Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law Volume 15 | Issue 1 Article 7 2009 Behind Closed Doors: "Autonomous Colonization" in Post United Nations Era - The aC se for Western Sahara Pamela Epstein Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/annlsurvey Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Epstein, Pamela (2009) "Behind Closed Doors: "Autonomous Colonization" in Post United Nations Era - The asC e for Western Sahara," Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law: Vol. 15: Iss. 1, Article 7. Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/annlsurvey/vol15/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Epstein: The Case for Western Sahara BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: "AUTONOMOUS COLONIZATION" IN POST UNITED NATIONS ERA-THE CASE FOR WESTERN SAHARA PAMELA EpSTEIN ... The Arabs who have been treated worst of all are the people of Western Sahara, who have had their country stolen out from under them. Morocco has occupied Western Sahara - a former Spanish colony - treated its people barbarously, defied the International Court of Justice and tried to annex the territory for its natural resources. Yet hardly any Arabs or Westerners have ever championed their cause ... 1 INTRODUCTION The current situation in Western Sahara begs the question "what use is it to have the support of the United Nations (hereinafter "U.N.") when powerful countries such as the United States, France, and Spain are either indifferent or actively oppose the Sahrawi's legitimate right to self-deterrnination."2 The decolonization of the Western Sahara has become a permanent fixture on the U.N.'s agenda since 1963 when the General Assembly labeled it as a non-self-governing-territory 1.