Participants at the "Kaffeeturm: Western Sahara 2026" policy forum in Bern, Switzerland, have issued strong calls for an expedited resolution to the Western Sahara conflict. Emphasizing the paramount importance of international law, attendees underscored that empowering the Sahrawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination remains fundamental to achieving any just and lasting solution.<\/p>\n
Organized by the Swiss Forum for Support of the Sahrawi People, the gathering brought together a diverse group of political, parliamentary, academic, and diplomatic figures. It served as a vital platform for exchanging perspectives on the future of the Sahrawan cause and exploring Switzerland's potential role in bolstering United Nations efforts to complete the decolonization process in Africa's last remaining colony.<\/p>\n
G\u00fcnther Bechler, an expert in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and an international mediator, delivered an insightful presentation on the impact of current global transformations on conflict management and the prospects for peaceful resolutions. He delved into the challenges confronting the international system in addressing decolonization issues and the fundamental right of peoples to self-determination.<\/p>\n
Fabian Molina, a member of the Swiss National Council representing the Socialist Party and co-president of the Switzerland-Western Sahara Parliamentary Group, reiterated the critical need to uphold international law. He urged the international community to fully embrace its responsibilities regarding unresolved conflicts, highlighting Switzerland's potential to support efforts towards a fair and sustainable resolution for Western Sahara.<\/p>\n
Najat Handi, the Polisario Front's representative to the United Nations in Geneva, provided an update on the latest developments concerning Western Sahara at the UN level. Her presentation focused on the ongoing challenges hindering the UN settlement process and reaffirmed the imperative of enabling the Sahrawi people to exercise their undeniable right to self-determination.<\/p>\n
Members of the Sahrawi Parliament further enriched the discussions, offering detailed insights into the political, human rights, and humanitarian conditions within Western Sahara. They collectively stressed the importance of sustained international efforts to achieve a peaceful and equitable resolution to the conflict.<\/p>\n
The forum concluded with participants unanimously asserting the necessity of keeping the Western Sahara issue firmly on the international agenda. They called for intensified global efforts to achieve a just and enduring solution that guarantees the Sahrawi people their right to self-determination, in full accordance with United Nations resolutions and the principles of international legitimacy.<\/p>\n
Related topics:<\/strong> Western Sahara conflict, Decolonization Africa, Sahrawi people rights, Bern forum, UN resolutions, International law<\/p>\n DZWatch provides English-language coverage of Algeria-focused developments for international readers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A policy forum in Bern urged accelerated decolonization and self-determination for Western Sahara, emphasizing international law and UN efforts….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dzwatch.dz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}