The UN General Assembly adopts a resolution reaffirms the legal framework of the Western Sahara issue

New York, 15 December 2022 (SPS) - The General Assembly of the United Nations at its seventy-seventh session adopted resolution No. 77/133 without a vote on the issue of Western Sahara under item 55 of its agenda related to the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

The General Assembly took note of the report of the United Nations Secretary-General of 4 October 2022 to the General Assembly in which the Secretary-General emphasized, among other things, that the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the General Assembly and Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24) address the issue of Western Sahara as a matter of decolonization.

The General Assembly also recalled all General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on Western Sahara, including Security Council Resolution No. 690 (1991) of April 29, 1991, by which the Security Council established and under its authority the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

The General Assembly, through its resolutions, reaffirmed the inalienable right of all peoples to self-determination and independence in accordance with the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations and General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of December 14, 1960 containing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

It also reaffirmed the responsibility of the United Nations towards the people of Western Sahara, and requested the Special Committee on Decolonization to continue seeking suitable means for the immediate and full implementation of the Declaration and to carry out the actions approved by the Assembly regarding the International Decades for the Eradication of Colonialism in all Territories that have not yet exercised their right to self-determination, including independence.

In a statement to the media, the member of the National Secretariat, representative of the Polisario Front at the United Nations and coordinator with MINURSO, Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar, stressed that the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly endorses and confirms the same resolution adopted by the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) to the General Assembly on October 14, 2022.

The resolution reaffirms, he added, the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence in accordance with the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations and General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), and reinforces the firm position of the international organization on the issue of Western Sahara as an issue of Decolonization has been on the agenda since 1963 of both the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly and the Special Committee on Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24).

Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar reaffirmed that the United Nations General Assembly's reaffirmation of the legal framework for the Western Sahara issue as a decolonization issue and the responsibility of the UN body towards the Saharawi people is a strong blow to the Moroccan occupation state and its attempts to change the legal nature of the Sahrawi issue and distort the legitimate struggle of the Saharawi people.

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