Algiers, 28 December 2024 (SPS) - Bolstered in their struggle for the right to self-determination by a “historical” ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that inflicted a crushing defeat on Morocco, definitively destroying its allegations of sovereignty over Western Sahara, the Sahrawi people enjoyed a successful year in 2024.
Not only has the Court definitively the two trade agreements on fishing and agriculture sealed in 2019 between Morocco and the European Union (EU) and illegally extended to Western Sahara, but it has also settled the record straight. Firstly, by reaffirming that under international law, Western Sahara has its distinct status” in relation to Morocco, and then, by recognizing, once again, the Polisario Front as “a subject of international law, representative of the Sahrawi people, able to take legal action before European courts.”
The Court also specified that the Sahrawi people’s consent to these agreements was one condition of their validity.
This clarification was in line with the approach adopted by the European Commission to previous decisions of the Court on the agreements on agriculture and fishing. Rather than seeking the consent of the Sahrawi people, who are the sole holders of the right to determination, as provided for by the Court, the Commission consulted Moroccan stakeholders. In other words, most of the current inhabitants do not belong to the Sahrawi people.
The clarifications made by the CJEU in its latest rulings now constitute the legal frame of reference with which the EU must comply in its relations with Morocco. The Polisario Front's lawyer, the late Gilles Devers, applauded these clarifications.
"This decision, which definitively set the legal framework, will mark the Court's jurisprudence," said the lawyer.
“The year 2024 was exceptional in the history of the Sahrawi people”, assured Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, representative of the Sahrawi Republic to Switzerland, the United Nations (UN) and international organizations in Geneva, welcoming the “progress” made in the struggle for the exercise of the right to self-determination by the Sahrawi people, who in 2024 found themselves facing “increased challenges.”
Following the persistence of certain countries, particularly France, in seeking to circumvent European court rulings, the Polisario Front lawyer warned foreign companies operating in the occupied territories of Western Sahara against continuing their activities after the European Court ruling. He warned that the Polisario Front, which had waited 10 years to obtain such a ruling, will not water down the application and, if necessary, will initiate well-targeted proceedings to show its determination.”
Indeed, the CJEU's decision was a fatal blow to the Moroccan occupier, depriving it of the economic and political levers that enabled it to continue its illegal occupation of Western Sahara.
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