UNGA: 4th Committee Reaffirms Western Sahara’s Legal Status
The 4th Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, which addresses special political issues and decolonization, adopted a resolution concerning Western Sahara without a vote during its high-level 79th session on Thursday evening. This resolution references the clause related to implementing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
The committee acknowledged the report from the UN Secretary-General dated July 24, 2024, presented at the current session of the General Assembly. In this report, the Secretary-General indicated that both the 4th Committee and the Special Committee tasked with studying the situation regarding the implementation of the Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (the Committee of 24) regard the issue of Western Sahara as a matter of decolonization.
The committee recalled all decisions made by the General Assembly and the International Security Council concerning Western Sahara, including Security Council Resolution 690 (1991) dated April 29, 1991.
In its resolution, the committee reaffirmed the inalienable right of all peoples to self-determination and independence, in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter and General Assembly Resolution 1514 of December 14, 1960, which pertains to the Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
Furthermore, it emphasized the responsibility of the United Nations towards the people of Western Sahara, urging the Committee of 24 to continue reviewing the situation as one requiring decolonization and to submit a relevant report during the 80th session of the General Assembly. It also called upon the Secretary-General to present a report on the implementation of this resolution to the General Assembly at its next session.
In a statement to the media, Sidi Mohammed Ammar, the Polisario Front representative to the United Nations and coordinator with MINURSO, highlighted that the resolution adopted by the 4th Committee “reaffirms, as it does every year, the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence, in accordance with the principles outlined in the UN Charter and General Assembly Resolution 1514 concerning the Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.”
He asserted, “The 4th Committee’s reaffirmation of the legal framework surrounding the issue of Western Sahara as a matter of decolonization, along with the UN body’s responsibility towards the Sahrawi people, represents a strong and clear response to attempts by the occupying Moroccan state to alter the legal status of the Sahrawi question through repeated falsehoods and misleading claims, including the use of mercenaries to support its colonial agenda before the 4th Committee.”
This serves as “a clear response” to the positions of certain parties that support the Moroccan occupier and its expansionist policies, as well as to efforts aimed at undermining the Sahrawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination and independence, their permanent sovereignty over natural resources, and respect for the territorial integrity of their land, he added.
As in previous years, the Sahrawi issue was prominently featured during the high-level debates of the General Assembly, where several heads of state and government expressed their countries’ unequivocal support for the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and independence, while calling for a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara and an end to colonialism in this last colony of Africa.
Many countries have articulated similar positions during the sessions of the Fourth Committee, which commenced its work on October 3rd.
