Will the Extending of the Mandate of the MINURSO Mission in Sahara Save Children From Enlistment?

The UN Security Council decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission, MINURSO, in Western Sahara for one year, according to France 24.

It called on the two parties of the conflict to continue the negotiations under the control of the new UN envoy, Italian Staffan de Mistura.

After the decision, the Moroccan Foreign Minister welcomed the UN resolution and considered that it will reveal the real parties of the conflict by calling on Algeria to participate and to be responsible regarding the issue.

On the contrary, the representative of the Polisario Front to the United Nations, Sidi Mohamed Ammar, expressed on Twitter his dissatisfaction about this decision.

 

Welcoming the Decision

The UN Security Council decided, on Friday, 29 October 2021 to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, for an additional year, until October 31, 2022, according to Anadolu Agency.

This came according to what was announced by the President of the Council, Martin Kimani, after a voting session on a US decision to extend the mission before Sunday which is the day of its expiration.

13 member states voted accepting the extension, while Russia and Tunisia abstained.

Ambassador Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations, expressed the Kingdom's appreciation for the UN Security Council’s decision.

At the United Nations local, Hilal highlighted on Friday, the violations of the dissident Polisario Front, which "recruits and incites children" to be part of its army, mentioning photos of these young children holding weapons and wearing military uniforms as "evidence" of the Polisario's recruitment of children in the Moroccan Sahara conflict.

According to Hespress Website, Hilal described through these photos, Polisario’s crimes against children as similar to the tactics of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda.

Going back to the Western Sahara issue, after the Spanish occupation ended its presence in the region, the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front over the Sahara region began in 1975, and it turned to be an armed conflict which lasted until 1991, when a ceasefire agreement was signed.

The Polisario announced the establishment of what it called the "Sahrawi Arab Republic" on February 27, 1976, which was partially recognized by some countries, without obtaining total acceptance in the United Nations.

Actually, Rabat insists that the territory of the Sahara belongs to the Moroccan land, and proposes an expanded autonomy solution under its sovereignty, while the Polisario calls for the organization of a referendum for self-determination, a proposal supported by Algeria, which shelters refugees from the region. Indeed, since the two parties signed the ceasefire agreement, the United Nations is supervising the negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario and vows commitments to a viable solution to the conflict over the territory.

 

Exploiting Children in Military Parade

Amid the Saharan conflict, the Polisario Front continues to deprive children of their basic rights, using them as troops, and exploiting them in Military Parade, in southern Algeria, according to Morocco World News. This puts the Polisario under international accountability.

In his interview, Zouhair Attouf, Expert on political science and international relations, told Al-Estiklal that the violations of the rights of the child by the Polisario Front, is a violation of relevant international covenants, and it worsens the scene in the Tindouf camps. Attouf added that there are photos showing “children wearing military uniforms and marching according to a battle formation and some others showing young boys carrying weapons made of cardboard. The expert strongly condemned “the Polisario Front for its recruitment, exploitation, and inclusion of children in areas of conflict and war, which constitutes an international crime and places all those responsible under international legal prosecution and accountability.”

Attouf added that “recruiting children and giving them weapons in order to train them to fight is a challenge to all Security Council resolutions, and these practices will prove to the world the bleak situation in the Tindouf camps.”

Defeating the laws regulating children's rights, the separatist front employs children in the camps in order to attract the sympathy of foreign organizations that do not have a clear idea about the Saharan file.

 

Still Hope

Attouf said that, “We can save the children from Polisario crimes, during this additional year, there is still hope.”

“The videos documenting the recruitment of children under the age of majority in the Tindouf camps, who carry Kalashnikovs, will surely prove to the UN Security Council that the children are in a big danger, and saving them is an international duty,” added the expert.

According to Refworld, “the Polisario Front said that recruitment into its armed forces, the People's Liberation Army, was voluntary and that the minimum age, including for military training, was 18. However, the photos and videos showed the opposite.

Jurists also considered these videos as a documented crime that requires the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to be informed of these human rights violations.

International conventions also prohibited the recruitment and use of children in hostilities and war conflicts whether those related to the legal system of international humanitarian law, or those related to international human rights law.

The 1998 Statute of the International Criminal Court, in Article 8, considered as well that the voluntary recruitment of children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces or armed groups, or their use to participate effectively in hostilities, “is a war crime and a serious violation of the laws and customs applicable to non-violent armed conflicts. of an international character.”