Rabat – Fadel Breika, a former detainee in Polisario jails, denounced human trafficking in the Tindouf refugee camps before the UN’s Human Rights Council (UNHCR).
Speaking on Thursday, Breika pointed to Algeria’s complicity in Polisario’s human rights violations.
The separatist military force “prevents the establishment of any human rights framework that is able to monitor and report on trafficking of human beings,” Breika said, denouncing the delegation of the camps’ management to these separatist factions.
He added that human trafficking is one of the “most lucrative” activities for the Polisario. “The Polisario camps are a sad example of the exploitation of human beings by armed separatist militias,” he said.
Breika also reported trafficking humans along racial lines and claimed that the trafficked people include women and children,who sometimes “face the worst forms of abuse, including rape, forced labor, and recruiting minors into terrorist groups.”
Breika additionally highlighted the dismal situation of children in the camps, noting that many are sent to European countries as part of the Polisario’s human trafficking schemes.
The separatist organization has faced criticism before for its use of children in its armed forces, and embezzling humanitarian aid meant for refugees in Tindouf.
Previous reports from organizations such as the EU showed that humanitarian aid has been misused by the Polisario before.
Concerns were also raised to the European Parliament in May about the human rights situation in the Tindouf camps.
According to a 2018 UNHRC memo, the number of Sahrawis in the camps stands at 90,000. Algeria has failed to heed calls by the UN to update the count.
