The indoctrination and recruitment of children by the armed militias of the “polisario” constitute a crime against humanity, and a denial of the fundamental rights of children recruited, as well as a flagrant violation of the resolutions adopted by the Security Council on the matter,” said Pace before the 4th Committee of the UN General Assembly.
For her, “the armed separatist group is stubbornly carrying out a premeditated process of recruitment of children, forcibly removing them from their families and communities, and depriving them of their childhood, education, health care, as well as the opportunity to grow up in a safe and supportive environment”.
She noted that the Tindouf camps in southwestern Algeria are “the epicenter” of child soldiers, constituting one of the largest concentrations of military recruitment of children in Africa, noting that the host country and the “polisario” are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. She cited a recent report of the European Parliament that children aged 12 to 13 years are subjected to military training in the camps of Tindouf.
Sahrawi children in the Tindouf camps are not receiving a good education that allows them to think critically, but rather forced into an allegiance to the doctrine of “polisario” against their best interests,” the petitioner said, stressing that the host country, Algeria, is doubly responsible for what happens on its territory.
Algeria has accepted the presence of armed militias of the “polisario” on its territory while providing them with financial and military support to continue to illegally run militarized camps, she explained, adding that the host country is also responsible for the crimes committed by these separatist militias to which it has ceded power in defiance of its international obligations.
