fertilizers - a business with Swiss involvement. Â
Media release - Fertilizer producer EuroChem, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, received a shipload of phosphate rock from Western Sahara in Estonia in October. Phosphate mining in the occupied Western Sahara violates international law. Importing the phosphate rock from the former Spanish colony is therefore unethical and the company is acting without credibility.
In the forgotten conflict over Western Sahara, there is an anniversary, but no reason to celebrate. Most Sahrawis still live in refugee camps or under Moroccan occupation. The situation is again very critical.
Media release - The signs point to war in the decades-old conflict between Morocco and the Sahrawi liberation movement Frente Polisario. The human rights activist Laila Fahkouri has been staying in the Sahrawi refugee camps in the Algerian desert since March. For young people, the situation is particularly grueling, she tells terre des hommes switzerland. Condemned to do nothing, they become vulnerable,
The ceasefire between Morocco and the Frente Polisario, the political representation of the Sahrawis, lasted almost thirty years. In mid-November, the conflict escalated and now the signs point to war. The young Sahrawi Laila Fakhouri is campaigning for a peaceful solution to the conflict and for the rights of her people. Since March, the
After Coop has already been doing without cherry tomatoes from the region since 2017, Migros and its subsidiary Denner are now following suit. Upon request, the two major distributors informed that they had already decided at the end of 2017 to remove products from Western Sahara from their assortment for reasons of international law. This means that the three largest Swiss retailers have removed the products
In the Sahrawi refugee camps in western Algeria the corona virus must not be allowed to break out under any circumstances. Medical care would be no match for the pandemic, as there is hardly enough for everyday emergencies. Our partners of UJSARIO in Smara and their young people are therefore disseminating vital information, because the Sahrauis only have a chance if they prevent it.
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