The ICJ’s advisory opinion on Palestine “fully applies to Western Sahara” (diplomat)
New York (United Nations), July 25, 2024 – The representative of the Polisario Front at the United Nations and coordinator with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), Ambassador Sidi Mohamed Omar, has affirmed that the advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice constitutes (ICJ) a “major legal milestone” in the Palestinian issue and includes legal conclusions that will bolster the legal authority of the Sahrawi people in their defense of their legitimate rights to self-determination and independence.
In an exclusive interview with the Algerian Press Service, Ambassador Sidi Mohamed Omar stated that the recent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is a significant legal landmark for the Palestinian cause, as it emanates from the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. He added that its importance lies also in the fact that it encompasses a series of legal conclusions wholly applicable to Western Sahara, given that it is an occupied territory whose people are denied the right to self-determination, a principle recognized as a peremptory norm of international law by the court.
The Sahrawi diplomat pointed out that the inclusion of Western Sahara in the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories in 1963 “reaffirmed the international nature of the Western Sahara issue as a decolonization cause in accordance with Chapter XI of the UN Charter.” This inclusion underscores the international recognition of the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and independence, in line with General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) and the United Nations’ responsibilities towards the Sahrawi people and the status of the territory.
Ambassador Omar reiterated that “the Sahrawi side remains prepared to cooperate with the efforts of the United Nations and the African Union to achieve a peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict between the Sahrawi Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco, in accordance with the principles of international legitimacy and the foundational principles of the African Union’s Constitutive Act.”
