Occupied El Aaiun, November 8, 2024 (SPS) – Sahrawi human rights organizations have issued an urgent call to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene in order to protect Sahrawi children in the occupied cities of Western Sahara, stressing the need to investigate serious human rights violations and abuses threatening childhood in the occupied territory, in clear violation of international charters.
Ali Salem Tamek, the president of the Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders’ Collective (CODESA), stated in a press statement to the Algerian News Agency that Sahrawi children are subjected to multiple violations at the hands of Moroccan occupying forces, which range from abduction and arrest to physical and psychological torture, as well as harassment that causes them deep suffering, as they are the most vulnerable and affected group.
Tamek added that "these children are not only facing the pressures of occupation, but they also suffer from the widespread issue of drugs targeting them as part of a plan aimed at destroying them physically and morally, overseen, according to reports, by networks backed by Moroccan intelligence."
Tamek urged the United Nations to take responsibility for ending the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and to put an end to these violations that contradict international laws and agreements for the protection of childhood.
For its part, the Sahrawi Observatory for Children and Women in the occupied El Aaiun expressed its strong condemnation of the violations faced by Sahrawi children in the occupied territories, calling on the International Committee of the Red Cross to protect Sahrawi civilians, especially children, from Moroccan occupation practices.
In a statement, the observatory mentioned that the information it has gathered indicates the involvement of retired members of the Moroccan army and individuals close to the police in drug trafficking among Sahrawi children, affirming that these activities take place under the direct supervision of Moroccan intelligence agencies.
The statement also noted the continuation of arbitrary arrests and psychological and physical harassment faced by children within schools and communities, amid the facilitation of drug use and moral degradation, which contradicts international charters for the protection of children's rights.
In conclusion, the Sahrawi Observatory called on the United Nations to send a monitoring committee to investigate these serious violations and protect Sahrawi children from the threats and systematic violations they suffer in the occupied territories.