Methodology

Human Rights Watch conducted research missions to El-Ayoun in Western Sahara in December 2005, November 2007, and March 2008. The 2007 trip also included a visit to the city of Smara. Human Rights Watch met with Moroccan officials, who also furnished answers in writing to questions we submitted. Their responses are quoted throughout this report and reproduced in large part as an appendix.

In El-Ayoun and Smara, Human Rights Watch interviewed tens of victims of human rights abuses, most of them referred to us by local human rights organizations. We also interviewed human rights activists and lawyers, civilians and policemen who were injured by protestors, and representatives of civil society, both Sahrawis and non-Sahrawis

In Human Rights Watch's three visits to Western Sahara during the past three years, Moroccan authorities placed no direct obstacles in the way of our work, our meetings or our movements.

There were, however, indirect pressures on our work. Our researchers observed men sitting in unmarked vehicles or motorcycles near the locations in El-Ayoun and Smara where we met with Sahrawi activists and alleged victims of abuse. These men, whom the activists credibly described as police agents, remained at a distance from our researchers; however, they created an intimidating atmosphere for ordinary citizens who sought to meet us. In addition, the commonplace harassment of Sahrawis who provide information about Moroccan abuses to visiting human rights delegations, as documented in this report, creates disincentives for them to do so. While we found many Sahrawis eager to testify about abuses they had allegedly suffered, we also encountered or heard about others who declined to provide us information, explaining that they feared reprisal by the authorities.

We did not formally request a visit to El-Ayoun civil prison; the treatment of prisoners there or elsewhere fell outside the scope of our planned work.

A Human Rights Watch team of three researchers and an interpreter visited four refugee camps (Smara, El-Ayoun, February 27, and Rabouni) near Tindouf, Algeria, from November 10 – 13, 2007. We did not visit the Polisario-controlled portion of Western Sahara or interview Sahrawis who reside in this sparsely populated area.

We interviewed 28 refugees residing in the camps, six Polisario officials, four foreigners working for the UN agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are present in the camps, as well as other foreigners residing in the camps. We selected the refugees for interviews through referrals by Sahrawis living in Western Sahara, foreign workers living in the camps, journalists who had visited the camps, and through referrals by camp residents themselves.

Our interview subjects do not constitute a scientific sample of the camp population, although they did offer a range of views on the Polisario leadership. In addition, we compared their testimonies with information from interviews we conducted outside of the camps, both with Sahrawis and non-Sahrawis who had a direct and recent experience of life in the camps. These included Sahrawis living in Spain and France as well as more than 19 who had left the camps between 2006 and 2008 to live in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. We also interviewed a number of Sahrawis who had left the camps ten or more years ago about past Polisario abuses; this report, however, focuses on the present-day human rights situation.

While in the Tindouf camps, Human Rights Watch set its own schedule and moved about freely. We did not conduct interviews with residents in the presence of Polisario officials. However, due to housing conditions, it was often impossible to conduct interviews in a private, one-on-one setting. We conducted interviews in Arabic, French, Spanish and English, using our own interpreter when necessary.

Several of the persons Human Rights Watch interviewed for this report asked not to be named. In these cases we provide the date and location of the interview but not the interviewee's name.