Refugee camps in Tindouf Province, Algeria
Encyclopedia
The Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, are a collection of refugee camp
s, set up in the Tindouf Province
, Algeria
in 1975-76 for Sahrawi refugees fleeing from Moroccan forces, who advanced through Western Sahara
during the Western Sahara War
. With most refugees still living in the camps, the refugee situation is among the most protracted ones worldwide.
The limited opportunities for self-reliance in the harsh desert
environment have forced the refugees to rely on international humanitarian assistance
for their survival. However, the Tindouf camps differ from the majority of refugee camps in the level of self-organization. Most affairs and camp life organization is run by the refugees themselves, with little outside interference.
The camps are divided into four wilayas (districts) named after towns in Western Sahara; Laayoune, Awserd, Smara and Dakhla. In addition comes the smaller satellite camp "February 27", surrounding the boarding school
for women, and the administrative camp Rabouni. The encampments are spread out over a quite large area. While Laayoune, Smara, Awserd, February 27 and Rabouni all lie within an hour’s drive of the Algerian city of Tindouf
, the Dakhla camp lies 170 km to the southeast.
(SADR). SADR's government in exile
and administration are located in the Rabouni camp.
The Tindouf camps are divided into administrative sub-units electing their own officials to represent the neighbourhoods in political decision-making. Each of the four wilayas (districts) are divided into six or seven daïra
s (villages), which are in turn divided into hays or barrio
s (neighborhoods).
Local committees distribute basic goods, water and food, while "daïra" authorities made up by the representatives of the "hays" organize schools, cultural activities and medical services. Some argue that this results in a form of basic democracy
on the level of camp administration, and that this have improved the efficiency of aid distribution. Women are active on several levels of administration, and UNHCR has appraised their importance in camp administration and social structures.
According to Polisario, Algeria does not intervene in their organization, treating the area as effectively under Sahrawi self-rule, though statements by former Polisario responsibles contradict that. While the Algerian military has a significant presence in the nearby city of Tindouf, Algeria insists that responsibility for human rights in the camps lies with the Polisario.
Camp residents are subject to the constitution and laws of SADR. A local justice system, with court
s and prison
s, is administered by Polisario. Local qadi
s (sharia
judges) have jurisdiction over personal status and family law issues.
Polisario has prioritised education from the beginning, and the local authorities have established 29 preschools, 31 primary and seven secondary school
s, the academic institutions of ‘27 February’ and ‘12 October’ as well as various technical training centres. While teaching materials are still scarce, the literacy rate has increased from about 5 % at the formation of the camps to 90 % in 1995. Children's education is obligatory, and several thousands have received university educations in Algeria
, Cuba
and Spain
as part of aid packages.
The camps have 27 clinic
s, a central hospital
and four regional hospitals.
Men perform military service in the armed forces of the Polisario. During the war years, at least some women were enrolled in auxiliary units guarding the refugee camps.
The number of Sahrawi refugees in Tandouf camps is disputed and politically sensitive. Morocco
argues that Polisario and Algeria overestimate the numbers to attract political attention and foreign aid, while Polisario accuses Morocco of attempting to restrict human aid as a means of pressure on civilian refugee populations. The refugees' numbers will also be important in determining their political weight in the possible event of a referendum
to determine Western Sahara's future status.
Algerian authorities have estimated the number of Sahrawi refugees in Algeria to be 165,000. This has been supported by Polisario, although the movement recognizes that some refugees have rebased to Mauritania, a country that houses about 26,000 Sahrawis refugees. UNCHR referred to Algeria's figure for many years, but in 2005 concern about it being inflated led the organization to reduce its working figure to 90,000 based on satellite imagery analysis. UNHCR is in dialogue with the Algerian Government and the Sahrawi refugee leadership, seeking to conduct a census
to determine the exact number of refugees in the camps.
In 1998, UN's Minurso mission identified 42,378 voting-age adults in the camps, counting only those who had contacted the mission's registration offices and subsequently been able to prove their descent from pre-1975 Western Sahara. No attempt was made to estimate the total population number in the camps.
The Moroccan government contends that the total number of refugees is around 45,000 to 50,000, and also that these people are kept in the camps by Polisario against their will.
Food, drinking water, building materials and clothing are brought in by car by international aid agencies. Basic food is brought in from the port of Oran to Rabouni by the World Food Programme
(WFP) in collaboration with Algeria Red Crescent (ARC) and the Algerian government, while food distribution from Rabouni is organized by Polisario in collaboration with Western Sahara Red Crescent (WSRC). With the rise of a basic market economy, some refugees have been able to acquire television sets, use cars, and several hundreds of satellite dish
es have popped up in recent years.
