Marruecos denuncia la situación de los campamentos de Tinduf ante el Consejo de Derechos Humanos
The situation of the refugees in the Tindouf camps has long been critical. "They suffer extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances and the practice of all forms of torture, rape, human trafficking and recruitment of children", denounced the Moroccan Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Wehbe, at the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council held on Monday in Geneva. Wehbe took advantage of the meeting to denounce the situation of the Moroccans living in the Tindouf camps and the conditions to which they are subjected.
"The suffering of the Moroccans detained in extremely harsh conditions in the Tindouf camps in Algeria continues with the siege, the confiscation of the right of assembly and the ban on movement," the minister explained. Above all, he says, it contrasts with the boom in the southern provinces of Morocco, which are experiencing a period of "comprehensive economic and social expansion". He accuses the militias present in the region of subjecting the population to "complete political and ideological obedience" and taking away basic rights.
To combat the delicate refugee situation, the Justice Minister cites its connection to the settlement of the historic dispute over the Sahara. Abdellatif Wehbe refers, of course, to the autonomy initiative for the Sahara proposed by Rabat and supported by many countries, one of the latest being Spain. This decision has already brought the positions of the two governments considerably closer, as the High Level Meeting (HLM) held in early February in the capital of the Alawi kingdom showed.
The Sahrawi Observatory for Media and Human Rights is confident that raising the complaint to the UN Human Rights Council is a major step forward. It is extremely necessary to make the reality of the suffering of the refugees in Tindouf known at an international level, and exposing it as Wehbe has done could be an important step forward. Indeed, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an independent investigation into the cases of extrajudicial executions mentioned by the Minister of Justice.
The Moroccan ambassador to Peru, Amine Choudary, has also expressed his concern about what is happening in Tindouf and pointed the finger at the Polisario Front because, he explains, they carry out "inhuman practices". Some experts, such as Mohamed Salem Abdel Fattah, head of the Sahrawi Observatory for Media and Rights, considers that one of the problems lies in the passivity of the Algerian government, which remains impassive and obstructs the efforts of international human rights organisations. It even accuses Algiers of shirking its legal, moral and political responsibilities towards refugees on its territory.
The report issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) in October last year stated that "violations continue to be prevalent, including extrajudicial killings, abductions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture, intimidation, cruel and abusive treatment, writing with sharp objects on the bodies of victims and other forms of rape". This was part of a paper analysing Algeria's obligations with regard to the situation of refugees. Already at that time, UNHCR demanded "to open a thorough and independent investigation into all cases of extrajudicial executions".
Rabat has submitted a report to the UN Security Council detailing efforts to promote and protect human rights. In this complex and multifaceted context, beyond the responsibilities that need to be clarified, the most important thing is to help as quickly as possible the people who are suffering first-hand from these rights violations and to bring about a real improvement in the situation in the Tindouf camps.
