(The photo above on the left shows Mubarak Awad & Jonathan Kuttab, NVI's co-founders, in Western Sahara in 2015. The photo on the right is human rights defender Sultana Khaya protesting on the roof of her home in Boujdour in 2022)
Support the Western Sahara Solidarity Committee
Nonviolence International has long supported nonviolent resistance to occupation in Western Sahara. In 2015, NVI Palestinian-American co-founders, Mubarak Awad and Jonathan Kuttab, visited occupied Western Sahara and engaged in Palestinian–Western Sahara solidarity meetings. Since then, NVI has supported a coalition of citizens and organizations working to provide nonpartisan, unarmed civilian protection to Sahrawi human rights defenders. This experience helped plant the seeds for a bold new initiative: Western Sahara Solidarity Committee (WSSC)
The Western Sahara Solidarity Committee was founded in 2025 to support the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and to resist the ongoing Moroccan occupation. WSSC operates under the fiscal sponsorship of Nonviolence International.
WSSC emerged from the same 2022 delegation that protected the Khaya family, uniting unarmed civilian protectors, international volunteers, and Sahrawi activists to support grassroots resistance. WSSC highlights the ongoing colonial occupation of Western Sahara—Africa’s last colony—and promotes education, awareness and nonviolent resistance as key strategies in the global movement for Sahrawi freedom.
Our values include:
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Respect for human rights and the right to self-determination
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Commitment to true decolonization—not modern-day imperialism
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Nonviolence as both a principle and a strategy
Through education, advocacy, and international solidarity, we strive to expose the Moroccan government’s unlawful occupation and support the Sahrawi people in their fight for freedom.
Your support enables us to grow this movement and continue standing in solidarity with the Sahrawi people.