French Advocacy NGO Condemns Use of Child Soldiers in Tindouf

Rabat – The International Alliance for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms (AIDL) has renewed its condemnation of Polisario’s recruitment and exploitation of children in Algeria’s Tindouf camps.

AIDL raised concerns over the pictures and videos that have gone viral on social media, documenting the Polisario front’s deployment of child soldiers during UN Personal Envoy Staffan de Mistura’s visit to the Tindouf camps.

“This is an international crime that requires international prosecution and the monitoring of all those involved,” the French NGO said.

“Any recruitment of children, their exploitation and involvement in conflicts and wars is completely prohibited and criminalized under international law” by several international conversions and treaties, such as the Charter of the United Nations, the Charter of Human Rights, and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, AIDL pointed out.

The NGO also noted that it will send official communications about the case to the Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Guterres, the UN envoy for Western Sahara Staffan de Mistura, the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Parliament to place “all those responsible for this practice under international responsibility and prosecution.”

When the controversy emerged about Polisario’s deployment of child soldiers during de Mistura’s visit to the Tindouf camps, many observers expressed their outrage at the sight of baby-faced soldiers and condemned the separatist front’s defiant recruitment of children to fill its ranks.

Some international media also denounced the group’s exploitation of children for military purposes. Politicamente corretto, an Italian newspaper, described the Polisario’s continued use of child soldiers as a “serious crime against humanity.”

The UN, however, denied de Mistura saw or identified children wearing military uniforms during his visit to Tindouf.

Yassine Belkassem, coordinator of the Network of Associations of the Moroccan Community in Italy (RACMI), called on the UN envoy to act to “guarantee the rights” of children in the Tindouf camps.