Resolution on Defending the rights of students from Western Sahara!

Defend the rights of students from Western Sahara!

The territory of Western Sahara remains the last unresolved issue of decolonisation on the African continent. The territory is registered as a non-self governing territory, and the people have a right to self-determination and independence international international law.

The latest three rulings by the EU Court of Justice (CJEU), from October 2024, repeats that Western Sahara is “separate and distinct” and the rights of the people to decide their own affairs.

Approximately half the Saharawi people of the territory live as refugees abroad, mainly in refugee camps in Algeria, following Morocco’s illegal invasion of the territory in 1975. Living for decades in refugee camps with minimal infrastructure and resources, the development of Saharawi society has been completely succumbed by one of the longest humanitarian crises in recent history.

Those who remain in the territory suffer violations of their fundamental rights on a daily basis. The territory is qualified on international rankings among the places with the worst conditions for political freedoms in the world. https://freedomhouse.org/country/scores

IMPRISONED STUDENTS

During the last 50 years, the only University built has been built by the Saharawis authorities. Saharawis who wish to study need to register to places of education in Morocco, where they are in minority and discriminated against. The access of Saharawis to universities is highly limited, normally reduced to a number of subjects or courses.

The Saharawi student movement works under intense pressure.

A larger group of imprisoned students, also referred to as the Student Group, was arrested for its student activism in the university cities of Morocco in 2016. Four of the members of the group are still in jail serving 10-year sentences, where they have been since 2016. A fifth was arrested in 2019, serving a 12-year sentence. The UN already in 2019 called for the immediate release of the students. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session86/A_HRC_WGAD_2019_67_AdvanceEditedVersion.pdf

In April 2025, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention published a statement calling on Morocco to immediately release the Saharawi student and human rights defender Al-Hussein Al-Bachir Ibrahim. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/detention-wg/opinions/session101/a-hrc-wgad-63-2024-morocco-advance-edited-v.pdf

The working group states that his arrest is arbitrary and that his prison conditions are deplorable. He  was arrested in 2019 following his forcible deportation from Spain, where he had requested asylum. Upon arrival to Morocco, he was detained, subjected to ill-treatment, denied access to legal counsel, and ultimately sentenced to 12 years in prison following proceedings marred by fair trial violations.

The group has carried out hunger strike in prison, decrying medical neglect and demanding treatment.

COOPERATION WITH SAHARAWI INSTITUTIONS

In the refugee camps in exile, the Saharawis themselves have established its own university – The University of Tifariti. The institution was created at the end of 2012, the only university and higher education institution in Western Sahara, thanks to the investment and cooperation with three foreign entities in Portugal and Spain.

The curriculum of study of the University is limited to nursing, teaching, computer science and journalism. In total there are 450 students that the University of Tifariti can accommodate.

Of historic and geographical reasons, there is a large Saharawi community in Spain. This includes Saharawi students. As Spain did not officially decolonise the territory in accordance with the obligations under the UN Charter, Spain still has a legal and moral obligation to protect and defend the rights of the Saharawi people.

ESU demands:

• That places of higher education in Spain radically strengthens its programmes of support to Saharawi students, making sure the support is rightly adapted to the particular situation that the Saharawi students are living under, in exile, under occupation and in Spain.  This should be done in close coordination with the Saharawi authorities.
• Increase sensibility and to curriculum courses in HEI.
• Addapted access to scholarships attending the different situation of saharawi students.