Chahid El-Hafed (Sahrawi Refugee Camps) 28 October 2026 (SPS) – In a joint letter addressed to members of the UN Security Council, 112 Sahrawi civil society organizations from refugee camps, occupied territories, and the diaspora, alongside 88 NGOs across more than 40 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, as well as international organizations, have called for a resolution that guarantees the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and ends the Moroccan illegal occupation of Western Sahara.
This unified initiative comes as Security Council members begin deliberations on the draft resolution to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). It unfolds amid escalating US-led pressure to push through political wording and formulas that violate international legality and favor Moroccan occupation options over well-established UN principles.
The United States recently circulated a Zero draft resolution that sparked widespread criticism and objections from observers, analysts, and diplomats globally, as it attempts to bypass the core of the peace process and dilute UN frameworks centered on self-determination.
These move met firm resistance from the Polisario Front, which declared its strict refusal to engage in any negotiations or accept any resolution that violates the inalienable rights of the Sahrawi people or predetermines settlement outcomes in favor of the occupying power.
Titled "Western Sahara Cannot Be a Bargaining Chip: A Call for a UN Security Council Resolution Based on International Law," the letter urges the members of the UN body to resist these attempts and adopt a clear, binding, and time-bound resolution.
Such a resolution, the signatories emphasize, must complete the decolonization of the territory and enable the Sahrawi people to freely and genuinely exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
The signatories highlighted that Western Sahara has been listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory since 1963. They noted that the 1975 International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion rejected any Moroccan sovereignty claims over the territory. They further recalled that UN Security Council Resolution 690 (1991) established MINURSO with the explicit mandate of implementing the OAU-UN Settlement Plan and organizing a referendum, a promise that remains unfulfilled.
Furthermore, the letter reaffirmed firm rejection of any political maneuvers or deals aimed at compromising Sahrawi rights for geopolitical interests or legitimizing the status quo of occupation.
It stressed that any settlement failing to include the option of independence or lack the free expression of the Sahrawi people's will remains legally and politically void.
The letter also demanded an immediate end to Moroccan human rights violations, protection for civilians and rights defenders, the release of political prisoners, and unrestricted access for UN human rights mechanisms to the occupied territories.
It finally called for the protection of Western Sahara's natural resources and guaranteed safe return for refugees upon full decolonization. (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)
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