The Argentine news agency “Alternativa Presse Agency” recalled that “for years, various international humanitarian organizations and independent journalists have published articles, with photos and videos, denouncing the presence of child soldiers in the ranks of the Polisario, in the face of the indifference of the UN and European authorities.”
The author of the article is surprised by “the presence of a child soldier in the delegation which accompanied the special envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Steffan de Mistura, during his first visit to the camps” of Tindouf.
The Argentine media outlet notes that “the presence of a child soldier as a member of a paramilitary militia violates a set of instruments of international humanitarian law,” including the 1949 Geneva Convention relating to the Protection of Victims of Armed Conflicts and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as well as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, among others.
In Peru, the daily newspaper La Razon writes that the presence of child soldiers alongside Steffan De Mistura in the Tindouf camps “has sparked indignation and rejection from various observers and political and civilian actors at the international level.”
Noting that “the Italian diplomat Steffan De Mistura witnessed the presence of these child soldiers exhibited by the separatist militia, in total violation of the Rights of the Child”, La Razon underlines that “the militarization of children is such a common habit among the Polisario militia that the personal envoy of the UN SG for the Sahara was received in Tindouf by some of these little soldiers in uniform”, as proven by the photos of his visit.
The Peruvian newspaper deplores that “the leaders of the Polisario do not hesitate to recruit, indoctrinate, train and exploit these children for war purposes or as human shields, acts typical of terrorist organizations such as Daesh and al-Qaeda.”
The same media outlet calls on the international community to “react to the use of child soldiers who were present during this visit. (…)
To neglect or deny it would amount to condoning and supporting the militarization of these little children, an act that the UN considers a crime against humanity,” he believes.
Similarly, the Peruvian Journalists Federation was surprised by the presence of these child soldiers at the reception in Tindouf of Stefan De Mistura, who must, according to the Federation, “assume his responsibility as personal envoy of the secretary general of an organization that makes ethics and morality cardinal values.”
The Federation’s website publishes a photo showing several child soldiers in military uniform, placed along the path taken by De Mistura.
The same source notes that “these populations, wrongly called refugees, live in the Tindouf camps, located on Algerian soil, and do not benefit from any international humanitarian protection, because the country which hosts them does not allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to register them.”
“The tragedy of these children forcibly recruited by the Polisario militias has once again been exposed to the international community,” concludes the website of the Federation of Peruvian Journalists.
2024-08-27 15:30:34