UN Expert Reaffirms Sahrawi People’s Right to Self-Determination Referendum
The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ben Saul, vigorously defended the right of the Sahrawi people to freely choose their political future through a free and fair referendum.
In an analysis titled “Western Sahara: Self-Determination, Conflict and the Path Forward,” published in the Spanish online outlet Noteolvides del Sahara Occidental, Professor Ben Saul argued that “self-determination does not presuppose outcomes,” reaffirming that it remains “the intact right of a people to freely choose their political future through a free and fair referendum,” including in Western Sahara.
Much of Saul’s analysis focused on Resolution 2797 of the UN Security Council on the Sahrawi issue, adopted in October 2025, in which he clarified that the text “does not formally endorse (so-called) Moroccan sovereignty, nor explicitly impose autonomy as a definitive solution,” in reference notably to attempts by the Moroccan occupier to suggest otherwise.
“The Sahrawi people have the right, under international law, to freely choose their political future and must not be pressured by Morocco,” or any other country or party, “into accepting a predetermined outcome,” he stressed.
The Australian jurist, who holds the Challis Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney, also insisted on the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination as recognized by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1975, along with the established international standards governing the decolonization of non-self-governing territories.
Professor Ben Saul also pointed out that the African Union (AU) continues to recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as a full member State, and that the United Nations recognizes the Polisario Front as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people within the framework of the decolonization process of Western Sahara. (APS) 60864/
