Human Rights in Western Sahara - Human Rights in POLISARIO-controlled Refugee Camps

Human Rights in POLISARIO-controlled Refugee Camps

The most severe accusations of human rights abuses by the Polisario Front have been about the detention, killing and the abusive treatment of Moroccan prisoners of war from the late 70s to 2006. Other accusations were that some of the population are kept in the Tindouf refugee camps against their will and did not enjoy freedom of expression. Moroccan newspapers have aired reports of demonstrations being suppressed violently by POLISARIO forces in the Tindouf camps, but these reports have not been confirmed by international media or human rights organizations.

Several international and Spanish human rights and aid organizations are active in the camps on a permanent basis, and contest the Moroccan allegations; there are several people and organizations that claim the Tindouf camps are a model for running refugee camps democratically. In November 2012, the Representative of the High Commissioner for Refugees in Algeria, Mr. Ralf Gruenert stated: “We have not seen cases of torture in the Saharawi refugee camps”.

In April 2010, the Sahrawi government called on the UN to supervise Human rights in the liberated territories (Free Zone) and refugee camps, hoping that Morocco would do the same.