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Rabat – A spanish online news outlet has called out the Polisario Front for its continued use of underage soldiers in defiance of the UN’s conventions on children’ rights, including their exploitation for political gains.
In an article titled “Polisario’s Child Soldiers,” Spanish online outlet Tribunalibre.info suggested that the breakaway group a was blatantly violating human rights conventions and the UN’s stance on the “illegal” use of children as soldiers.
The article argued that the practice of “child soldiers” has long been decried because it strips the children of their youthful innocence.
“War is not fun. We should educate and teach our children about peace and peaceful coexistence, not war,” wrote Tribunalibre.info.
The report added that in addition to stripping the conscripted children of their “innocence and youthful insouciance,” Polisario leadership is using the “innocent children” as “human shields” to appeal to the sympathy and solidarity of the international community. The front’s leadership “seeks to enrich themselves by continuously living off international humanitarian aid,” the report stressed.
The news comes amid reports that the Polisario leadership is preparing the front’s armed branches to wage a war, “if necessary,” to “defend the country and to protect the ‘liberated’ territories from all threats.”
Meanwhile, Tribunalibre.info’s report on Polisario’s “illegal” and “defiant” use of child soldiers is not the only blow the front’s image has suffered of late.
In recent months, the group has had to deal with accusations of “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” reports of embezzlement and mismanagement of humanitarian aid, news of human rights abuses and related violations in the Tindouf camps, as well as UN experts’ concerns over Polisario’s perceived links to some terrorist organizations.
According to observers, such troubling reports for the front, as well as Morocco’s recent pivot to Africa and increasingly successful diplomacy in Latin America, have had devastating effects on the group’s aspirations to statehood.
