Vacaciones en Paz: los refugiados saharauis entre el activismo político y la solidaridad española
Holidays in Peace: Sahrawi refugees between political activism and Spanish solidarity

Author(s): Rita Reis
Subject(s): Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Sahrawi refugees; Vacaciones en Paz; humanitarian aid; cooperation and solidarity;
Summary/Abstract: Amid a process of decolonization and national construction, 160,000 Sahrawis have lived in refugee camps (Tinduf, Algeria), since 1975. Although existing in “the margins of the world” (Agier, 2008), the camps are centers of transnational movements and relations. Vacaciones en Paz is a solidarity program through which thousands of Sahrawi children spend the summer with Spanish families. Organized by the Youth Union of Saguía el Hamra and Río de Oro (UJSARIO) and the Amigos del Pueblo Saharaui associations, its main objective is to allow children to have access to specialized medical care, a varied food diet, and to leave the high temperatures of the refugee camps. In addition, it also promotes and strengthens the Sahrawi cause, through the relationships created between families and their children. This chapter explores the Vacaciones en Paz as an example of the multiple dynamics involved between political activism and humanitarian aid.

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