New York (United Nations) 08 June 2023 (SPS)- Polisario Front’s Representative at the UN and coordinator with MINURSO, Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar, exposed the false allegations recently propagated by the Representative of the occupying state of Morocco to the United Nations regarding presumed military recruitment of Sahrawi children, describing these allegations as a clear example of "unparalleled skills" of the Moroccan official’s in the field of “misinformation, fabrication, and outright lies".
In a press statement issued today, the Sahrawi diplomat considered that the representative of the Moroccan occupying state should have been rather concerned about the shameful and miserable situation of Moroccan children in his country instead of publishing false allegations about Sahrawi children, who are subjected by Moroccan police to atrocities in the occupied parts of Western Sahara.
Following is the full text of the statement received by SPS:
Frente POLISARIO Representation at the United Nations
PRESS STATEMENT
Ambassador Sidi M. Omar, Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO
[New York, 8 June 2023]: Unable to respond to the letter (S/2023/219) that was distributed to Member States as a document of the Security Council, which refuted with documented evidence his baseless claims regarding Western Sahara and the Frente POLISARIO, the representative of the occupying state of Morocco has resurfaced to exhibit his “unparalleled skills” in misinformation, fabrication, and outright lies.
In a reportedly written contribution to the recently held Oslo international conference on “Protecting Children in Armed Conflict”, the representative of the occupying state of Morocco continues to rehash his unfounded claims, which have already been rebutted, about “the military enrolment of children in the Tindouf camps” by the Frente POLISARIO.
Several United Nations, European Union (EU) and international agencies have been operating in the Sahrawi refugee camps for decades, and no one of them has ever backed up these kinds of claims. There is ample evidence to rebut these oft-repeated claims of the occupying state of Morocco. However, suffice it to refer to just one statement issued by none other than the European Union (EU), which is one of the donors that is present in the Sahrawi refugee camps.
In his answer (E-001520/2021) given on 4 May 2021 on behalf of the European Commission, the High Representative/Vice-President, Mr Josep Borrell, declared that “The European External Action Service (EEAS) and the European Commission are closely following the human rights situation in Algeria, including in the Tindouf area, and are not aware of recruitment of child soldiers by the POLISARIO Front or of their participation in military parades” (emphasis added).
The EU testimony, which speaks for itself, alone strongly refutes the baseless allegations of the representative of the occupying state of Morocco who could not find any credible source to back up his absurd claims and ended up citing some “social networks” whose promoter and financier is well known.
The representative of the occupying state of Morocco enumerates the “numerous achievements” made by the occupying state in “all imaginable areas” related to children protection. One is left with the impression that he is talking about another country because the country that he represents is the least qualified in the world to speak about human rights in general and the rights of children in particular because of its political regime based on tyranny and denigration of human dignity.
Instead of propagating false claims about Sahrawi children who are subjected daily to unspeakable cruelty in the Occupied Western Sahara, and trying futilely to convince others that “Morocco has adhered to the entire legal arsenal of international human rights law and international humanitarian law protecting and promoting the rights of the child”, which is a lie that fools no one, the representative of the occupying state of Morocco should have been concerned about the shameful and miserable situation of children in his own country.
According to the Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report, p. 399) issued in July 2022 by the Department of State of the United States of America, children in Morocco are exploited “for labour, domestic work, begging, and sex trafficking” and where “some foreign nationals, primarily from Europe and the Middle East, engage in child sex tourism in major Moroccan cities”. This statement of fact speaks for itself and needs no further comment.” (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)