Khadidja Hamdi

Khadidja Hamdi is a Sahrawi politician and activist. She is one of two women ministers in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) Government and holds the post Minister for Culture. Political career Hamdi is an outspoken campaigner for Sahrawi women's rights, the value of cultural heritage and the importance of education to young people, especially those, like many Sahrawi who are displaced from their homeland. Her work in these areas encourages international support for Sahrawi self-determination and in 2009 Hamdi led the delegation to the 2nd Pan-African Cultural Festival, held in Algiers. During the festival, Hamdi publicly called on the Kingdom of Morocco to obey international law to enable self-determination and independence for the Sahrawi people. She has been a vocal critic of the government of Morocco and their treatment of Sahrawi political prisoners, especially about a media black-out that was imposed on a group of 24 activists in 2013. Women's rights Speaking in public at international events is an important part of Hamdi's ministerial work. She has travelled widely discussing Sahrawi rights and the rights of Sahrawi women - women who have often taken up leadership roles within refugee camps. In 2013, Hamdi travelled to Nigeria as part of the Global Power Women Network Africa (GPWNA) event. She praised the support the Nigerian government was giving the struggle for independence and commented on how women from all countries in Africa needed to work together to claim, support and expand their human and civil rights. She travelled to the UK in 2007 to lobby Members of Parliament, at the invitation of Jeremy Corbyn. She spoke alongside activists, Aminetou Haidar and Makaela Wallinder. Hamdi had previously led, with her colleague Zahra Ramdan, the 2003 delegation of the National Union of Saharawi Women on their tour of political party conferences in the UK. This tour lasted nineteen days and they canvassed support for the Sahrawi cause and met with political leaders including Tony Blair, Jack Straw and Glenys Kinnock. In 2006, in the Week of Solidarity with the SADR held in Algeria, Hamdi spoke to the conference under the title "The Saharawi woman : between duty of liberation and demands of the state". She was part of a wider discussion which included Nouria Hafs, the Secretary General of the National Union of Algerian Women, and Saida Benhabilès, the President of the Algerian Women's Movement for Solidarity with Rural Women.