Monday, March 15 2010 12:43
Geneva - The International Agency for Development expressed on Monday its concern over the persistence in the Tindouf camps of enforced disappearances, and urged the international community to exert pressure on Algeria so that it assumes its responsibility regarding these human rights violations.
Speaking on behalf of the NGO before the 13th session of the Human Rights Council, Khadija Rouissi deplored the persistence of enforced disappearance in several regions of the world, adding that her organization is particularly concerned by this phenomenon in the Tindouf camps, southwestern Algeria, where the population is deprived of protection.
Even today, she said, "we were informed of over 168 missing cases of Mauritanians, abducted by the Polisario in northern Mauritania and held against their will in the Tindouf camps. Their families remain up to date unaware of their fate."
“We call upon the international community to intervene with Algeria, which hosts the Polisario on its territory, to shoulder fully its legal and moral responsibility for these serious human rights violations,” she said.
After recalling the establishment in Morocco of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) to shed light on past human rights violations, she invited other countries to learn from the Moroccan experience in this regard.