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Rabat – Concerns over the Tindouf camps situation took center stage at the 13th Social Forum, which took place from March 13-17, in Brazil.
Event participants denounced the serious violations of children and women’s rights in the Tindouf camps during a conference entitled “Women and Children in Conflict Zones: The case of the Tindouf camps.”
President of the Sahara Observatory for Peace, Democracy and Human Rights (OSPDH) Aicha Duihi referred to the worrying conditions facing children in the Polisario-run camps, which include forced labor, sexual abuse, and enlistment for military service.
Speaking at the conference, Duihi said that “since the creation of the Tindouf camps in Algeria in 1975, Polisario officials have targeted children and young people.” She added that the children of Sahrawi people in the camps grow up in unspeakable conditions that affect their physical and psychological growth.
The activist explained that schools in the area have been instrumentalized in calling for hatred, violence, and incitement of wars, adding that classes have been used for non-educational purposes, reported Maghreb Arab Press (MAP).
“These practices are inconsistent with the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which advocates education for the principles and values of freedom, equality, and tolerance,” she said.
Addressing the audience, Duihi recalled the case of one of the Sahrawi child who was sent to Cuba in 1982, where (he/she) was subjected to all forms of violence along with other children from Tindouf Camps.
The president of the OSPDH discussed the “hidden adoption” of the children from the Tindouf camps, who are delivered to selected families in Spain, through tacit agreements between the leaders of the Polisario and fraud organizations that present themselves as humanitarian entities.
The 13th World Social Forum is organized by the Network of Moroccan Associations in Italy (RACMI), in partnership with the African Federation in Tuscany (FAT), and the Italian Moroccan Space for Solidarity (SMIS). The symposium offered participants with the opportunity to discuss the challenges of migration and exile.
During the same symposium, Italian academic and journalist Massimiliano Boccolini condemned the Tindouf camps, emphasizing that the “existence of the Tindouf camps and an armed Polisario militia that cooperates with jihadist organizations is a threat to stability” in the region.
