Jointly organized by
– CODESA (Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders) and the
– European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH).
Register now – deadline 25 October 2025
https://eu01web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_faYl5_NhS-mDXqZtXzWOUw
Interpretation will be available during the event.
When registering, you will be kindly asked to indicate which languages you would like to follow the webinar in. You may select one or more from the following options: English, French, Arabic, and Spanish. Interpretation will be organized according to the preferences indicated.
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Fifty years have passed since Morocco’s military occupation of Western Sahara, yet the Sahrawi people remain deprived of their inalienable right to self-determination, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law and numerous United Nations resolutions, as well as the opinions of the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Justice, and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in addition to the 2002 Advisory Opinion of the UN Secretary-General’s Legal Counsel and the 2015 Advisory Opinion of the African Union on the exploitation of Western Sahara’s natural resources.
International law, particularly the 1975 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, confirms that Morocco holds no sovereignty over Western Sahara, which remains listed by the United Nations among Non-Self-Governing Territories, pending the completion of the decolonisation process.
With this seminar, we support the demand for the realisation of the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination.We provide guidance on the key legal issues in this conflict: illegal occupation, illegal exploitation of natural resources, and human rights violations in the occupied territories.
Speakers will be legal experts from Western Sahara and Europe and Human Rights Experts from Western Sahara.
Draft Agenda
Introduction
- History of the conflict
- Geopolitical and economic interests
- Refugee camps near Tindouf
- UN resolutions
- UN General Assembly resolution accordingly competent to entertain the request 1514 (XV)
- UN SC Resolutions
- Bribery used by the Moroccan occupying force to influence the decisions of the European Parliament
Legal assessment of the various elements of the conflict
- Human Rights situation in Western Sahara
- EU exploitation of Western Sahara, trade agreements
- Legal Status of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
- Legal Status of the Polisario
- ICJ judgements: Advisory Opinion of 16 October 1975
- African Court of Human and Peoples’ Right, 13 October 2022
- CJEU judgements: concerning the exploitation of WS resources, 4 October 2024
Existing legal remedies and mechanisms
Campaign for a petition calling for respect of international humanitarian law and international legality in Western Sahara
Discussion about the conditions for interested lawyers to visit of Western Sahara – meeting with the Sahraouis population, their Human Rights organisations and their lawyers