The refugee population is plagued by the lack of vegetables, nutritious food and medicines. According to the United Nations
and the World Food Program, 40% of the children suffer from lack of iron, and 10% of the children below five years of age suffer from acute lack of nutrition. 32% are suffering from chronic lack of nutrition. 47% of the women suffer from lack of iron.
Heavy flash rains and floods destroyed much of the camps in February 2006, prompting a crisis response from the UNHCR and the World Food Program (WFP), to replace destroyed housing with tents and provide food to cover for lost storages.
The WFP has repeatedly expressed its concern over a shortage of donations, and warned of dire health consequences if needs are not met. The UNHCR warned in early 2007 that demands were not being met in the Sahrawi camps, and that malnutrition was severe. Refugees International has noted that the situation is especially precarious in Dakhla, the most inaccessible of the camps.
the camps' society, through emphasis on education, eradication of tribalism
and emancipation of women.
The role of Sahrawi women was central already in pre-colonial and colonial life, but was strengthened further during the war years (1975–1991), when Sahrawi women ran most of the camps' administration, while the men were fighting at the front. This together with literacy- and professional education classes produced major advances in the role of women in Sahrawi society. The return of large numbers of Sahrawi men since the cease fire in 1991 may have slowed this development according to some observers, but women still run a majority of the camps' administration, and the Sahrawi women's union UNMS is very active in promoting their role.
, WFP, Oxfam
, UNHCR etc.) working in the camps, the Polisario has insisted on using mainly local staff for construction, teaching etc. It argues that this will help activate the refugee population, to avoid a sense of stagnation and hopelessness after 30 years in exile. However, jobs remain scarce and those Sahrawis educated at universities abroad can rarely if ever find opportunities to use their skills. Some Sahrawis work in nearby Tindouf city.
A simple monetary economy began developing in the camps during the 1990s, after Spain
decided to pay pensions to Sahrawis who had been forcibly drafted as soldiers in the Tropas Nomadas during the colonial
time. Money also came from Sahrawis working in Algeria or abroad, and from refugees who pursue a traditional bedouin
and tuareg lifestyle, herding cattle in Algeria, Mauritania
and the Polisario-held areas of Western Sahara. The private economy however remains very limited, and the camps continue to survive mainly on foreign and Algerian aid.
hindering movement through Western Sahara, and the Algerian-Moroccan border closed added to the restriction on movement by the Polisario on the camps population. Thousands of families have been separated for up to 30 years, a painful situation for the population in both Western Sahara and the refugee camps. In 2004, UNHCR managed a family visits exchange program for five-day visits for a limited number of people, going from the camps to the Moroccan-held territories and vice versa. The United Nations
has also established telephone and mail services between the camps and Moroccan-held Western Sahara.
While Polisario complains of repression
of Sahrawi human rights
activists in the Moroccan-held parts of Western Sahara, the government of Morocco, dissident groups
inside Polisario, as well as former members of Polisario, have claimed that the refugee camps occasionally are the scene of human rights
abuse against the refugee population by the Polisario.
The Polisario Front has acknowledged reports of mistreatment in the seventies and eighties, but deny the accusations of on-going abuse. Reports of beatings and torture, in many cases leading to death, of Moroccan prisoners of war
who were formerly held in the camps were backed by some human rights organizations, which seems to have contributed to the release of the last of these prisoners by the summer of 2005. There are complaints of limitations on movement between the camps, with Morocco describing them as completely shut off from the outside world, but camp authorities maintain that this is untrue, and that they are simply engaged in registering movements for aid allocation purposes. Visiting human rights organizations have concluded that the conditions are troublesome with regard to basic subsistence, but that the human rights situation is satisfactory. An OHCHR (United Nations' human rights monitors) visit to both Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugee camps in 2006 documented no complaints of human rights abuse in the camps, but stressed the need for more information. However, the report, which severely criticized Moroccan conduct in Western Sahara, was slammed as biased and partisan by the Moroccan government. In April 2010, the Sahrawi government had called the UN to supervise human rights in the liberated territories and refugee camps, stating that “We are ready to fully cooperate with UN human rights observers in the territory under our control. The United Nations should take this proposal seriously, and ask Morocco to do likewise”.
Refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...
s, set up in the Tindouf Province
Tindouf Province
Tindouf, also written Tinduf, is the westernmost province of Algeria, having a population of 58,193 as of the 2008 census. Despite the barren landscape, Tindouf is a resource-rich province, with important quantities of iron ore located in the Gara Djebilet area close to the border with Mali...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
in 1975-76 for Sahrawi refugees fleeing from Moroccan forces, who advanced through Western Sahara
Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly...
during the Western Sahara War
Western Sahara War
The Western Sahara War was an armed conflict primarily between the Polisario Front and Morocco, the conflict erupted after the withdrawal of Spain from the Spanish Sahara in accordance with the Madrid Accords by which it gave administrative control of the territory to Morocco and Mauritania...
. With most refugees still living in the camps, the refugee situation is among the most protracted ones worldwide.
The limited opportunities for self-reliance in the harsh desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
environment have forced the refugees to rely on international humanitarian assistance
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...
for their survival. However, the Tindouf camps differ from the majority of refugee camps in the level of self-organization. Most affairs and camp life organization is run by the refugees themselves, with little outside interference.
The camps are divided into four wilayas (districts) named after towns in Western Sahara; Laayoune, Awserd, Smara and Dakhla. In addition comes the smaller satellite camp "February 27", surrounding the boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
for women, and the administrative camp Rabouni. The encampments are spread out over a quite large area. While Laayoune, Smara, Awserd, February 27 and Rabouni all lie within an hour’s drive of the Algerian city of Tindouf
Tindouf
Tindouf is the main town in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian and Moroccan borders. The region is considered of strategic significance, and it houses Algerian military bases. Since 1975, it also contains several Sahrawi refugee camps operated by the Polisario Front a guerrilla...
, the Dakhla camp lies 170 km to the southeast.
Administration and public service institutions
The refugee camps are governed by Polisario, being administratively part of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic RepublicSahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a partially recognised state that claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976, in Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara. The SADR government controls about...
(SADR). SADR's government in exile
Government in exile
A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a country's legitimate government, but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usually operate under the assumption that they will one day return to their...
and administration are located in the Rabouni camp.
The Tindouf camps are divided into administrative sub-units electing their own officials to represent the neighbourhoods in political decision-making. Each of the four wilayas (districts) are divided into six or seven daïra
Daïra
A daïra |circle]]; plural dawaïr) is an administrative division of a wilaya in Algeria and in Western Sahara. Another transliteration of the word is Daerah.*Daïra of Algeria*Daïra of Western Sahara-See also:* Provinces of Algeria...
s (villages), which are in turn divided into hays or barrio
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
s (neighborhoods).
Local committees distribute basic goods, water and food, while "daïra" authorities made up by the representatives of the "hays" organize schools, cultural activities and medical services. Some argue that this results in a form of basic democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
on the level of camp administration, and that this have improved the efficiency of aid distribution. Women are active on several levels of administration, and UNHCR has appraised their importance in camp administration and social structures.
According to Polisario, Algeria does not intervene in their organization, treating the area as effectively under Sahrawi self-rule, though statements by former Polisario responsibles contradict that. While the Algerian military has a significant presence in the nearby city of Tindouf, Algeria insists that responsibility for human rights in the camps lies with the Polisario.
Camp residents are subject to the constitution and laws of SADR. A local justice system, with court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
s and prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s, is administered by Polisario. Local qadi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...
s (sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
judges) have jurisdiction over personal status and family law issues.
Polisario has prioritised education from the beginning, and the local authorities have established 29 preschools, 31 primary and seven secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
s, the academic institutions of ‘27 February’ and ‘12 October’ as well as various technical training centres. While teaching materials are still scarce, the literacy rate has increased from about 5 % at the formation of the camps to 90 % in 1995. Children's education is obligatory, and several thousands have received university educations in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
as part of aid packages.
The camps have 27 clinic
Clinic
A clinic is a health care facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients...
s, a central hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
and four regional hospitals.
Men perform military service in the armed forces of the Polisario. During the war years, at least some women were enrolled in auxiliary units guarding the refugee camps.
Population numbers
| Total Sahrawi refugee population today (including descendants): | 
|
|---|---|
| Total refugees: | Total (2010): 48,000-194,000 (disputed) |
| Total refugees number in 1975: | 50,000 |
| Regions with significant populations: | Algeria Algeria Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab... , Mauritania Mauritania Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest... |
| Languages: | Hassaniya Arabic Hassaniya Hassānīya is the variety of Arabic originally spoken by the Beni Hassān Bedouin tribes, who extended their authority over most of Mauritania and the Western Sahara between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. It has almost completely replaced the Berber languages spoken in this region... |
| Religions: | Sunni Islam Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites.... |
The number of Sahrawi refugees in Tandouf camps is disputed and politically sensitive. Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
argues that Polisario and Algeria overestimate the numbers to attract political attention and foreign aid, while Polisario accuses Morocco of attempting to restrict human aid as a means of pressure on civilian refugee populations. The refugees' numbers will also be important in determining their political weight in the possible event of a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
to determine Western Sahara's future status.
