Among the member States of the African Union, we find the Republic Arab Saharawi Democratic. As the successor of the Organization for the African Union, the African Union reunites all African states except Morocco which withdraw from the OAU in 1984 in response to the OAU admission of Western Sahara in 1982. Morocco was readmitted in 2017 but, still, did not ratify neither the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights nor the Protocol establishing the Court.
In January 2012 the African Union asked the African Human Rights Commission to carry out a mission to the occupied territory of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (Executive Council Decision EX.CL/Dec. 689 (XX) with a view to investigating human rights violations. The Commission required permission to the Moroccan authorities for safe passage to the Occupied Territory but they did not answer to the Commission’s requests. As a consequence, the Commission was able to visit only the refugee camps near Tindouf in the South of Algeria from 24 to 28 September 2012.
The results were published in the following report: ACHPR report on fact-finding mission to the SADR.
In 2013, the Executive Council of the African Union has published a progress report on the situation in Western Sahara. It also deals with human rights protection (see part. V), although the attention is more focused on the political aspects of the situation and the resolution of the conflicts with Morocco. The progress report is available here: Auc-report-western-sahara 2013.
It is worth to mention that, having in mind the implications for the situation in Western Sahara, the President of the Pan-African Parliament has recently sent a letter to the President of the EU Parliament to stress the danger to sign a new Fisheries Agreement with Morocco that includes Western Sahara’s territorial waters. See the Letter of the President of the Pan-African Parliament.
In 2015 the AU Commission issued a Legal Opinion on the Legality in the Context of International Law, including the relevant United Nations Resolutions and OAU/AU Decisions, of Actions Allegedly Taken by the Moroccan Authorities or Any Other State, Group of States, Foreign Companies or Any Other Entity in the Exploration and/or Exploitation of Renewable and Non-Renewable Natural Resources or Any Other Economic Activity in Western Sahara.