International Law and the Western Sahara Conflict

Juan Soroeta Liceras
Pages: 343 pages
Shipping Weight: 475 gram
Published: 06-2014
Publisher: WLP
Language: US
ISBN (softcover) : 9789462401372

Product Description

Since joining the UN in 1955, its main bodies pressured Spain to proceed with the decolonization of "Spanish Sahara", which shortly after, and under the name of Western Sahara, was included in the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. When Spain was preparing the referendum of self-determination in 1975, the General Assembly asked for it to be suspended until the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion. This opinion established that in 1884 there were no ties of sovereignty between Morocco and Mauritania and the people of the Territory and that the conflict should be resolved through the exercise of the right of self-determination. Nevertheless, following the signing of the Madrid Agreements and the withdrawal of Spain from the territory, Morocco and Mauritania occupied it, forcing the Saharawi people to start a war of national liberation that would last until 1991. That year launched a Peace Plan negotiated by Morocco and the POLISARIO Front, which provided for the holding of the referendum on self-determination. When the MINURSO issued the composition of the census in 2000, Morocco decided to abandon the Peace Plan, accusing the UN of bias, thus leaving the conflict in an apparent impasse. Since 1975, the result of this conflict has seen the Saharawi people split between those who survive through international humanitarian aid in refugee camps in Tinduf, Algeria, and those who live in their own country under Moroccan occupation. This book explains the key issues of the conflict from the perspective of International law, with particular emphasis on the development of the Peace Plan as well as the causes and consequences of its paralysis.

A sample of some chapters can be found below!

About the Author

Juan Soroeta is Professor of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of the Basque Country. After more than twenty years of research, he is considered the most recognized Spanish specialist on the conflict in the former Spanish colony. In addition to this book, he has written and published numerous articles pertaining to this issue. As President of AIODH (International Association for Human Rights Monitoring) he has acted for many years as an international observer of the trials taking place in the Western Sahara and Morocco against Saharawi human rights activists.