Frustration is growing among the Sahrawi population. Since 1975, they have been living under difficult conditions in refugee camps in the desert or under massive repression in the occupied territory. Meanwhile, the occupying power, Morocco, is pursuing geopolitical interests. The colonial conflict over Western Sahara remains unresolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is marked on most maps, but not all. Depending on knowledge and interests: the part of Western Sahara occupied by Morocco since 1975, located on the African Atlantic coast. The former Spanish colony holds the UN status of a Non-Self-Governing Territory, where the decolonization process has not been completed. It is therefore considered the last colony in Africa. A referendum on the self-determination of Western Sahara, agreed upon in 1991 as part of a ceasefire agreement, has yet to be held. Since then, the UN peacekeeping force MINURSO has been stationed there. The Security Council, which is responsible for resolving the conflict, renews its mandate every fall for a year but has made no progress so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other two areas of Western Sahara are five refugee camps in the Algerian desert, where people fled to in 1975 from the Moroccan invasion, and the liberated area, a barren, narrow strip of land. This is separated from the occupied Western Sahara by a 2,700 km long sand wall and several million landmines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This may be one reason why Western Sahara receives so little attention. Additionally, international interest naturally shifts to more urgent and recent conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Successful Lobbying by the Occupying Power<\/strong> Europe\u2019s Fear of Migrants<\/strong> Morocco\u2019s second major lobbying element besides migration is economic relations. The country presents itself as a stable economic partner in North Africa, courting foreign companies with investment opportunities. In this way, Morocco secures the support of pro-business circles and creates facts on the ground through infrastructure and economic entanglements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing Frustration among the Sahrawis<\/strong> In the occupied territory, time works in favor of the Moroccan conflict party. The settlement policy that has been pursued for decades is leading to a demographic shift. A 2024 ruling by the European Court of Justice on contracts between Morocco and the EU estimates that only 25% of people in the region are of Sahrawi origin. This makes it increasingly difficult to carry out the self-determination referendum agreed upon in 1991. The official point of contention since the beginning has been the question of who is eligible to vote. Meanwhile, Morocco openly states that it wants to grant Western Sahara only an autonomy status within the Kingdom of Morocco. This contradicts the internationally recognized principle of the right to self-determination and is categorically rejected by the Frente Polisario, the representative of the Sahrawi people. For human rights activists and Sahrawi journalists, who are exposed to massive restrictions and human rights violations in the occupied territory, the lack of international attention is bitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opportunities for Advocacy Work<\/strong> Frustration is growing among the Sahrawi population. Since 1975, they have been living under difficult conditions in refugee camps in the desert or under massive repression in the occupied territory. Meanwhile, the occupying power, Morocco, is pursuing geopolitical interests. The colonial conflict over Western Sahara remains unresolved. It is marked on most maps, but not … Western Sahara \u2013 The Last Colony in Africa<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"issue":[352],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"\u00e0 propos","author_link":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/author\/apropos\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/16-scaled-1-600x333.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Focus<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Focus<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on March 25, 2025","modified":"Updated on March 25, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on March 25, 2025 6:51 am","modified":"Updated on March 25, 2025 10:16 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5002"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5353,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002\/revisions\/5353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5002"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=5002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Part of the responsibility likely lies in the successful lobbying efforts by the occupying power. Morocco is known more as a vacation destination than as a conflict region and has, in recent years, presented itself as a champion of renewable energy. A large part of these projects takes place in the territory of Western Sahara. While kite surfers are welcomed, the region is inaccessible to media professionals and human rights observers. Since 2014, around 300 people have been expelled from the occupied Western Sahara, including eight EU parliamentarians who wanted to assess the human rights situation themselves. Several international organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have been banned. The occupied Western Sahara is rigorously shielded from media attention. The human rights situation for politically active Sahrawis is dire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Morocco unscrupulously plays out geopolitical interests, especially in Europe. The fear of migrants has become Morocco’s strongest weapon to secure the support of European countries on the Western Sahara issue. Moments when Western Sahara is guaranteed media attention include times when Morocco suspends border controls to the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. The Kingdom has done this repeatedly in recent years when it was angered by the EU or a European country not behaving as desired on the Western Sahara issue. These coups, which make it to the public media, ensure that the interests are unmistakably clarified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
terre des hommes schweiz supports a youth social project in one of the refugee camps. The frustration over the lack of attention from the international community is growing, especially among young Sahrawis. In the refugee camps, where people depend on international aid, the humanitarian situation is worsening. The World Food Programme is chronically underfunded, and climate change has caused summer temperatures to rise to 50\u00b0C, while seasonal rainfall leads to flooding. With the lack of prospects for young people, the danger of radicalization grows. They are tired of waiting in the sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Morocco’s efforts to forge economic ties with European countries also offer entry points for Western Sahara advocacy work and for generating attention for the unresolved conflict. According to international law, resource exploitation in a Non-Self-Governing Territory is only allowed with the consent of the affected poeple. Rulings by the European Court of Justice have repeatedly concluded that Western Sahara should not be included in contracts between Morocco and the EU, as it is legally considered a third party. terre des hommes schweiz has been using this access for advocacy work for many years. In cooperation with an international network, the organization alerts companies, investors, and Swiss authorities that economic activities in the occupied Western Sahara are not only ethically questionable but also legally problematic. In doing so, terre des hommes schweiz reaches a different audience and work to ensure that the status quo of the unresolved colonial conflict is not further cemented by facts on the ground.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"