Rights groups blame Algeria for Polisario-committed rights violations in Tindouf camps

Algeria was severely condemned for the continuous rights violations endured by thousands of Sahrawis under the yoke of the Polisario militias in the Tindouf camps.

This came during the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council, where multiple rights NGOs denounced the enduring practices of extrajudicial executions, kidnappings, and forced disappearances suffered by the Sahrawis held against their will in the Polisario-run camps.

The NGOs called on the international community to put pressure on Algeria to shoulder its responsibility in protecting Sahrawis in the camps in a territory over which it has legal jurisdiction.

They also urged investigations into human rights violations in the camps and end the impunity of Polisario militias involved in these grave breaches.

Speaking at a UN Human Rights Council session, human rights activist and former detainee by the Polisario, Fadel Ould Abriqah, gave his testimony detailing several right abuses, notably summary executions of people who try to flee the camps.

Since the beginning of the year, the Algerian army personnel, in connivance with the Polisario, killed at least 20 young Sahrawis as they tried to escape misery in the camps, he said, adding that Polisario armed men force victims’ families to stay silent.

Late May, an Algerian drone hit a group of unarmed Sahrawis in the ‘Akidi’ area, killing 14 young men, he said.

Their bodies were left exposed for four days, subject to scavengers, before a group of young Sahrawis volunteered to retrieve and secretly bury them in the camps, he added.

Algerian authorities, which have not investigated this crime, threatened the victims’ families with retaliation if they did not remain silent, Ould Abriqah said, urging the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the international community to pressure Algeria to respect its international obligations towards Sahrawis held in the camps.

Zaid Al-Abidin Al-Wali, President of the African Forum for Research and Studies in Human Rights, also spoke about the severe human rights violations in the Tindouf camps and the embezzlement of humanitarian aid intended for the Sahrawis in the camps by the Polisario leaders, in collusion with the Algerian army, which enforces a military blockade around the camps to prevent escapes.

Al-Wali noted that the Polisario leadership suppresses young Sahrawis who attempt to expose these practices on social media, leading to their abduction, torture, and the deprivation of their families from food aid. This situation drives many disenchanted young people to risk their lives by joining armed groups in the Sahel region in search of resources to support their families.

Al-Wali called on the international community to exert strong pressure on Algeria to fulfill its responsibilities, stating that Algeria cannot evade this responsibility by claiming to delegate the administration of what it considers its territories to a separatist militia.

In a related context, Lahcen Naji, a representative of the Unity Network for Africa, highlighted the case of the enforced disappearance of human rights activist Khalil Ahmed Abrih, who has been missing for over 14 years in the Tindouf camps. His family remains unaware of his fate and the circumstances of his disappearance.

Naji urged Algeria to reveal his whereabouts as well as identifying and naming those involved in his abduction and enforced disappearance. He also called for punitive measures against non-state armed groups proven to be directly or indirectly involved in his disappearance.

Sheikh Murbih Rabu, from the International Committee for Respect and Application of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (CIRAC), stated that enforced disappearances of Sahrawis in the camps are a systematic practice used by the armed Polisario Front to intimidate, targeting intellectuals or officials who expose its human rights violations.

Rabu called on Algeria to revoke its delegation of administrative, judicial, and legal powers to the Polisario and urged the international community to pressure Algeria to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. This would facilitate monitoring and documenting cases in the Tindouf camps and ensure the rights of victims and their families to know the truth and receive reparations for the harm they have suffered.