Women & Children

Women and Children in Tindouf deprived of their most basic rights

Speaking to the Human Rights' Council of the United Nations in Geneva, the non-governmental organisation Union of Women's Action denounced the plight of women and children in the Camps of Tindouf where they are deprived of their most fundamental human rights.

In the Tindouf Camps, women and children are forced to work far beyond their physical capabilities, with many of them being tortured and beaten by members of the Polisario, declared Mme Saadani Maoulainine on behalf of the Union of Women's Action, under point eight of the Tenth Session of the Human Rights' Council, relating to the "follow-up and application of the Declaration (of Human Rights) and the Vienna Action Programme."

She added that many women become widows as their husbands are killed in the Polisario's prisons, while their children are manipulated for political purposes and are used as a means of creating images of suffering to obtain humanitarian aid, which itself is then misappropriated by the same leaders of the Polisario.

Mme Maoulainine emphasised that the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms should be considered fundamental by the international community, in accordance with their objectives and principles, including the right of women to enjoy a life with dignity and free from all forms of discrimination and abuse.

She also maintained that the proposal for Autonomy proposed by Morocco was the only solution to resolving differences about the Sahara, as well guaranteeing the Saharawi People rewarding lives of dignity and worth and guaranteeing them the full exercise of their political rights.

March 2009