Please sign this petition to join our open letter as posted here: Open Letter To United Nations General Assembly On Issue Of Western Sahara
THE ASK
This petition seeks to correct a historic injustice.
In 1991, the United Nations-brokered a cease-fire between the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government in the small North African nation of Western Sahara. As part of the agreement, the UN promised a referendum for the people of Western Sahara to vote on their right to self-determination.
Twenty-eight years later, that vote still hasn’t happened.
We want you to sign your name to tell the United Nations to do nothing more than keeping the promise they made almost three decades ago: Let the people vote.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THIS PETITION:
Colonized by the Spanish until 1975, Western Sahara is a small country on the Atlantic coast of West Africa. As Spain transitioned to democracy, they ‘gave it back,’ to the local people, without defining what that meant. In reality, it was an open invitation for Morocco – just to Western Sahara’s north – to invade and attempt to capture Western Sahara’s abundant natural resources.
The official government of Western Sahara, known as the Polisario Front – exhausted after years of previous fighting the Spanish for independence – had to face the invading Moroccans. The Polisario Front fought the Moroccans from 1975 until 1991, when the United Nations intervened, negotiated the cease-fire, and promised the still-absent referendum on self-determination.
Why hasn’t the vote happened?
Morocco has an army of lobbyists all over the world whose sole job is to prevent the referendum. To make matters worse, France – who buys the resources that Morocco exploits – vetoes any vote at the UN Security Council that might advance the Sahrawi cause.
It’s is just the tip of the iceberg. If you spend even five minutes researching, you will be blown away by how awful and unjust the situation is, and even more so, how the world has forgotten about Western Sahara’s democratic rights.
That is why we are asking you to sign this open letter demanding the UN to keep its promise from 1991 and finally let the people of Western Sahara vote on their right to self-determination.
While protests all over the world catch daily headlines and light up social media, let’s be sure we remember those who can’t protest or speak up. We must become their microphones and elevate their voices and demands.
Join us! Sign your name and share it with your friends. Please.
#FreeWesternSahara #ReferendumNow