Speaking under item 2 of the general debate, Mustapha Maoulainine of the NGO CIRAC raised the case of Ahmed El Khalil, a Sahrawi human rights defender who has been missing since 2009 after being abducted in Tindouf, describing his disappearance as an act aimed at silencing dissent.
In the same vein, Ms. Saadani Maalainine, a former victim of forced deportation to Cuba during her childhood, denounced acts of intimidation, torture, targeted surveillance, and the media blackout imposed by the polisario to prevent any exposure of abuses in the camps.
For his part, lawyer Manuel Navarro Peñalosa testified about the sexual violence suffered by his client, Khadjattou Mohamed, who was brutally raped in an assault attributed to the separatist leader, Brahim Ghali. He deplored the total absence of recourse mechanisms for victims in the camps, as well as the prevailing culture of impunity.
Former detainee Mohamoud Kenti Bueh described the camps as an “open-air prison,” citing cases of systematic torture, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and reporting more than thirty extrajudicial executions of young Sahrawis attempting to flee.
Meanwhile, Chaybatta Mrabih Rabbo, of the NGO “Unity Network for the Development of Mauritania,” warned of the collapse of fundamental freedoms in the camps, pointing to restrictions on movement and on freedom of expression and assembly.
El Fadel Breika, himself a former prisoner in polisario jails, accused the separatist leadership of using famine and deprivation of basic necessities as tools of collective punishment against those who dared challenge the established order. He also denounced the diversion of humanitarian aid to armed groups operating in the Sahel region.
Other speakers highlighted the exploitation of Sahrawi children for political propaganda through the so-called “Vacations in Peace” program.
Saïd Achemir, of the NGO ACI Human Rights, condemned the use of this program as a tool of blackmail, citing the case of young Ennouha Mohamed Yahdih, who was prevented from joining her gravely ill mother in France after being arbitrarily excluded from the list of beneficiaries.
Fatima Ezzahrae Zouhairi, of the NGO Promotion of Economic and Social Development (PDES), voiced alarm at the chronic precariousness in the Tindouf camps, pointing to fragile health and education infrastructures, total dependence on humanitarian aid, and the absence of sustainable socio-economic prospects.
She recalled that only 74 “refugees” had access to dialysis in 2024, and that fewer than half of the children in the camps reach the required learning levels according to UNICEF.
Speakers called on the HRC to recognize the vulnerability of Sahrawi human rights defenders in the camps, to establish specific protection mechanisms, and to urgently conduct an independent census in the camps, while also demanding free access for NGOs and UN agencies to the populations being held.
Editorial team/le7tv