The Algerian authority continues violating the parameters of international protection in Tindouf camps

Morocco has denounced in Geneva the practices of subjection, discrimination and deprivation of human rights which tend to perpetuate or even become common place in Tindouf camps controlled by the Polisario. A Moroccan diplomat reproaches also to Algeria hosting these camps, of violating all the parameters of refugees’ international protection, namely the conventions of 1951 on refugees and the convention of 1961 on statelessness, which constitute the first mandate of the HCR. Intervening on Tuesday in the debates of the 5th session of the HCR  permanent committee on the international protection, the permanent Ambassador representing  Morocco at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Omar Hilale, has specified, in this context, that Morocco considers that the value and the importance of the commitment undertaken as regard to international protection of refugees depend on the degree of adhesion and respect of  norms inherent in any protection system, far from any politicization or use of their precarious humanitarian situation for other goals.

This is rather true, has he said, for the prolonged situations, as it is the case of the populations sequestrated in Tindouf camps. Such practices, says in regret Omar Hilale, tend to perpetuate or even become common place, to the only satisfaction of the hosting country, Algeria, which persists in exploiting their humanitarian  drama, in its absurd continuation of fanciful ambitions in the Maghreb. The Moroccan Ambassador wonders whether Algeria applies these protection parameters to the populations in Tindouf camps? Does it allow the recording of these populations as a measure of protection? Does it respect the principle of not forcing them back? Does it guarantee their liberty, their most basic human rights of freedom of movement, expression, opinion and association? Does it respect their right to family regrouping? Does it allow them to return freely to their hosting country, Morocco, to integrate in the Algerian society or to settle in other countries? The answer to all these questions is obviously a BIG NO, since the Algerian power has not fulfilled its obligations towards these populations without protection. For Omar Hilale, Tindouf camps constitute “a failure story” and it is even an example of human dignity and refugees’ human rights denial in Tindouf camps. They are the great illustration of the hosting country’s resignation, a country which has chosen to shirk its responsibilities as regard to refugees’ protection. The same vision is shared by the human rights NGOs such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the International Federation of Human Rights league, the American Committee for Refugees, Hudson Institute, which in their annual reports, have not ceased to denounce the systematic violations of human rights and basic liberties in Tindouf camps.