Statement of Asia-Pacific Solidarity Conference for Western Sahara

Sun, 05/25/2025 - 14:50

Dili (Timor-Leste), 25 May 2025 (SPS) - The Asia-Pacific Solidarity Conference for Western Sahara, held in Dili, Timor-Leste on 19 May 2025, issued a statement, expressing solidarity with the people of Western Sahara in their struggle for self-determination and renewing demand that international law and established international principles be upheld in the resolution of the conflict that has lasted for 50 years.

This is the full text of the statement:

“The Asia-Pacific Solidarity Conference for Western Sahara

Dili, Timor-Leste

Statement

19 May 2025

We, participants of the Asia-Pacific Solidarity Conference for Western Sahara, held in Dili, Timor-Leste on 19 May 2025, express our solidarity with the people of Western Sahara in their struggle for self-determination and renew our demand that international law and established international principles be upheld in the resolution of the conflict that has lasted for 50 years. It is significant that the Conference was held in Timor-Leste, a country that achieved the restoration of independence through a UN-organized referendum. It is also significant that the Conference was held in the year that marks the 50th anniversary of the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ruled that Western Sahara,as a Non-Self-Governing territory, must be decolonized according to the UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV).

Fifty years have passed since then. While we are impressed by the patience of the people of Western Sahara to wait for a moment to exercise their right to self-determination and independence, we condemn the continuing occupation of Western Sahara by the Kingdom of Morocco in violation of international law. We also condemn human rights violations by the occupying force against the Saharawis who express their legitimate aspirations. We also condemn acts of some countries that undermine the rights of the people of Western Sahara by accepting Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara or by supporting the Moroccan autonomy plan which denies self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. We further condemn the plundering of natural resources in the land and the sea of Western Sahara such as phosphates and marine resources.

We gathered in Dili, Timor-Leste, to convey the civil society’s perspective to the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24) which will organize a regional seminar here on 21-23 May. We ask the C-24:

1. to reaffirm the UN’s responsibility to complete the decolonization process of Western Sahara in accordance with international law, the UN Charter, and UN resolutions on Western Sahara.

2. to make sure that the promised referendum be implemented immediately so that the people of Western Sahara can freely and democratically exercise their right to self-determination;

3. to reaffirm permanent sovereignty of the people of Western Sahara over the natural resources of their land and sea;

4. to include the monitoring of human rights situation in Western Sahara in the mandates of the MINURSO;

5. to urge the Kingdom of Morocco to release all Saharawi political prisoners immediately;

6. to send a new fact-finding mission to Western Sahara to get first-hand information on the ground.

7. to address problems of peoples under occupation that are struggling for self-determination.

Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA)

Australia Western Sahara Association Victoria (AWSA Victoria)

Friends of Western Sahara Japan

Japan East Timor Coalition

Movimentu Solidaridade ba Sahara Occidental Timor-Leste (MSSOTL)

Forum NGO Timor-Leste (FONGTIL)

La’o Hamutuk