 Incriminated by an armada of conventions, resolutions and international legislation, the enlistment of children, this unspeakable crime which nevertheless remains legion among the torturers of the Polisario, denounced by a section of Moroccan throughout Hassan music.
The story of one of these children soldiers recruited by Polisario in violation, among other things, of the international convention on the rights of children, is told this time through the song “'Oudo Lwatankom, (come back to your homeland), released last Friday as a video clip.
Co-written by Mohamed Ayouch, musician by profession and youtuber from the city of Assa featuring Mohamed Jbara, one of the best references in Moroccan rock and co-author of “crossing borders”, the song describes the itinerary of 'a child in military fatigues, in reference to his fellow prisoners forced to hold arms by Polisario, fleeing the camps of shame and blissfully finding freedom in the middle of his homeland.
Asked by the MAP on the main message of this work which not only brilliantly depicts the sad picture of these children but also blocks the road to the mockery of Polisario separatists, Mr. Ayouch replies that it is a “ call ”to release the children kidnapped by these“ war criminals ”so that they return to their motherland and live in freedom, revealing that“ two more songs are planned ”and will deal with similar subjects.
The song, produced by Youssef El Kamili, has indeed recorded a strong enthusiasm since it was put online on February 5. It has so far been seen almost 66,000 times only on Youtube and “likes” have exceeded 10K.
Mr. El Kamili, himself a native of the South, believes that Polisario has worked hard, for several years, to boost “culture”, in particular by resorting to illicit maneuvers such as the diversion of aid as a defense of a chimerical “cause”.
"This is a gang of criminals who recruit children, rape women, commit acts of banditry," he said.
Heartbroken by the absence of his family, he says he has known since his childhood "what Polisario separatists are worth", saying that several of his relatives are still kidnapped in Tindouf camps.
The clip, filmed in the Assa-Zag region as well as at Mahbes, is therefore intended to be another way of highliting these abuses through music.
The song was intended and written in Hassan and Spanish languages so that “the message would get through”, Jbara told MAP for his part.
“We want these children without education, health or future to be immediately released to join Morocco, their mother country,” he added.
Indeed, according to Unicef, children are more likely to become child soldiers if they are separated from their families, left their homes, live in combat zones or have little education.
In this regard, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the involvement of children in armed conflict entered into force in 2002. It prohibits the participation of children under the age of 18 in hostilities, by raising the minimum age (15 years) previously set by the CRC and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977.
Polisario militiamen and their puppeteers must then, if we refer only to these international laws mentioned above, answer for their acts before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
-News on Western Sahara issue/ Corcas-
|