Washington, D.C.- Kerry Kennedy and Santiago A. Canton, on behalf of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (RFK Center), criticized the United Nations (UN) Security Council for failing to include a human rights monitoring mechanism in its renewed peacekeeping treaty in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO. The UN's vote renewing the mission as-is for 2014 continues MINURSO's shameful legacy as the only modern peacekeeping mission with no mandate to track and investigate human rights violations.

"The inaction of the UN today means one more year of violence and surveillance for the Sahrawi people, and another year of impunity for the government of Morocco," said Kerry Kennedy, President of the RFK Center. "Twenty-three years since a ceasefire was declared, we are still waiting for our world's foremost diplomatic body to let its own peacekeepers monitor and report on the systematic human rights violations they see around them every day."

As detailed in the RFK Center's recent periodic report, violence and infringements on rights against the Sahrawi people in the occupied territory of Western Sahara continue unabated. These include violations of right to life, right to personal integrity, right to due process, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly. With no independent monitoring mechanism to receive and follow up on reported violations, it is impossible to measure the exact extent of the abuses perpetrated by Morocco.

"The denial of a UN human rights mechanism, when there is ample evidence of systematic human rights violations in Western Sahara, escapes all rationale argument. The United States, France, and Spain - the three countries most engaged on this issue - are turning a blind eye to the situation in Western Sahara and sending a message to the international community that impunity for human rights violations is acceptable," said Santiago A. Canton, Executive Director of RFK Partners for Human Rights.