The president of the Spanish “Avina” Foundation, Pedro Macarrón, spoke out, before the members of the Commission, against the abuses suffered in particular by children in these camps located in the southwest of Algeria, noting that Thousands of young people “are subjected by the armed +polisario+ gang to unacceptable practices which violate their most basic rights”.
“These children are recruited and trained to become soldiers, which not only deprives them of their childhood, but also exposes them to situations of extreme violence and danger,” he said, adding that these actions only perpetuate “a cycle of violence and suffering that affects entire generations”.
Instead of benefiting from quality education, these children, who suffer “irreparable psychological and physical trauma”, are forced to take up arms and participate in conflicts, lamented the petitioner.
For his part, Hamada Bouihi, former member of the “polisario”, denounced the “criminal policy of the terrorist group, the +polisario+ which subjects the populations sequestered in the Tindouf camps to “the worst forms of human rights violations” .
He further noted that the extremist organizations active in the Sahel region “include several members of the +polisario+ from the school of violence and terrorism in Tindouf.”
Recounting the tortures he suffered at the hands of torturers in these camps, M’Rabih Ahmed Mahmoud Adda, one of the founders of the Assomoud association, which aims to claim in particular the right to freedom of expression and movement, for its part, pointed out the “systematic violations committed by the leaders of the Polisarian criminal gang as the only means of remaining in their position with the support of the host country.”
He also noted that the separatists have transformed the Tindouf camps into a “refuge” for criminal drug and arms trafficking networks, adding that these camps now serve as a “rear base” for armed militias.
For other petitioners like the American Nancy Huff, president of the UN Teach Children International and the Jordanian Amal Jbour, it is time for the international community to act against these violations as well as against large-scale misappropriation of the humanitarian aid intended for camp populations.
“I could no longer, in good faith, accept aid from good-willed humanitarian agencies and send it to Tindouf if I knew that the people who needed it most never received it,” said Ms. Huff. , citing reports from the World Food Program (WFP) and the European Union Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) as evidence.
In its 2023 report, the WFP reported major dysfunctions in the management of aid in the Tindouf camps, particularly the sale of the UN agency’s products on the markets of neighboring countries, she recalled.
Along the same lines, Lemaadla Zrug, president of the Sahrawi Association Against Impunity in the Tindouf Camps (ASIMCAT), protested against the state of lawlessness that prevails in the Tindouf camps where “Polisario” militias perpetuate systematic violations with the blessing of the host country, Algeria.
“The responsibility of the host country no longer needs to be demonstrated,” she said, citing in this regard reports from UN human rights mechanisms and several organizations such as France Liberties.