Algerian authorities have estimated the number of Sahrawi refugees in Algeria to be 165,000. This has been supported by Polisario, although the movement recognizes that some refugees have rebased to Mauritania, a country that houses about 26,000 Sahrawis refugees. UNCHR referred to Algeria's figure for many years, but in 2005 concern about it being inflated led the organization to reduce its working figure to 90,000 based on satellite imagery analysis. UNHCR is in dialogue with the Algerian Government and the Sahrawi refugee leadership, seeking to conduct a census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
to determine the exact number of refugees in the camps.
In 1998, UN's Minurso mission identified 42,378 voting-age adults in the camps, counting only those who had contacted the mission's registration offices and subsequently been able to prove their descent from pre-1975 Western Sahara. No attempt was made to estimate the total population number in the camps.
The Moroccan government contends that the total number of refugees is around 45,000 to 50,000, and also that these people are kept in the camps by Polisario against their will.
Conditions of life
The Tindouf area is located on the hammada, a vast desert plain of the Sahara Desert. Summer temperatures in this part of the hammada, historically known as “The Devil's Garden”, are often above and frequent sand storms disrupt normal life. There is little or no vegetation, and firewood has to be gathered by car tens of kilometers away. Only a few of the camps have access to water, and the drinking sources are neither clean nor sufficient for the entire refugee population. Basic life cannot be sustained in this environment, and the camps are completely dependent on foreign aid.Food, drinking water, building materials and clothing are brought in by car by international aid agencies. Basic food is brought in from the port of Oran to Rabouni by the World Food Programme
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
(WFP) in collaboration with Algeria Red Crescent (ARC) and the Algerian government, while food distribution from Rabouni is organized by Polisario in collaboration with Western Sahara Red Crescent (WSRC). With the rise of a basic market economy, some refugees have been able to acquire television sets, use cars, and several hundreds of satellite dish
Satellite dish
A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive microwaves from communications satellites, which transmit data transmissions or broadcasts, such as satellite television.-Principle of operation:...
es have popped up in recent years.
The refugee population is plagued by the lack of vegetables, nutritious food and medicines. According to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and the World Food Program, 40% of the children suffer from lack of iron, and 10% of the children below five years of age suffer from acute lack of nutrition. 32% are suffering from chronic lack of nutrition. 47% of the women suffer from lack of iron.
Heavy flash rains and floods destroyed much of the camps in February 2006, prompting a crisis response from the UNHCR and the World Food Program (WFP), to replace destroyed housing with tents and provide food to cover for lost storages.
The WFP has repeatedly expressed its concern over a shortage of donations, and warned of dire health consequences if needs are not met. The UNHCR warned in early 2007 that demands were not being met in the Sahrawi camps, and that malnutrition was severe. Refugees International has noted that the situation is especially precarious in Dakhla, the most inaccessible of the camps.
Women's role
Polisario has attempted to modernizeModernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
the camps' society, through emphasis on education, eradication of tribalism
Tribalism
The social structure of a tribe can vary greatly from case to case, but, due to the small size of tribes, it is always a relatively simple role structure, with few significant social distinctions between individuals....
and emancipation of women.
The role of Sahrawi women was central already in pre-colonial and colonial life, but was strengthened further during the war years (1975–1991), when Sahrawi women ran most of the camps' administration, while the men were fighting at the front. This together with literacy- and professional education classes produced major advances in the role of women in Sahrawi society. The return of large numbers of Sahrawi men since the cease fire in 1991 may have slowed this development according to some observers, but women still run a majority of the camps' administration, and the Sahrawi women's union UNMS is very active in promoting their role.
Work and economy
While there are several international organizations (ECHOECHO (European Commission)
The Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission , formerly known as the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, is the European Commission's department for overseas humanitarian aid...
, WFP, Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, UNHCR etc.) working in the camps, the Polisario has insisted on using mainly local staff for construction, teaching etc. It argues that this will help activate the refugee population, to avoid a sense of stagnation and hopelessness after 30 years in exile. However, jobs remain scarce and those Sahrawis educated at universities abroad can rarely if ever find opportunities to use their skills. Some Sahrawis work in nearby Tindouf city.
