At a side-event held alongside the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Dakhla-based Center for the Prevention of Child Soldier Recruitment warned against the Polisario Front’s manipulation of human rights narratives to legitimize violence and recruitment.
The high-level meeting, hosted at SSBM University on September 19, brought together academics, civil society representatives and international experts under the theme “The fine line between human rights and terrorism in contemporary armed conflicts.”
Center president Dr. Abdelkader Filali said armed non-state groups co-opt the language of justice and resistance to justify abuses, including the enlistment of minors. Panelists, including Dr. Blerim Mustafa and several scholars from Africa and the Middle East, cited practices such as militarized refugee camps, the strategic misuse of international law, and the dissemination of biased narratives by sympathetic NGOs and academics.
Participants urged stronger international safeguards, the creation of a monitoring group to protect children, and stricter verification mechanisms for reports submitted to UN bodies.
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