Introduction
In October 1975, the International Court of Justice affirmed Sahrawi self-determination as Spain slowly withdrew its colonial occupation of the region (Alktif, 2026). However, the following month, 350,000 Moroccan civilians marched into Western Sahara to assert Morocco’s claim to the territory, in an event called the “Green March” (Koger, 2023). This geopolitical maneuver sparked a brutal 16-year war involving Morocco, Mauritania and the Polisario Front, a local Sahrawi resistance movement seekingindependence rather than continued occupation (Evans, 2007). The partition of Western Sahara between Morocco and Mauritania and the subsequent war triggered mass displacement, with approximately 40,000 Sahrawi’s fleeing to Algeria (Reis, 2024).
In 1975, much of the male population was mobilised for the guerilla war at the front, and the responsibility for building a nation from the desert floor fell to the women (Armstrong, 2020). In the refugee camps of Tindouf, women became the primary architects of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in exile, constructing schools, hospitals and administrative centres with their own hands (Reis, 2024). This period catalysed a radical shift in Sahrawi social structures; women were not only survivors of displacement, but also the backbone of a unique system of self-governance. Today, after fifty years of Moroccan occupation, this legacy of leadership continues to drive the Sahrawi resistance, as women remain on the frontlines of both administrative life in the refugee camps, and the dangerous documentation of human rights violations within the occupied territories.
Further isolating the Sahrawi people is the “Berm”, the world’s longest operational military barrier (McNeish, 2015). The “Berm” is 2,700 kilometres long and surrounded by millions of landmines dividing Moroccan-controlled territory and Polisario-controlled areas (McNeish, 2015). While women in the Tindouf refugee camps continue to manage the infrastructure of the exile state, their counterparts living in the Moroccan-occupied territories are leading a new front of Sahrawi activism. In these occupied zones, where Sahrawi identity is criminalised, women are at the forefront of the resistance (Bell, 2025). However, by intentionally placing themselves on the frontlines to witness and record human rights abuses, these activists have become the primary targets of a state crackdown designed to break the spirit of the Sahrawi resistance (Bell, 2025).
The Gendered Nature of Repression
In the Moroccan-occupied territories of Western Sahara, the state’s apparatus of control has evolved into a specifically gendered campaign of violence. As Sahrawi women have emerged as the most visible face of resistance, Moroccan security forces increasingly utilise sexual and physical violence as a deliberate political tool to silence dissent and enforce social submission (Brahim, 2021). Sahrawi women are also targeted disproportionately by the occupation due to their central role in the leadership and resistance of the community (Bell, 2025).
The case of independence activist Sultana Khaya demonstrates the targeted harassment faced by Sahrawi women who challenge the Moroccan occupation. Sultana Khaya, president of an organisation called the ‘League for the Defence of Human Rights and against Plunder of Natural Resources’, is known for her peaceful activism for the right of Sahrawi self-determination (Amnesty International, 2022a). On November 19th, 2020, Moroccan security forces raided Khaya’s house, physically assaulting her 84-year-old mother in the process, putting her and her family under a de facto house arrest for 18 months (Human Rights Watch, 2021). Security forces surrounded her home, violently forcing Khaya and her sister back into the house whenever they attempted to leave (Amnesty International, 2022b). On several occasions, security forces even broke into Khaya’s home, physically assaulting and raping her and her sisters (Amnesty International, 2022b).
Beyond these home invasions, the violence extended into the public sphere as a method of suppressing any visible solidarity with her plight (Amnesty International, 2022a). In April, 2022, five separate attacks on Sahrawi women activists occurred following their participation in peaceful protests in which they expressed their support for Sultana Khaya (Amnesty International, 2022a). These assaults were marked by a distinct pattern of gendered humiliation, as security forces publicly beat them with sticks, punched them, kicked them, and sexually assaulted them (Amnesty International, 2022a). This strategic combination of private terror and public degradation illustrates a broader campaign to neutralise female leadership. By attacking Sultana Khaya, her family, and her supporters, the Moroccan state seeks to demonstrate that no space, whether a private home or a public protest, is safe for Sahrawi women who demand self-determination.
Institutionalised Repression and Surveillance
In addition to the brutality of physical and sexual assault, the Moroccan state maintains a pervasive system of institutionalised harassment designed to paralyse Sahrawi civil society and activism. For members of prominent human rights organisations, such as the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) and the Sahrawi Instance Against Moroccan Occupation (ISACOM), daily life is defined by fear and near-constant surveillance (Front Line Defenders, 2021). This systematic pressure is not only intended to punish individual acts of protest, but to dismantle the organisational capacity of the Sahrawi movement and deter others from joining.
Digital tools have also become a tool for Morocco’s institutionalised crackdown of the Sahrawi. Moroccan authorities have been linked to the use of Pegasus spyware to infiltrate the private communications of Sahrawi activists, demonstrating Morocco’s blatant disregard for the protection of fundamental human rights (Business and Human Rights Centre, 2022). During Sultana Khaya’s house arrest, a man dressed in civilian clothes stole her phone out of her hands while she was filming security forces outside her house, and thirty minutes later it was slipped back under her door (Human Rights Watch, 2021). Khaya said she refused to use the phone again out of fear that spyware had been installed on it (Human Rights Watch, 2021). This weaponisation of technology is aimed at collapsing the boundaries between the public and private spheres, ensuring that Sahrawi women feel watched even within the confines of their own homes.
This repression is mirrored by physical sabotage in the material world, as exemplified by the recent attack on Sahrawi human rights defender Khadjetou Dweih’s private vehicle. In January 2026, Dweih, the Second Vice-President of CODESA, was targeted by Moroccan forces who slashed her tires in an act of deliberate vandalism (CODESA, 2026). This act of property destruction is not an isolated incident of vandalism, but a strategic effort to compromise the mobility and personal safety of high-profile leaders. Khadjetou Dweih’s vehicle was targeted in a similar attack already in 2024, showing the pattern of repressive tactics employed by Moroccan authorities (CODESA, 2026). This physical sabotage, combined with the omnipresent threat of surveillance, creates a restrictive environment where basic tools of activism, such as transportation and communication, are turned into liabilities.
Conclusion
As this article has demonstrated, Sahrawi women have become the primary targets of a sophisticated campaign of state-sponsored repression due to their significant role in the Sahrawi community. The Moroccan occupation not only relies on territorial control but on specialised violence designed to paralyse the movement’s most visible leaders, whether through the inhumane physical and sexual assault carried out during home invasions, or the digital intrusion using Pegasus spyware, the objective remains to ensure that Sahrawi women feel watched and vulnerable in every aspect of their existence.
However, the endurance of these women suggests that the tactics employed by the Moroccan occupation fail to achieve their primary goal of total social submission. Instead, the persistent targeting of women has only clarified the gendered nature of the occupation, transforming the ‘silent’ crisis of the Western Sahara into a global testament to civil resilience. As the conflict enters its fiftieth year, the Moroccan state’s attempts to break the spirit of resistance through humiliation and isolation have instead solidified the role of women as the indispensable backbone of the quest for Sahrawi self-determination. Ultimately, the path to decolonisation in Western Sahara is inextricably linked to the protection of its female defenders. By refusing to be silenced, Sahrawi women continue to challenge the permanence of the occupation, proving that even under the shadow of the Berm, the demand for justice cannot be erased.
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