The Mallorca Council has urged the United Nations to ensure compliance with international resolutions and to organise a referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people. The intervention took place in New York during the session of the UN Fourth Committee, also known as the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee.
The island’s Minister of Finance, Innovation, and Public Function, Rafel À. Bosch, along with the Director of Strategic Projects and Institutional Relations, Maria Elena Jaume, represented the institution following an invitation from the Association of Friends of the Sahrawi People and the Polisario Front.
Bosch reminded the assembly that “men, women, and children of Western Sahara have been denied the right to live freely in their own land for more than fifty years.” He emphasised that Western Sahara remains a non-self-governing territory under UN classification, and the last African region pending decolonisation.
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The Mallorca Council calls at the UN for compliance with international resolutions and a referendum for the Sahrawi people
He also stated that Spain bears a historical responsibility toward Western Sahara and criticised the Spanish government’s 2022 policy shift supporting Moroccan autonomy, which he described as “a departure from the UN-approved Settlement Plan.”
The minister highlighted Mallorca’s continued support through humanitarian aid projects, calling them “small-scale actions globally, but essential for the daily lives of many people.”
Bosch closed his address by reaffirming the island’s stance: “Mallorca will continue to stand with the Sahrawi people until they can freely decide their future. This is not only a political matter — it is one of dignity and justice.”
For her part, Maria Elena Jaume urged the UN to uphold international law and make the right to self-determination a reality: “The Sahrawi people have waited decades for what the international community already recognises — their inalienable right to decide their own future. Patience must not become an excuse for prolonging injustice.”
This year, the Fourth Committee received 196 requests from around the world to speak on the Western Sahara issue. The Mallorca Council took part — for the second consecutive year — as part of the Spanish delegation coordinated by the International Association of Jurists for Western Sahara, together with the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and the Balearic Parliament.