Fifty years after the start of the Sahrawi exile, which was to last days, not decades, life in the camps of Tindouf (Algeria). An attendance marked by constant ups and downs and increasingly conditioned by global political polarization. The current international situation and the Official Development Aid designed after the Second World War.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the multiplication of open conflicts – Gaza, Sudan, Libya, Syria and Yemen – have strained the global humanitarian architecture to the limit. Added to this is the rise of speeches against international cooperation and the priority given to fiscal adjustments in the main donor countries. The United States, the European Union, Germany and the United Kingdom—which in 2023 accounted for nearly two-thirds of global official development assistance—
In the American case, and the cancellation of contributions to different United Nations agencies, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has meant for these organizations the loss of In the Sahrawi case, the impact has been devastating: the aid channeled through these agencies was reduced by 47.7% in the last year, which represents almost half of the total external assistance that refugees receive, according to official sources from the Sahrawi authorities.
After the presentation in Algiers by UNHCR of the document – a document that already incorporates significant cuts – the NGO Consortium, made up of 19 humanitarian organizations present in the camps, launched at the end of November of last year an urgent appeal to the international community to respond to the serious humanitarian crisis that the Sahrawi people are going through.
The health sector has suffered a cut of 25% and programs aimed at mitigating the impact of disability, 65%
The consequences are tangible. Food distribution has been affected by 82%, forcing the World Food Program to suspend 33% of aid to the most vulnerable families from 2023, an item that was compensated by aid provided by the Algerian Red Crescent. The health sector has suffered a 25% cut; and programs aimed at mitigating the impact of disability, 65%, according to the Sahrawi Red Crescent.
This situation led Unicef to launch, in the middle of last month, an urgent appeal to warn that more than 40,000 students in the primary school network were at risk of losing their schooling. Likewise, he warned that the economic incentives of more than 2,000 volunteer teachers – which allow classrooms to be kept open – are also in danger. In this context, Unicef has reported that it has only managed to raise 53.3% of the funds necessary to keep the Sahrawi education system afloat.
In the camps, located in the Algerian desert, where extreme temperatures and sandstorms are part of daily life, access to water is a matter of survival. This supply depends largely on UNHCR, whose budget cuts – compounded by the proliferation of crises in other regions – have meant a 53% reduction in the maintenance of the tanker fleet, wells and incentives for local workers.
Added to this situation is the decision of the European Commission to apply, in November of last year, a cut of around that allocated to the camps through its Directorate General of Civil Protection and European Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).
The consequences are foreseeable: increased migration, weakening of the institutional fabric and risk of radicalization in a fragile region in the face of new threats.
The Sahrawi drama, one of the most prolonged and underfunded, The decrease in external assistance is therefore experienced in silence. And it is combined with other factors that aggravate precariousness: the increase in inflation, the devaluation of the Algerian dinar and the closure of the liberated territories for the Sahrawi civilian population, which constituted a complementary space for economic activities such as commerce, livestock farming or artisanal mining. Furthermore, Morocco’s intensive use of drones has caused new displacements towards the camps, increasing pressure on already depleted resources.
The deterioration of living conditions is evident, especially for women, older people and young people. For many, the only imaginable solution is to undertake an immigration project that allows them to support their families. This dynamic has direct effects on local public services, such as education or health, which largely depend on local labor.
For many, the only imaginable solution is to undertake an immigration project that allows them to support their families.
The extreme international polarization and the principles of human rights—on which the multilateral system was built since the middle of the last century—not only impact the daily lives of Sahrawi refugees. They also affect the horizon of While Morocco’s allies, the United States, Israel and the Arab Emirates, promote frameworks that evade the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination, the accumulated frustration grows. The consequences are foreseeable: increased migration, weakening of the institutional fabric and a fragile region in the face of new threats.
Reducing humanitarian aid is not a simple budget adjustment. In the case of the Sahrawi refugee population, it means cutting basic human rights: food, access to drinking water, schooling for minors or health care. Since the beginning of the conflict, the international community has alleviated the absence of a political solution with essential humanitarian coverage. In recent years, the political blockade and the lack of international assistance came together, leaving the Sahrawi refugee population in an even deeper situation of vulnerability.
