International Conference Calls for Immediate Application of UN Resolutions to Western Sahara

Geneva Support Group for Western Sahara

Algeria – Angola – Botswana – Cuba – Mozambique – Namibia –Nicaragua Nigeria – South Africa – Tanzania – Timor Leste – Uganda – Venezuela – Zimbabwe

PRESS RELEASE

Geneva, 15 September 2020

In the margins of the 45th session of the Human Rights Council, the Geneva Support Group for  Western Sahara organised a High-level video-conference on 15 September 2020 on the theme: “60th Anniversary of UNGA resolution 1514 (XV): its application in Western Sahara”.

Dozens of people from around the world assisted to the video-conference that was moderated by the Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of East Timor in Geneva, Mr. Fernandes. The High level panel was composed of H.E. Mr. Brahim Ghali (President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic – SADR), H.E. Ms. Nandi-Ndaitwah (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of Namibia), H.E. Ms. Xavier Reis Magno (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of East Timor), H.E. Ms. Mxakato-Diseko (Permanent Representative of South Africa in Geneva), Mr. Ngabirano (National Coordinator of the Pan African Think Tank in Uganda), Prof. Smith (Ottawa University), Mr. Barrena Arza (Member of the European Parliament – Spain), Mr. Bastagli (Former UNSG Special Representative and Head of MINURSO – 2005/2006) and Mr. Al-Haissan (President of the Saharawi National Human Rights Commission).

This conference was an opportunity for the participants to reaffirm their strong and unfailing support to the Saharawi people for the exercise of their right to self-determination by denouncing the multiple and recurrent manoeuvres aimed at postponing indefinitely the organisation of the referendum of self-determination that Spain was requested by the General Assembly in 1966 already to organize. The international community and notably the UN organs had thus been questioned by speakers on the lack of political will to find the way to organize the referendum in Western Sahara within the framework of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the Charter of the African Union.

In that connection, H.E. Ms. Nandi-Ndaitwah (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of Namibia) expressed her conviction that, while her country celebrated 30 years of independence this year, the UN will be able to ensure that the Saharawi people exercise their riht to self-determination. Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the right to self-determination has achieved the status of a peremptory norm from which derogation is not permitted. She affirmed that “The General Assembly cannot continue playing the game of wait and see what the Security Council does because inaction or indecisive action entrenches the current illegal status quo and it emboldens the occupying power to continue with its human rights violations in the territory.”

Mr. Al-Haissan (President of the Saharawi National Human Rights Commission) expressed his concern at the international community at large and, in particular, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN failure to impose to the Kingdom of Morocco to respect international law, although many international human rights mechanisms for many years now are documenting the human rights violations committed by the Occupying Power in Western Sahara. Noting the incapacity of the Security Council and of the UN Secretary General to implement UNGA resolution 1514 in Western Sahara, Mr. Al-Haissan called upon the real friends of Western Sahara to organize, in Africa, an International Conference which would establish the roadmap enabling the Saharawi people to peacefully and freely exercise their right to full independence, in accordance with resolution 1514.

H.E. Ms. Xavier Reis Magno (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of East Timor) reaffirmed the steadily support of East Timor to the people of Western Sahara for their struggle for freedom, which is similar to that the Timorese people had to go through. Regretting the lack of international political will and the failure of the UN to successfully achieve the organizing of the referendum in Western Sahara, a territory that is still under illegal occupation, the Minister encouraged the Office of the High-Commissioner for Human Rights to pay due attention to the situation in the Territory.

H.E. Ms. Mxakato-Diseko (Permanent Representative of South Africa in Geneva) in recalling former ANC leader Oliver Tambo words “We are interested in the liberation of all oppressed people in the whole of Africa and in the world as a whole”, underscored that the UN General Assembly adopted a series of resolutions, which reaffirm the legitimacy of liberation struggles by all available means, including armed struggle. Ambassador Mxakato-Diseko stressed that the the “empire of the mind” of the colonizers (colonization of the minds / alienation / removing collective memory) must be avoided at all costs and called for the strengthening of international solidarity with the People of Western Sahara.

Mr. Ngabirano (National Coordinator of the Pan African Think Tank in Uganda) recalling that African people fought and defeated colonialism and apartheid in almost the whole continent with collective solidarity under the ideology of Pan-Africanism, stressed that any attempt to accept Morocco’s colonialism over Western Sahara would betray African values and attempt to African Union’s principles and Charter. He highlighted that AU should expedite the decolonization process of Western Sahara pursuant to its philosophy of a free Africa and the United Nations should impose sanctions on Morocco for breach of the most fundamental basic rules prohibiting aggression and occupation.

Mr. Barrena Arza (Member of the European Parliament – Spain) in recalling the terms of the UNGA resolution 1514, stressed Spain’s bold historic responsibility for the decolonisation process in Western Sahara. He also pointed to the European Union responsibility and the necessity to enforce the EU Court of Justice sentences on EU-Moroccan agreements in relation to Western  Sahara and expressed his believe that freedom for Western Sahara will suits Europe’s own interests.

Mr. Bastagli (Former UNSG Special Representative and Head of MINURSO – 2005/2006) pointed out the monopoly of main powers in the UN and in the Security Council in particular, where no African country has a permanent seat. Mr. Bastagli invited African countries to ask to join the

“Group of Friends of Western Sahara” which is composed mainly by four Permanent members of the UNSC. He added that an alternative Group in New York, such the one created in Geneva, that should invite countries committed with the principles of the UN to join and engage in the discussions on the self-determination of Western Sahara. He also stressed that the issue should be raised in other UN bodies, like the General Assembly and its subsidiaries bodies and that in the absence of an Administering Power, the Secretary General should submit the information in accordance with article 73 of the Charter.

In concluding the conference, President Ghali reaffirmed that, with the tacit consent of the Securty Council, Morocco is persistently ignoring the international legality and therefore, the Frente POLISARIO has no choice but to reconsider its engagement in the political process in its current form where the United Nations mission – MINURSO – gradually becomes a tool for consolidating Moroccan colonialism instead of ending it. He further stressed that there is no solution, neither today nor tomorrow, without consulting the Sahrawi people, the exclusive owner of the right to decide on the final status of their country. Any vision outside this framework will be doomed to failure because it is illegal and therefore rejected by the Sahrawi people.