The European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) has taken note of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2797, adopted on 31 October 2025, extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
ELDH expresses its deep concern that, far from promoting a just and lasting solution, this resolution perpetuates an unjust status quo. It reflects a growing bias that disregards the fundamental principles of international law and undermines the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination.
By prioritising the so-called “Moroccan autonomy initiative” as a supposed framework for resolving the conflict, the resolution distorts the UN’s original mandate and transforms a clear decolonisation issue into a question of political negotiation. This approach seeks to replace the obligation to hold a genuine self-determination referendum with a pre-determined political formula incompatible with international legality.
ELDH recalls that the Polisario Front remains the sole legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, as recognised by the United Nations. Any attempt to bypass this status or impose a unilateral framework contradicts international law and the principles of decolonisation enshrined in the UN Charter.
The Sahrawi people’s legitimate struggle for freedom, sovereignty, and independence cannot be substituted by artificial compromises designed to legitimise continued occupation.
ELDH reaffirms its full solidarity with the Sahrawi people and their representative, the Polisario Front, and reiterates its unwavering support for their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
ELDH calls on the United Nations and the international community to restore legal and historical clarity to the question of Western Sahara — which remains, unequivocally, an issue of decolonisation, not territorial dispute — and to take concrete steps to ensure the implementation of the long-promised referendum on self-determination.