Africa Watch revealed that the Algerian army committed serious violations of the right to life, through the extrajudicial summary executions of Sahrawi civilians detained in the Tindouf camps, southwest Algeria.
In a speech delivered by the organization’s president, Abdelwahab Kaine, during the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, he revealed the documentation of at least 21 executions since 2014, considering these violations a form of “systematic violence” that requires urgent international action. The organization explained that most of the victims were young Sahrawis who engaged only in simple activities to earn a living, such as traditional gold mining or small-scale trade. It stressed that these actions, carried out outside any legal framework, reveal a direct targeting of vulnerable groups in the complete absence of judicial procedures or independent investigations to ensure accountability. This appeal complements an urgent request previously submitted by the organization in April to the special procedures of the Human Rights Council for intervention. According to the organization, these violations occur in the complete absence of accountability mechanisms, both towards the implicated elements of the Algerian army and the Polisario Front officials. It emphasized that the seriousness and gravity of the documented cases warrant special attention from the Human Rights Council due to the blatant threat they pose to human rights conditions within the camps. Africa Watch concluded its intervention by calling on the Council to exert strong pressure on the Algerian authorities to compel them to cooperate with the UN contractual and non-contractual mechanisms, and to open immediate and transparent investigations to uncover the circumstances of these violations and identify those responsible, ensuring the punishment of those involved and strengthening the mechanisms for protecting civilians within the camps.
