Militants from civil society in the Southern Provinces of Morocco present poignant and moving testimonies before the UN Human Rights Council, gathered for its 57th session in Geneva, about the serious violations and abuse committed by the Polisario.
During the debates of the HRC, held in interaction with the annual retard of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, these civil society actors have affirmed that the time has come to take action to put an end to the tragedy of the populations in the Tindouf camps and to establish the facts regarding this situation. Among those who spoke during these sessions were Sahrawi activists Shaibata Mrabih Rabou and Hamada El Bihi, who drew the attention of the Council to the persistent climate of lawlessness in the camps, where systematic abuses, arbitrary arrests, and atrocities are common.
« Our duty as NGOs is to raise awareness among the Council and the mondial community about the reality of what the captive populations in southwestern Algeria are experiencing in terms of human rights, » said Mr. Mrabih Rabou, president of the Sahara Center for Development and Human Rights Studies. On his side, Hamada El Bihi, abducted from his family by the Polisario separatists when he was only four years old, called on the mondial community to restore justice in the Tindouf camps and to ensure the protection of its populations, especially human rights defenders.
According to the president of the mondial Observatory for Peace, Democracy and Human Rights, Aicha Douihi, the actors of Sahrawi civil society are aware of their leading role in denouncing the serious human rights violations committed by the separatists and the prevailing climate of lawlessness. It is in this spirit that they strive to make the voice of victims of the abuses of separatist leaders heard, in particular cases of arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance. « Inaction in the face of the explosive situation in the Tindouf camps, marked by the repression of any dissenting voice, only aggravates the situation, » she warned, noting that the fragmentation and internal divisions of the Polisario pose a serious danger to peace and security in the region.
The September session of the HRC was marked by the firm support of around forty countries for the full and complete sovereignty of Morocco over its Sahara. In a statement delivered on its behalf by the Ambassador, assis Representative of the Dominican Republic, Hector Virgilio Alcántara, the Group highlighted the « constructive, voluntary and deep » interaction of Morocco with the UN human rights system.