Liberal arts and sciences Law major Bachelor thesis Fadoua Chakor Studentnumber: U1259440 Supervisor: S. Jaghai Date: 15-06-2018 Page | 1 What is the link between statelessness and the Sahrawi population and to what extent do Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Spain comply with International law to reduce and prevent statelessness of the Sahrawi population? The involvement of Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Spain in the creation of statelessness amongst the Sahrawi population Page | 2 Table of contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 5 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................. 7 1. The Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 The problem and topic .............................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Research question and sub questions ...................................................................................... 10 1.3 Research goal .......................................................................................................................... 10 1.4 Research Method .................................................................................................................... 11 1.5 Relevance ................................................................................................................................ 11 2. Statelessness among the Sahrawi population. ........................................................................... 12 2.1 What is statelessness?.......................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Causes of statelessness ........................................................................................................ 13 2.3 The implications of the conflict for the Sahrawi population ............................................... 16 2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 18 3. How did internal policy and laws of the four concerned countries deal with statelessness among the Sahrawi population? .................................................................................................... 19 3.1.2 Cases of statelessness in Spain. .................................................................................... 20 3.2 Legal framework in Algeria. ............................................................................................... 22 3.2.1 Cases of Statelessness in Algeria. ........................................................................... 24 3.3 Legal framework in Mauritania. ..................................................................................... 24 3.3.1 Cases of statelessness in Mauritania. ............................................................................ 26 3.4 Legal framework in Morocco. ........................................................................................ 27 3.4.1 Cases of statelessness in Morocco. ............................................................................... 29 3.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 30 4. What provisions under International law are applicable to the protection of rights of the Sahrawi population and how does state responsibility derive from these provisions? ................. 31 4.1 The International framework of provisions, treaties and conventions. ............................... 31 4.2 International provisions applicable to Spain. ...................................................................... 32 4.3 International provisions applicable to Algeria. ................................................................... 33 4.4 International provisions applicable to Morocco. ................................................................. 33 4.5 International provisions applicable to Mauritania. .............................................................. 34 4.6 State responsibility .............................................................................................................. 36 Page | 3 4.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 37 5. Who is responsible to resolve the situation of statelessness among the Sahrawi population in the Western Sahara? ...................................................................................................................... 38 6. Discussion of research .............................................................................................................. 42 7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 45 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 45 Page | 4 Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor Sangita Jaghai for her patient guidance, advice, encouragement and her feedback regarding my research. I would also like to thank the department of humanities at Tilburg University for their interesting courses which led to the writing of this bachelor thesis on statelessness. Finally, I wish to thank my family and friends for their constant support and encouragement during my study at Tilburg University. Page | 5 Abstract Statelessness is an issue that continues to affect the lives of millions of people leaving them without a nationality and deprived of basic human rights. The Sahrawi population is made up of a large group of nearly 157.000 that is stateless and namely lives in refugee camps on occupied soil in the Western Sahara, Algeria and Mauritania. The Western Sahara has a violent past filled with aggression towards civilians, political unrest, the annexing of land and the continuing debate concerning which state is the possessor of the Western Sahara. The desire for self- determination of the Polisario front and the Sahrawi population has fueled the conflict between Morocco and Algeria regarding the Western Sahara in which the tension between all parties is still very present to this day. Statelessness among the Sahrawi population remains unresolved due to issues concerning the acceptance of responsibility and non-compliance with international treaties of the four involved states. Page | 6 Abbreviations POLISARIO Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro MINURSO United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara MENA Middle East and North-Africa region CEDAW United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against ---------------------Women UNVM United Nations Visiting Mission ICJ International Court of Justice EU European Union ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights UN United Nations UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees IHRDA Institute on Human Rights and Development in Africa ACHPR African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights CESCR Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ILO International Labor Organization Page | 7 1. The Introduction Statelessness is “a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”1. This means that a stateless person does not have a nationality and is not a member of any state. The subsequent lacking of identification papers can lead to the absence of basic human rights such as the right to have access to health care or education. The problem of statelessness can affect any person regardless of gender and age. It does not only affect adults, but also children and infants. All of these people lack basic human rights due to their statelessness. It is almost unimaginable that statelessness is an issue in the modern times we live in, however statelessness is still a vast problem that the International community and the concerning states have not yet been able to resolve. Currently the number of stateless persons in the world is estimated at 10 million.2 It is evident that millions of people are stateless in the 21st century. Combatting statelessness is a challenge of significance but of an unknown magnitude. Some people are born stateless due to the fact that their parents are also stateless and other people become stateless due to war or conflict. The occurrence of statelessness has different reasons, a couple of these reasons are discrimination against a religious or ethnic group, the gaps in a state’s nationality laws, forced displacement and state succession. Other reasons are: the rise of new states and the vanishing of old borders, the transferring of land between already existing states and conflict. For the Sahrawi population the right to exercise their self-determination desire plays a large role in the creation of statelessness among the group as they choose to live in refugee camps until they receive the nationality of their own state. In the Western Sahara