Covid-19: Human Rights Organization (OMDH) Calls on UNSG & HCR to Protect Sahrawis Sequestered in Tindouf

The Moroccan Organization for Human Rights (OMDH) has called on the UN Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees “to urgently intervene” to protect the Sahrawis sequestered in the polisario- controlled Tindouf camps against the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter sent lately to the UN Chief and UNHCR, the Moroccan Human rights watchdog voiced deep concern over the situation of the inhabitants of the Tindouf camps and urged the two top UN officials to provide these Sahrawis with “the necessary medical care”.

The human rights organization also called for the immediate international protection of these Sahrawis who have been left by the polisario leadership to fend for themselves in very difficult conditions.

Meanwhile, the rulers of Algeria, the host country, seem much more concerned by the collapse of oil prices than by the deteriorating situation of thousands of Sahrawis who have been forced into compulsory confinement for a long time and are suffering from a sharp drop in international humanitarian aid because of its embezzlement by Polisario leaders.

In Algeria, the deadly Coronavirus continues to spread rapidly. It has so far sickened 367 people and killed 25. In the Tindouf camps, the sequestered Sahrawis have no medicines or hospitals. They are, therefore, seriously exposed to the risk of infection by the coronavirus pandemic, while the authorities of the host country remain apathetic.