Conflict in Western Sahara is decolonization issue

Members of the European Union (MEP) reaffirmed that the Western Sahara conflict is “a decolonization issue,” to settle in accordance with international law, which grants the Sahrawi people the right to self-determination, reiterating their call to provide the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) with a mandate to monitor Human Rights.

In a resolution proposal tabled in the European Parliament following a statement made by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini on the Union’s priorities for the sessions of the Human Rights Council in 2016, MEPs of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) underlined once again, that “the conflict in Western Sahara is a decolonization issue.”

“According to international law, the Kingdom of Morocco has no sovereignty over Western Sahara and is considered as the occupying power,” they said in their resolution proposal, regretting that the Western Sahara issue is not on the agenda of the 2016 sessions of the Human Rights Council.

They highlighted the need for international monitoring of the situation of human rights in Western Sahara, reaffirming the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination which “must be subject to a democratic referendum, in accordance with the resolution 34/37 and 35/19 of the United Nations.”

The MEPs urged Morocco and the Polisario Front to continue the negotiations for a peaceful and lasting solution to the Western Sahara conflict. (SPS)