Geneva – An international conference titled “Fifty years of contempt for international law in Western Sahara: costs and perspectives” convened at the headquarters of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on September 9, 2025.The event, held alongside the 60th session of the human Rights Council, was organized by the Geneva group for supporting Western Sahara, in partnership with the representation of the Polisario Front in Geneva, and was attended by prominent figures from diplomatic, academic, and human rights sectors.

The conference commenced with a speech by Abdallah Saleh, the permanent representative of Tanzania to the United Nations in Geneva and head of the Geneva group for supporting Western Sahara. saleh emphasized the critical importance of supporting the Sahrawi people in their pursuit of self-determination.

Professor Mads andenas,a professor of international law at the University of Oslo and former head of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary detention,presented an analysis focusing on the right to self-determination and the severe human rights violations that arise from its denial.

Manuel Devers, a lawyer responsible for the defense of the Polisario Front before the courts of the European Union, reviewed the legal victories of the Polisario Front in defending the sovereign rights of the Sahrawi people and their natural resources.

Activist Erik hagen, founder of Western Sahara Resource Watch, highlighted the serious violations associated with the exploitation of Sahrawi resources by multinational corporations in the absence of a legitimate legal framework.

The conference concluded with an intervention by Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, representative of the Polisario Front with the United Nations in Geneva and special advisor for legal issues.

Bachir emphasized that, “half a century after the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Western Sahara, the international community must redouble their efforts to put an end to colonialism and allow the Sahrawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self -determination and independence.”

Throughout the conference, speakers affirmed that the continued disregard for international law and UN resolutions on Western Sahara poses a threat to regional peace and stability, exacerbating the suffering of the Sahrawi people in the occupied part of Western Sahara.

“The international community must redouble their efforts to put an end to colonialism and allow the Sahrawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self -determination.”

Background on Western Sahara