Observations and Topics to be Included in the List of Issues
From a legal standpoint, the Sahrawi people are unequivocally entitled to determine their political future through a referendum on self-determination. The United Nations General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, and the Organization of African Unity have all affirmed that Morocco cannot exercise sovereignty over the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara and have called for a referendum so that the Sahrawi people can decide their political status. This report seeks to highlight several violations by the Kingdom of Morocco of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara.
Bourdieu’s capital and insurgent group resilience:a field-theoretic approach to the polisario front
The conflict between the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco is approaching its 43rd year and, despite being under-reported, continues to draw attention for the resilience of the ethnically Sahrawi rebel movement. Even as regional and international politics have shifted—and with nearly 150,000 Sahrawi refugees living in camps in Algeria—the Polisario Front has endured. This article asks what explains that persistence and applies Bourdieu’s “forms of capital” as an analytical lens.
Amnesty International public statement: Moroccan authorities assault Sahrawi women activists
On 15–16 April 2022, Moroccan authorities beat and injured at least five Sahrawi women for participating in peaceful protests in support of prominent activist Sultana Khaya, who has been under de facto house arrest since November 2020 because of her advocacy of Western Saharan self-determination.
A gap in the wall: Collective report on violations of economic, social and cultural rights in Western Sahara under illegal occupation by Morocco
This report is the result of the work of a group of young people who, in Barria in 2013, set out to gain an in-depth understanding of the Western Sahara conflict. Their aim was to produce a report—at times even described as an investigation—and this document is the tangible outcome. Acknowledging their limitations as non-researchers, they seek to use data and witness testimonies to expose the realities of violations of economic, social, and cultural rights and to keep making those violations public. They argue that only by naming, visualizing, and giving a human face to these issues can solutions be found—solutions that, in some political circles, are repeatedly delayed despite their profound impact on the lives and futures of individuals, families, and an entire people.
A Battlefield Transformed: From Guerilla Resistance to Mass Nonviolent Struggle in the Western Sahara
In late May 2005 erupted a mass uprising in the Maghreb against foreign domination. Thousands of ethnic Sahrawis in Western Sahara—a former Spanish colony under strict Moroccan military control since Morocco invaded and occupied the territory in 1975—took to the streets, echoing recent largely unarmed protest movements in Georgia, Ukraine, and Lebanon. Demonstrators demanded the withdrawal of Moroccan troops and independence for what they describe as Africa’s last remaining colony.