Around 30,000 children under five in the Tindouf camps in southwestern Algeria remain at risk after routine immunization programs were disrupted, a United Nations draft report says. It also warns of rising child malnutrition and persistent shortages of humanitarian assistance.
Dated October 1 and authored by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the report says acute malnutrition, stunting and anemia among children have continued to climb. That trend raises concern about a possible food emergency. Food insecurity affects an estimated 80% of the camp population, while aid isn't enough to fully meet household needs.
The Humanitarian Picture
The UN refugee agency UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) continue to assist refugees across the five camps near Tindouf. The WFP works with the Algerian Red Crescent and other partners to provide food assistance. But the money isn't there. Rising child malnutrition and anemia are putting added pressure on health and nutrition services that already face heavy demands.
The figures are stark. The 2025 Sahrawi Refugee Response Plan received $57.9 million (MAD 532.7 million) of the $104 million (MAD 956.8 million) requested. The 2026-2027 plan seeks $179.3 million (MAD 1.65 billion), including $89.6 million (MAD 824.3 million) for 2026. By June 30, donors had delivered $15.2 million (MAD 139.8 million). That's 17% of the amount requested for this year.
Education in the camps is fragile, too. Refugee volunteers teach many of the students.
A Population Nobody Has Counted
A problem unresolved for years lies behind the funding gap: no one has verified how many people live in the camps. Humanitarian planning relies on an estimate of about 90,000 vulnerable Sahrawi refugees. It isn't a formal census. UNHCR says it will continue using the figure until a full registration exercise takes place.
The agencies have clearly described the limits of that approach. A 2006 UN report said assistance had been reduced to 90,000 beneficiaries and that the figure would serve "until a comprehensive registration exercise" could be conducted. A 2009 UN document said accurate statistics on refugee numbers in Tindouf were unavailable. A 2017 document said assistance remained based on 90,000 "pending the registration of the refugees in the camps near Tindouf." In 2018, UNHCR called it the official planning figure for the most vulnerable and stressed that it wasn't a verified population count. Other UN-linked assessments have put the overall camp population higher.
Families pay the practical cost. Without reliable data on who lives in the camps and who needs help, agencies struggle to assess needs and plan food, medicine, vaccines and education support. They're operating without a database that shows residents' numbers and individual profiles.
A Politically Charged Count
The census question is sensitive because the camps' size and composition remain disputed. Morocco has repeatedly called for registration. Algeria and the Polisario Front have opposed or resisted those calls. During a 2015 UN discussion, Morocco's representative said the international community should be able to establish "the number and origin" of people in the camps.
Former Polisario officials Hamada El Bihi and Mustafa Salma have alleged that population figures were inflated. They argued that only about 20% of the camp population is of Sahrawi origin, with the remainder allegedly including Tuareg from Niger, Mali, Chad, Libya and Algeria. Those claims are allegations. The actual size and composition remain unverified.
In 2026, several speakers before the UN Special Committee on Decolonization again pressed the issue. Côte d'Ivoire said it was concerned about conditions in the camps and called for a census. Chile reiterated that UNHCR should be allowed to register the population.
Diplomatic Options
Guterres' report calls for renewed confidence-building measures, saying humanitarian agencies continue assisting refugees despite the unresolved political dispute. His Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, working with UNHCR, proposed voluntary "familiarization visits." Individual Sahrawi refugees would travel to Laayoune and Dakhla, see conditions in Morocco firsthand and learn about Morocco's Autonomy Plan. The proposal would create contact between refugees and the wider territory after years of separation.
Guterres urged the parties to negotiate in good faith. He said protecting the population can't be separated from the humanitarian and political dimensions of the dispute. He also said the Autonomy Plan can represent "the most feasible outcome" to the dispute.
Why This Matters: For children in the Tindouf camps, the dispute over a headcount isn't abstract. By midyear, funding covered 17% of this year's request; alongside disrupted vaccinations and rising malnutrition, that translates into hungrier, sicker kids. The registration standoff has left aid agencies estimating need instead of measuring it for years, while the 90,000 planning figure has stood for more than two decades. Humanitarian relief shouldn't depend on the outcome of a political fight, yet the two remain tangled together here. Until donors close the funding gap and the parties allow a credible count, families will keep bearing the cost of a stalemate they didn't create.