Off the radar

For nearly four decades since Morocco's invasion of Western Sahara, thousands of Sahrawi refugees have lived in camps run by the Polisario Front deep in the Algerian desert. Based on first-hand research, Off the Radar: Human Rights in the Tindouf Refugee Camps, examines conditions in the camps, which outside human rights observers seldom visit. Human Rights Watch found no cases of persons imprisoned for their political views. However, the report documents the cases of some individuals who encountered harassment for openly criticizing the Polisario. Human Rights Watch also found that a recent decree transferring drug offenses to the jurisdiction of Polisario military courts has undermined the rights of suspects in such cases, some of whom have been held in custody for many months without a valid judicial order. The report found no evidence that the Polisario Front imposes arbitrary restrictions on the freedom of refugees to leave the camps, including to return permanently or temporarily to Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara. However, the report does document the persistence, in isolated cases, of certain forms of slavery. In order to enhance human rights protections for the Sahrawi people, Human Rights Watch recommends that the U.N. Security Council enlarge the mandate of the MINURSO peacekeeping mission to include human rights monitoring both in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugee camps, or establish an alternative regular mechanism to monitor and report on conditions. -- back cover.