Algiers, October 19, 2014 (SPS) - The international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the United Nations to extend the mandate of MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) to include humans rights monitoring in occupied Sahrawi territories and Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, said HRW’s report released Saturday in Algiers.
“The United Nations Security Council should expand the mandate of MINURSO to include human rights monitoring and public reporting in both the Western Sahara and the Polisario-administered camp in Algeria,” recommends HRW in its report, presented by its Deputy Director in charge of Middle East and North Africa Eric Goldstein in a press conference.
According the report, entitled “Off the Radar: Human Rights in the Tindouf Refugee Camp,” HRW suggests to the United Nations to establish an “alternative mechanism through which it can provide monitoring and regular and independent information communication.
He said that the Human Rights Watch researchers who visited the refugee camps were able to move about freely and interview refugees of their choice in private,” adding that they spoke with at least 40 refugees in the camps and 12 others outside the camps, as well as with Polisario officials and foreigners working for UN agencies and nongovernmental organizations. (SPS)
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