Aminatou Haidar 2009 Civil Courage Prize Honoree

Aminatou Haidar

Champion of non-violent
resistance in Western Sahara

Ms. Haidar is a courageous
campaigner for self-determination of Western Sahara from its occupation by
Morocco, as well as against forced "disappearances" and abuses of
prisoners of conscience. Regularly referred to as the "Sahrawi
Gandhi," Ms. Haidar is one of Western Sahara's most prominent human rights
defenders.

An Award Ceremony will be held in
New York City on October 20, 2009.

Year 2009 Award Recipient

Aminatou Haidar is part of a
younger generation of Sahrawi leaders working through non-violent means to
organize peaceful demonstrations in support of a referendum to settle the
extended conflict between Moroccan military and Sahrawi independence groups, as
well as to denounce the human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict. Her
peaceful efforts have been met with increased police aggression and brutality.
In 1987, at the age of 21, Ms. Haidar was one of 700 peaceful protestors
arrested for participating in a rally in support of a referendum. Later she was
"disappeared" without charge or trial and held in secret detention
centers for four years, where she and 17 other Sahrawi women were tortured. In
2005, the Moroccan policed detained and beat her after another peaceful
demonstration. She was released after 7 months, thanks to international
pressure form groups like Amnesty International and European Parliament.

Since then, Ms. Haidar has
traveled the globe to expose the Moroccan military's heavy-handed approach and
to plead for the Sahrawi People's right to self-determination. Her efforts
helped change the Moroccan government's violent tactics for dispersing
pro-independence demonstrations. Unfortunately, the torture and harassment of
Sahrawi human rights defenders continues.

Ms. Haidar was born in 1967 in El
Ayoun, Western Sahara. She is the mother of two children and holds a
baccalaureate in Modern Literature. She has been awarded the 2008 Robert F.
Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2007 Silver Rose Award (Austria), and the 2006
Juan Maria Bandres Human Rights Award (Spain). She was nominated by the
European Parliament for the Andrei Sakarov Human Rights Award. Amnesty
International (USA Branch) nominated her for the Ginetta Sagan Fund Award. She was
also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Background to the conflict in
Western Sahara, former Spanish Morocco

Once a Spanish colony, Western
Sahara has been under strict military control by the Kingdom of Morocco since
its invasion in 1975. The region has experienced an extended conflict between
Moroccan military and the Sahrawi independence group, the Polisario Front. In
response to the International Court of Justice's rejection of Morocco's claims
of sovereignty in the region in 1976, the Polisario Front proclaimed the
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as Western Sahara's legitimate
government in exile.

In 1988, the Kingdom of Morocco
and the Polisario Front agreed to settle the dispute through a UN-administered
referendum that would allow the people of Western Sahara to choose between
independence or integration with Morocco. The vote still has not been held. A
United Nations' administered ceasefire has been in place since 1991. In 2007,
the United Nations began facilitating peace talks between Morocco and the
Polisario Front, but talks have stalled over disagreements, including who
qualifies to participate in the potential referendum and whether full
independence is an option for Sahrawis.

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http://www.civilcourageprize.org/honoree-2009.htm