The international rights NGO, International Democratic Center (IDC), on Tuesday drew the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to the critical situation of people held against their will in Tindouf camps, southwestern Algeria, for over three decades.

The delegation of the southern provinces attending the 12th session of the Council of the UN Human Rights (CHR), called on Thursday the international community to exert pressure on the Algerian government to allow international organizations conduct a census of the populations of the Tindouf camps.

Morocco expressed on Wednesday before the UN Commission on Human Rights its concern about the continuing practices of slavery and forced labor by the leaders of the Polisario against certain groups of the population in the Tindouf camps, where Moroccan citizens are detained and deprived of return to their homeland. 

Morocco's initiative to grant broader autonomy to its southern provinces makes a "good contribution" to reaching a negotiated solution to the 34-year-old dispute over the Sahara, Serbian Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, said on Monday.

Khalihenna Mr. Ould Rachid, Chairman of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), received on Monday, September 14, 2009, Mr. Alberto Van Klaaveren, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Chile, at the Council headquarters in Rabat.