NEW YORK (UN) 15 October 2026 (SPS) – The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the United Nations General Assembly today adopted a resolution 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, during its eighty-first session.
In the resolution, supported by 152 states, the Fourth Committee took note of the report of the UN Secretary-General dated July 31, 2026, submitted to the General Assembly at its current session. In his report, the Secretary-General reaffirmed that 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 address the question of Western Sahara as a decolonization issue.
The resolution also recalled all General Assembly and UN Security Council resolutions regarding Western Sahara, including Security Council Resolution 690 (1991) of April 29, 1991, which established the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) under its authority.
Through its resolution, the Committee reaffirmed the inalienable right of all peoples to self-determination and independence in accordance with the principles set forth in the UN Charter and General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) of December 14, 1960, containing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
It further reiterated the responsibility of the United Nations 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 (Committee of 24) to continue considering the situation in Western Sahara as a territory subject to decolonization, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its eighty-second session.
It also called upon the Secretary-General to submit a report on the implementation of this resolution to the General Assembly at its next session.
In a press statement, Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar, Member of the National Secretariat, Representative of the POLISARIO Front to the United Nations, and Coordinator with MINURSO, emphasized that the resolution adopted by the Fourth Committee today reaffirms, as it does every year, the legal framework of Western Sahara as a decolonization question and the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence in accordance with the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV).
The Sahrawi diplomat added that the Fourth Committee’s reaffirmation of the legal framework of Western Sahara as a decolonization issue serves as a strong and clear response to the attempts of the Moroccan occupying state to alter the legal nature of the Sahrawi cause by repeating the same misleading claims, bringing a "group" of mercenaries and agents to echo its false propaganda before the Fourth Committee, and resorting to verbal "thuggery," as witnessed by the Committee.
Furthermore, he noted that this resolution constitutes a firm response to the positions of certain countries supporting the Moroccan occupying state and its expansionist policies in Western Sahara by promoting "proposals" that contradict the spirit and text of the UN Charter and aim to undermine the Sahrawi people's inalienable right to self-determination and independence. (SPS)
TR 090/500/60 (SPS)
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