At a conference on “Human Rights Violations, Trafficking and Exploitation of Women and Children in Conflict Zones,” organized by the African Culture Organization, speakers highlighted the precarious situation of women and children in these camps, who face both the abuses of the “polisario” and the negligence of the host country, Algeria.
Elisa Pavón, coordinator of the platform “Freedom is their Right”, gave a moving testimony about the situation of women and their children in the camps, based on 12 years of experience in investigating the scourge of human trafficking.
The sad conclusion is that the exploitation of children is at the heart of the practices of the “polisario”, which makes the law of silence prevail regarding their recruitment, she said, pointing out that these children are victims of the political propaganda of the “polisario”, which incites them to hatred.
For her part, the Italian activist Giorgia Botera expressed her concern about the violations of the physical and moral integrity of women, children and all those abducted in the Tindouf camps, denouncing in particular the forced marriages of young girls and their consequences on their health.
The world can no longer ignore these facts, he stressed, calling for the creation of Mediterranean mechanisms to put an end to these violations.
For his part, the President of Africa Culture, Lamine Dianko, pointed out that conflicts exacerbate vulnerability and encourage abuses, and called for priority to be given to women and children as the most vulnerable categories.
Child recruitment is a common practice in conflict zones and stakeholders must denounce these practices, which violate international conventions and human rights, he continued.
The President of the International Observatory for Peace and Human Rights (IOPDHR), Aicha Douihi, pointed out that despite the unanimous rejection of the recruitment of children, since the creation of the Tindouf camps, the “polisario” has been trying to prevent children from continuing their education in order to direct them towards military activities, in violation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
He added that in order to receive more aid, the polisario tries to increase the number of people in the camps by prohibiting women from family planning, deploring the fact that these same women are then forced to hand over their children to the Polisario so that they can be sent to South America for long periods of time.
This meeting, moderated by the activist Mina Laghzal, denounced the policy of silence in the face of the violations taking place in the camps and called for the respect of international human rights law and the abolition of these practices in conflict zones.
