International center lambasts systematic enrollment of child soldiers in Tindouf

The Dakhla-based International Center for Research on the Prevention of Child Soldiers has strongly condemned the systematic military enrollment recruitment of children in the Polisario-controlled Tindouf camps in Algeria and the systematic violation of these children’s rights.

The Center said in a statement that it remains “deeply concerned about the continued systematic recruitment” of child soldiers in the Tindouf camps in Algeria after it witnessed a parade of hundreds of children (boys and girls) in military uniforms.

“We have directly expressed our deep concerns to the international community and hold Algeria legally and morally responsible for this flagrant violation and disregard for international humanitarian law on its soil,” adds the center.

The Center also recalls in its statement that Algeria is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and has the obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the rights of children to life, privacy, freedom of thought and peaceful assembly.

“Our Center urges all human rights activists, researchers and journalists to demonstrate professional conscience and intellectual integrity so that no pressure is exerted on parents by the Polisario militia,” the center states further.

The International Center for Research on the Prevention of Child Soldiers, set up in 2022 in Dakhla, aims to contribute to the fight against the recruitment of child soldiers, in particular through raising awareness to their fate, the processes of their recruitment, as well as the underlying causes that fuel the persistence of this scourge.