This petition is ended. We are taking no new signatures. We leave it here for those interested in NVI's recent work.
To the Prime Minister of Morocco, Aziz Akhannouch:
We demand that Moroccan Occupation Forces
- Stop the rapes of the Khaya Sisters and respect human rights
- End the siege of the Khaya Sisters’ home in Western Sahara
To Governments of the European Union, African Union, Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and allied governments including the USA, France, Spain, India, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Jordan:
We demand independent international investigation of these human rights abuses.
Since November 2020, the Khaya Sisters are being forcibly confined to their home and the family faces many forms of ongoing abuse, including home invasions, sexual violence and injections of unknown substances. The Khaya sisters have been raped by Moroccan security forces in front of their 80-year-old mother. Furthermore, their water has been poisoned, furniture and property destroyed, and electricity cut-off.
Referring to her experience, Sultana Khaya shared, “I am not the first Saharawi woman to be raped by the occupiers. I am simply the first woman to speak publicly about it. I have to expose the reality of the occupation. And I need to pave the way for the next generation of Saharawi women.”
Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders has highlighted the Khaya Sisters’ case and “expressed particular concern about the apparent use of violence and the threat of violence to prevent and obstruct women human rights defenders in their peaceful human rights activities.”
On March 16, 2022 at the invitation of the Khaya family in Boujdour, Western Sahara, US and International volunteers entered their home to protect them from human rights abuses and break the almost 500-day siege of the house imposed by Moroccan occupation forces.
Join their effort by signing this letter and sharing it widely.
Women's Rights are Human Rights!
