Geneva (UN Human Rights Council) 16 June 2026 (SPS) — Sahrawi Ambassador Malainin Lakhal warned that the selective application of international law and double standards in Western Sahara threatens to normalize illegal colonial occupation and shatter the foundational legal architecture of the United Nations.
Speaking at a high-level Side-event titled "Western Sahara and the Right to Self-Determination: Challenges to International Legality," held Tuesday in the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ambassador Lakhal dismantled attempts by occupying forces to reframe Africa's last unresolved decolonization issue as a mere “abstract political dispute”, calling on the international community to firmly reject dangerous double standards.
Ambassador Lakhal opened his address by commending the Geneva Support Group for Western Sahara for convening the timely event. He emphasized that "the question of Western Sahara is not an abstract political dispute, as some well-known narratives try to imply; it is fundamentally, an unfinished decolonization issue,"
"Western Sahara continues to be listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory and therefore remains subject to the principles and obligations set out in the UN’s Charter and General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV)", he recalled.
The diplomat systematically evoked the enduring legal authority of the 1975 International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion, which concluded that no ties of territorial sovereignty existed between Western Sahara and its neighbors that could impede the application of a free and genuine expression of the population's will. Consequently, he affirmed that Morocco's presence in the territory remains "a clear occupation resulting from a military aggression", a solid legal conclusion that has never been superseded or altered.
He also emphasized the alarming tendency of certain international actors promoting unilateral frameworks that seek to replace a genuine self-determination process with predetermined political outcomes.
"Replacing agreed decolonization mechanisms with unilateral deals or arrangements risks weakening the UN Charter's authority," Lakhal cautioned. "Self-determination as a universal principle cannot be diluted, made contingent, or redefined for political convenience; it must be applied consistently and without exception."
He further observed that applying double standards to regional conflicts only attracts widespread international criticism, fostering systemic disorder instead of providing real solutions.
On another hand, Malainin levelled a sharp critique against the political asymmetry within international forums, specifically pointing out how the Moroccan occupying power exploits UN mechanisms to suppress Sahrawi voices.
"It is unacceptable for an occupying power like Morocco to be able to exercise undeserved influence within the UN human rights system to the detriment of those under its colonial oppression," he declared. "Ensuring fairness, balance, and an equal voice for all concerned is essential if the Organization is to fulfil its mandate with credibility."
Reaffirming the consistent posture of the Sahrawi leadership, Lakhal stated that the Polisario Front continues to engage in good faith with UN-led processes and successive Personal Envoys. However, he noted that the total absence of tangible progress raises legitimate concerns regarding the consistency of the international system in implementing its own resolutions.
Concluding his address, the Sahrawi diplomat reminded the assembled audience composed of Ambassadors, diplomats, jurists, and human rights defenders that the international community faces a stark and historical choice that carries immense weight for international stability far beyond the Maghreb.
"The question before us is straightforward: will the international community uphold the principle that peoples under colonial administration retain the right freely to determine their political future, or will political expediency gradually replace legal obligation? The choice before us is not between competing political preferences, but between an international order grounded in the rule of law and dangerous approaches that risk normalizing unilateralism, territorial expansionism, illegal occupation, and the selective application of legal principles." (SPS)
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