Coalition Set up to Protect Rights of Children in Polisario-Controlled Tindouf Camps

Child rights activists, university professors, journalists and civil society advocates have set up lately a coalition dedicated to the protection of the rights of children violated by the Polisario armed militia in Tindouf Camps under the watch of Algerian authorities.
The new body was formed on the occasion of the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, celebrated on February 12. Its members pledge to defend the fundamental rights of children living in the Tindouf camps against all forms of violence, exploitation and oppression, particularly military recruitment.
Mohamed Ennahili, coordinator of this coalition, said the advocacy group will expose the serious violations suffered by Moroccan children in the camps of Tindouf, especially their forced military enlisting.
“The place of the child is within his family and at school,” he said, affirming that children should not be used in any military conflict.
For his part, law expert Badr Zaher said the move is in line with the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts, the African Charter on the Rights & Welfare of the Child…
The new body will work in partnership with national and international actors against all forms of violence, exploitation and abuse of children in the camps of Tindouf. It will also build a database and publish reports focusing on the disturbing situation of these children abused on Algerian soil
According to experts, recruiting and using children as soldiers is prohibited under international humanitarian law and is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court.