Speaking under item 2 of the agenda of the 46th session of the Human Rights Council, the Saharawi human rights defender, Adnan Braih, drew the attention of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the sufferings "of the thousands of Sahrawis condemned to silence in the camps of Tindouf in the southwest of Algeria, where the Polisario and its armed militias sow terror" in order to muzzle, by all means, protests and popular anger in the camps.
"Confident in your commitment to be the voice of the voiceless, I come to plead the case of thousands of Sahrawis condemned to silence in the Tindouf camps in southwest Algeria where the Polisario and the armed militias are sowing terror and rule with an iron fist, taking advantage of the complicity of the Algerian authorities who ignore the appeals of the UN Secretary General, the decisions and opinions of the Treaty Bodies, and the UN human rights mechanisms that point to the direct responsibility of the State of Algeria in the serious violations of human rights perpetrated by its army and by the militias of the Polisario," underlined Braih.
Braih recalled the case of his own brother, Ahmed Khalil Braih, a former member of the Polisario who was kidnapped in January 2009 by the Algerian intelligence services, while he was supposed to investigate violations committed by the leaders of the separatists.
"Indeed, the Algerian state still refuses to reveal the fate of my brother, Ahmed Khalil Braih, kidnapped by its intelligence services in January 2009 in Algiers when he was human rights adviser to the secretary of the Polisario, despite the Human Rights Committee's decision made public in July 2020, and the demonstrations in Tindouf camps demanding his release," he said.
Adnan Braih urged the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to "act so that the Algerian authorities shoulder their responsibilities by guaranteeing the rights of Saharawis on its territory, as required by the United Nations human rights system, and by putting an end to the impunity enjoyed by torturers".