A simple monetary economy began developing in the camps during the 1990s, after Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
decided to pay pensions to Sahrawis who had been forcibly drafted as soldiers in the Tropas Nomadas during the colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
time. Money also came from Sahrawis working in Algeria or abroad, and from refugees who pursue a traditional bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
and tuareg lifestyle, herding cattle in Algeria, Mauritania
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...
and the Polisario-held areas of Western Sahara. The private economy however remains very limited, and the camps continue to survive mainly on foreign and Algerian aid.
Family separation and human rights
Since the Polisario Front and Morocco are still at war, visits between the camps and the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara are virtually impossible, with the Moroccan WallMoroccan Wall
The Berm of Western Sahara is an approximately 2,700 km-long defensive structure, mostly a sand wall , running through Western Sahara and the southeastern portion of Morocco...
hindering movement through Western Sahara, and the Algerian-Moroccan border closed added to the restriction on movement by the Polisario on the camps population. Thousands of families have been separated for up to 30 years, a painful situation for the population in both Western Sahara and the refugee camps. In 2004, UNHCR managed a family visits exchange program for five-day visits for a limited number of people, going from the camps to the Moroccan-held territories and vice versa. The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
has also established telephone and mail services between the camps and Moroccan-held Western Sahara.
While Polisario complains of repression
Independence Intifada
The Independence Intifada is a Saharawi Polisario activist coinage for a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots that broke out in May 2005 in the Moroccan-held parts of Western Sahara. This event has also been called "The El-Aaiun Intifada" by the same sources...
of Sahrawi human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activists in the Moroccan-held parts of Western Sahara, the government of Morocco, dissident groups
Front Polisario Khat al-Shahid
Front Polisario Khat al-Shahid is a minor faction within the Front Polisario...
inside Polisario, as well as former members of Polisario, have claimed that the refugee camps occasionally are the scene of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
abuse against the refugee population by the Polisario.
The Polisario Front has acknowledged reports of mistreatment in the seventies and eighties, but deny the accusations of on-going abuse. Reports of beatings and torture, in many cases leading to death, of Moroccan prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
who were formerly held in the camps were backed by some human rights organizations, which seems to have contributed to the release of the last of these prisoners by the summer of 2005. There are complaints of limitations on movement between the camps, with Morocco describing them as completely shut off from the outside world, but camp authorities maintain that this is untrue, and that they are simply engaged in registering movements for aid allocation purposes. Visiting human rights organizations have concluded that the conditions are troublesome with regard to basic subsistence, but that the human rights situation is satisfactory. An OHCHR (United Nations' human rights monitors) visit to both Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugee camps in 2006 documented no complaints of human rights abuse in the camps, but stressed the need for more information. However, the report, which severely criticized Moroccan conduct in Western Sahara, was slammed as biased and partisan by the Moroccan government. In April 2010, the Sahrawi government had called the UN to supervise human rights in the liberated territories and refugee camps, stating that “We are ready to fully cooperate with UN human rights observers in the territory under our control. The United Nations should take this proposal seriously, and ask Morocco to do likewise”.
See also
- DakhlaDakhlaDakhla may refer to:*Dakhla Oasis, Egypt*Dakhla, Western Sahara*Dakhla Airport...
(city in Western Sahara) - El-AaiunEl AaiúnEl-Aaiún , is a city in Western Sahara founded by the Spanish in 1928. Administered by Morocco since 1976, El-Aaiún is the capital of what the Moroccan government call the region of Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra, and POLISARIO call Occupied Territories...
(city in Western Sahara) - History of Western SaharaHistory of Western SaharaThe history of Western Sahara can be traced back to the times of Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator in the 5th century BC. Though few historical records are left from that period, Western Sahara's modern history has its roots linked to some nomadic groups such as the Sanhaja group and the...
- Independence Intifada (Western Sahara)
- SmaraSmaraSmara, also Semara , is a city in the Moroccan-Administered Western Sahara, with a population estimated at 42,056.-History:The largest city in its province, Smara was founded in the Saguia el-Hamra as an oasis for travellers in 1869. It is the only major city in Western Sahara that was not founded...
(city in Western Sahara)
External links
- Photo gallery: Life in the Tindouf refugee camps, by Danielle Van Brunt Smith.
- Eye witness report from Tindouf By ECHO, the EU:s foreign aid branch.
- Article about the 35th anniversary of the proclamation of SADR, held in the Tindouf camps and Tifariti
- Map of the region (anonymous).
- The United States on Algeria (dead link).
- Opinion Editorial by Paul de Bendern, February 2004.
