UN General Assembly Resolution Reaffirms Western Sahara as a Decolonization Issue

The United Nations has issued, in its official languages, General Assembly Resolution No. 80/89, adopted during the current session without a vote, on the question of Western Sahara under the agenda item concerning the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. The General Assembly took note of the report of the UN Secretary-General dated July 31, 2025, submitted to the current session, in which he reaffirmed that both the General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) and the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples continue to address the question of Western Sahara as a matter related to decolonization.

The General Assembly recalled all its previous resolutions, as well as those of the UN Security Council, concerning Western Sahara, including Security Council Resolution 690 (1991) of April 29, 1991, by which the Council established, under its authority, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Through the new resolution, the General Assembly reaffirmed the inalienable right of all peoples to self-determination and independence in accordance with the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) of December 14, 1960, which contains the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

The resolution further renewed the United Nations’ responsibility toward the people of Western Sahara and requested the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (the Committee of Twenty-Four) to continue examining the situation in Western Sahara as a territory subject to decolonization and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its eighty-first session. It also called on the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its next session on the implementation of the resolution. In a statement to the media, Sidi Mohamed Ammar, member of the National Secretariat, representative of the Polisario Front to the United Nations and coordinator with MINURSO, said that the renewed affirmation of the UN’s responsibility toward the Sahrawi people and the request for the Committee of Twenty-Four to continue its consideration of the situation, in accordance with paragraph 6 of the resolution, unequivocally confirms the United Nations’ consistent position on the international status of the Western Sahara issue as a decolonization matter under Chapter XI of the UN Charter and relevant General Assembly resolutions.