Indeed, the need for registration was stressed by several delegations last week before the 4th Committee, including the Delegation of the European Union. This follows concerns expressed for decades by Morocco regarding the registration of people in Tindouf camps and the doubts it has made on their actual number, and the consequences of non-registration of the misuse of humanitarian aid.

It is time that the world finally knows the real number of populations in Tindouf camps, said the Moroccan diplomat. Continuing to oppose it, is to hide the reality of their number, which is less than 30,000, he added. Questioning the host country, Algeria, if it disputes the figure, it has to meet the challenge to enable UNHCR to carry their registration and census, one and only way to know the truth.

The Ambassador added that the absence of registration facilitated the large-scale misusevof humanitarian assistance to the populations of the Tindouf camps because the host country refused to meet its statutory obligations. Adding that this is a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention of 1951, Council resolutions Security since 2011 and the Secretary General's recommendations. This is a unique case in the world, he said.

The Moroccan diplomat said that these people are even deprived of their humanitarian assistance provided by the international community, as was confirmed by the UNHCR investigative reporting, WFP and the Anti-Fraud Office the European Union (OLAF). He said these three institutions have unanimously confirmed the misusue, for four decades by Polisario leaders and Algerian officials, of humanitarian assistance to the populations of the camps.

The Ambassador noted that the recent revelations confirm that Algeria levies VAT on products for humanitarian assistance to the needy population in the Tindouf camps. How can a country, he asked, make substantial tax revenue at the expense of the suffering of the populations sequestered in these camps?

The Moroccan diplomat stressed that the plight of populations in Tindouf camps is not limited to this: they live under the yoke of a military-political non-state entity, Polisario, which manages the camps by oppression and denial of most basic human rights.

Due to the lack of democratic governance, the leadership of this movement only changes when members die, he said, concluding that once again, the choice of senior Polisario officials is certainly not in the hands of camp populations, it is imposed by Algiers, as was the case for the successor to Mohamed Abdelaziz.

-News and events on Western Sahara issue / Corcas-