-
Commissioner
Mohamed
Bechir
Khalfallah,
Commissioner
responsible
for
monitoring human rights in SADR and Chairperson of the Working Group on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
-
Commissioner Reine Alapini Gansou, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights
Defenders;
-
Commissioner Soyata Maiga, Special Rapporteur on Rights of Women and
Chairperson of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities in
Africa;
-
Commissioner Maya Sahli-Fadel, Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers,
Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons;
-
Commissioner Med Kaggwa, Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of
Detention.
5. The members of the Commission were accompanied and assisted by the following staff
of the Secretariat of the Commission; Offah Obale, Tem Fuh Mbuh, Mourad Belmouktar
and Fred Tamakloe.
III.
GENERAL CONTEXT OF THE MISSION
Geographical context
6. Bordered to the north by Morocco, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the north-east
by Algeria and to the south by Mauritania, the Western Sahara covers an area of 266,000
km square. Its capitals are Laayoune (under Moroccan control) and Bir Lahlou (the
temporary capital situated in the territories liberated by the Sahrawis). The refugee
camps, located near Tindouf in the South of Algeria are home to a population of over
165, 000 Sahrawi refugees who depend almost exclusively on humanitarian aid. The
camps are located in a very difficult hot desert environment without arable land and
acute scarcity of water which makes any form of agriculture almost impossible. The
camps are administered by the SADR Government which has established fully
functioning governmental institutions in the area.
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