Ngos draw hrc’s attention to situation of population held in tindouf camps

By Madison on mar 12, 2010

Geneva – Several human rights organizations informed on Thursday the members of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) of the deplorable situation of the population detained in the camps of Tindouf, southwestern Algeria.

    According to these organizations, the Algerian State doesn’t honour its commitments as an unreserved signatory, notably the 1951 Convention on Refugees Status, said a statement published during the Council’s 13th session.

    They deplored the fact that the Algerian State refuses to recognize its responsibility with regard to the Polisario’s treatment of the population held on its territory, noting that this population is denied several rights in complicity with the Algerian military, including the right to movement, property, work, association, and a decent life.

    The NGOs called on Algeria to shoulder its full juridical responsibility in accordance with the international law regarding the protection of the rights of Sahrawis on its territory by conducting a census and by ensuring their right to free movement and a decent life.

    They also called upon the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) to assume its role as a protector of the rights and interests of the detained population, by urging the Algerian authorities to conduct a census of the camps population and allowing them to settle outside the camps.

   The NGOs rejected all kinds of instrumentalization by the polisario of human rights  for political purposes, commending the efforts made by Morocco in the field of human rights to compensate the victims of previous violations through the implementation of the recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER).

source: map