International law and the Western Sahara conflict
By: Juan Soroeta Liceras
Publisher: Wolf Legal Publishers (WLP)
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Oisterwijk, The Netherlands
Language: eng
Number of pages: 327
ISBN-13: 9789462401396; 9789462401372
Subjects: International status
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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-327) and index.
Table of contents: title: The right of peoples to self-determination in international law and the Western Sahara case; title: The background of the Western Sahara conflict; title: The constitutive elements of statehood and their application to Western Sahara; title: The advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of October 16, 1975; title: The failure of the decolonization process; title: The peace plan (I) : the mission of the United Nations for the Western Sahara Referendum (MINURSO); title: The peace plan (II) : the problem of consulting the population; title: Consequences of the failure of the decolonization process : the illegal exploitation of natural resources in Western Sahara.