Research Center Condemns Child Soldier Recruitment in Tindouf Camps

The Dakhla-based International Research Center on Child Soldier Prevention strongly condemned, Friday, the recruitment of child soldiers in the Tindouf camps in Algeria.
The Center voiced its concern over the systematic recruitment of young children in the Tindouf camps to serve in the military. The think tank was troubled by a recent parade of hundreds of children (boys and girls) in military uniforms.
“We have expressed right away serious concerns to the international community and we hold Algeria responsible, legally and morally, for this flagrant violation and contempt for international humanitarian law on its ground,” said the statement.
The Center also recalled that Algeria is one of the signatories of the Child Rights Convention and has to respect and protect the rights of children to life, privacy, freedom of thought, and peaceful assembly.
The Center urged all human rights activists, researchers and journalists to show professional conscience and intellectual integrity to ensure that parents are not forced into such antiquated practices by polisario militia.
Created back in 2022, the International body is tasked with raising awareness on this type of child abuse and uncovering the root causes of the persistence of this scourge.