A total of 31 speakers attended the UN's Fourth Commission general debate last Thursday. The body's mandate is to discuss and monitor decolonization processes in countries considered as non-autonomous territories by the UN. Western Sahara tops the list of non-autonomous countries mainly for the amount of people displaced by the conflict and for being a 30-year-old dispute.

The speakers, which included politicians, NGO members and lawyers, appealed to the Committee to step up the Western Sahara decolonization process. One of the participants at the meeting was Miquel Carrillo (ERC), member of the Catalan parliament and president of the "Peace and Freedom for Sahara" parliamentary intergroup. He asked the UN "not to allow Morocco to violate existing international agreements" and called for a political solution to the conflict.
Carrillo mentioned the Catalan question during his speech. He said that Catalans have kept the flame of their national rights alive for a long time, and so they are sympathetic towards the Sahrawi struggle to survive as a nation.

Most of pro-independence speakers agreed on calling for an end to Moroccan occupation, economic exploitation and political repression, the deactivation of millions of landmines, the removal of the 2,500 km wall constructed by Morocco and the holding of a self-determination referendum.

The Fourth Commission
Along with the Western Sahara issue, the Commission also monitors the situation of other non-autonomous territories such as the Cayman Islands, New Caledonia and Gibraltar, among others. The Fourth Commission, which holds a meeting each October, issues several reports with the recommendations being made at the meeting, which are subsequently submitted for consideration to the UN General Assembly.

Further information:

• ONU: Fourth Committee Hears Over 30 Petitioners on Question of Western Sahara
• Elmoudjahid.com: 4e Commission de l'Onu : Les pétitionnaires appellent l'Onu à accélérer le processus de décolonisation du Sahara occidental
• ERC: Carrillo reclama davant l'ONU que 's'ordeni una solució política pel Sàhara Occidental'