Occupied El Aaiun, 26 November 2025 (SPS) – Political parties, organizations, and figures from various countries around the world have condemned the crimes committed by the Moroccan occupation in Western Sahara, calling for the Sahrawi people to be granted their right to self-determination and for the acceleration of the decolonization process of the occupied territory.
In a joint statement signed by numerous organizations, parties, and individuals at the conclusion of the international campaign launched by the Sahrawi organization the Collection of Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA), which ran from October 1st to November 20th on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara, the signatories affirmed that “50 years after the Moroccan military occupation of the territory of Western Sahara, the Sahrawi people remain deprived of their inalienable right to self-determination, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law, United Nations resolutions, the opinions of the International Court of Justice, the European Court, and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, as well as the 2002 legal opinion of the UN Secretary-General’s legal counsel and the 2015 African Union legal advisor’s opinion regarding the exploitation of Western Sahara’s resources.”
They stressed that the body of international law — especially the 1975 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice — affirms that Morocco holds no sovereignty over Western Sahara, which remains listed by the UN as a Non-Self-Governing Territory pending the completion of the decolonization process.
The statement noted that the Moroccan occupying state has worked “systematically” to obstruct the organization of the self-determination referendum agreed upon by both parties in 1991. It also intensified human rights violations following the breach of the ceasefire in 2020, leaving the Sahrawi people facing a renewed state of war amid the silence of the international community and its troubling failure to act to enforce international humanitarian law.
The signatories highlighted a range of crimes committed by the occupation authorities, including extrajudicial killings, abductions, torture, arrests and political trials, forced displacement, forced demographic change, systematic repression, surveillance, harassment, and violence against activists, as well as the use of drones against civilians in grave violation of international humanitarian law. They also denounced the continued plundering of Sahrawi natural resources in collusion with foreign companies.
The statement further pointed out that the institutions of the European Union and its member states continue to conclude unlawful trade deals despite repeated rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the latest of which in October 2024 invalidated such agreements.
In conclusion, the signatories renewed their call to pressure Morocco to end its military occupation and enable the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination. They also urged the activation of African human rights mechanisms to strengthen accountability, condemn war crimes and crimes against humanity, address ongoing serious human rights violations, and effectively contribute to the release of Sahrawi political prisoners held in various Moroccan prisons.
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