Morocco expresses strong reservations about UNHCR's Tindouf camps budget
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 9/25/2004

Morocco expressed "strong reservations" before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about the budget allocated by the body to the populations of the Tindouf camps, Algeria, deeming that his would be approval of these populations' tragedy, "which has lasted over more than three decades."

The Tindouf camps are managed by the Algeria-backed Polisario separatists, who claim separation of Morocco's Southern provinces, known as the Sahara. This former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accord, signed with the former colonial power and Mauritania.

Speaking here Thursday at the 31st meeting of the UNHCR permanent Committee, focused on the body's budget for 2005, Morocco's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Omar Hilale, gave the main reasons for his delegation's reservations, namely the incoherence of figures on the camps' populations, despite Morocco's repeated requests to conduct a census, and the UN body's financing of the sending of children from the camps to Cuba.

Hilale said, concerning the incoherence of figures, that the budget document puts forward a population number of 159,490, while UNHCR's statistics published last July say 165,000. Worse, Hilale went, the document has repeated the same figure along 10 years, since 1993.

"In other words, the camps' populations have experienced no decease, birth, return to homeland (Morocco) or move to Mauritania or elsewhere. This population's case is unique in the world, since it is the only that experiences no evolution," he said, insisting that "these figures are odd, especially that they are given by the host country."

"It is time for the UNHCR to stop financing these programs based on static estimations, provided by the host country."

Morocco, the diplomat said, has repeatedly called the UN body to fulfil duly its duties by recording the whole of the camps' populations so as to assess their needs accurately. "But our calls were vain and the UNHCR's permanent and executive committees persist in their refusal to consider them. The aid could go deservedly to other populations in the world."

Hilale voiced concern over the funding, as shown in the body's statistics, of the sending of hundreds of 8-12 children to Cuba, without even the basic precaution of making sure that their parents agree.

The Moroccan ambassador called the permanent committee to "compare between the laxist attitude of the UNHCR concerning the Tindouf populations, and its initiative in Tanzania, where it has experimented the sophisticated technology of biometry to record refugees.

Hilale said the HCR is satisfied with the estimates of the host country, which date back to 1982, of the electoral lists established by the Minurso (French acronym for the UN mission in the Sahara), which resulted in the immutable figure of 165,000.

Morocco "only requires that the census of these populations be conducted in accordance with the statutory obligations of the HCR," the Moroccan diplomat said, recalling, in this connection, the recent recommendation of the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit, establishing recording requirements.

"These operations depend on the availability of resources, but they are not well managed, as one risks to waste limited resources for non-existing refugees," he said, adding that "on the basis of this report, the Joint Inspection Unit makes Recommendation 13 that on the basis of the situation prevailing in each HCR ground operation, the High Commissioner should make sure that no undue delay occurs in the process of refugees recording or re-recording, in order to determine, as accurately as possible, the number of assistance recipients."

"My delegation is pleased with this recommendation and awaits with great interest HCR's follow-up, for Morocco considers that the estimates of the Tindouf populations are overstated, and that, consequently, HCR unfortunately provides assistance to an overestimated population, or which is partly non-existent," he said.

For Hilale, HCR fails to fulfil a fundamental obligation of its mandate and "violates the Charter on Children's rights -failure to obtain parental consent."

"HCR intends to make up for this by questioning the children, on their arrival in Cuba, on the consent of their parents. This raises the following question: Are 8-12 children, already traumatized by separation from their families and the distance, able of sufficient discernment to answer?"

This is not a Moroccan statement, but the result of an investigation financed and published by the HCR last December, titled "Summary update of Machel study, follow-up activities in 2001-2002." More serious still, according to the same Machel, the HCR representative in Mexico was informed on two sexual abuse cases on these children. No investigation nor report was made by the body."

"For all these reasons, he went on, my delegation expresses its most explicit reservations about the budget allocated to the camps of Tindouf, and declines to be able to adopt it."

The situation of these populations is a drama that has lasted for more than three decades, and approving the camps' budget without respecting the elementary regulations of the HCR, particularly in terms of recording, would be support to this situation, Omar Hilale said.

"It is high time the HCR ceased its ostrich policy saying "these are not my figures, but the host country's."

"In order not to block the adoption of the whole budget, my delegation is ready to lift its reserves, in so far as the HCR commits itself solemnly to record, as soon as possible, the populations of the camps of Tindouf," concluded the Moroccan ambassador.

Previous Stories:
  Al Raia: SA recognition of SADR has not changed power balance   (9/24/2004)
  'Passport for Freedom' Coordinator to negotiate with Algeria Moroccan POWs liberation   (9/21/2004)
  Moroccan prisoners detention conditions in Tindouf brought to ICRC official attention   (9/18/2004)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search