The International Court of Justice and the conflict in the Western Sahara: legal backing and self-determination

Abstract

The present article aims to demonstrate the role of the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in the Western Sahara’s process of decolonization and self-determination, tracing the current situation of the existing conflict in the Western Sahara from its outset to the Opinion’s publishing in 1975. The article first examines the historical origins of the Sahrawi people, their connection to the territory, and colonization by Spain up to the emergence of the ideal of decolonization for the African Continent. It also considers the emergence of an Annexationist anxiety on the part of the Kingdom of Morocco and that of Mauritania and the later Madrid Agreement. Finally, when the situation culminated in the need to submit the question to the International Court of Justice, an analysis is provided on the contents of the Advisory Opinion, highlighting the relevant points, which have supported and substantiated the maintaining of the Sahrawi struggle for self-determination since its publication. The analysis approaching the subject is derived from both historiographical literature and internationalist doctrine. A bibliographical and documentary study was performed using the inductive method of approach in order to demonstrate the problem inherent to the Western Sahara’s decolonization and self-determination from its outset to the issue of the Advisory Opinion, lending international legal backing and effectively legitimizing the insurgency.