Today's session of the National Council dealt with the petition on the extension of the UN mandate in Western Sahara. The latter decided not to accept the petition. We regret that the National Council did not take the opportunity to make a modest contribution to the resolution of the conflict.
The petition submitted in February of this year to extend the UN mandate in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was put to the vote in the National Council today. After a clear yes to the petition in the Foreign Affairs Committee (of the National Council) in March, the National Council rejected the petition in today's session by 108:73 votes. We regret the decision of the National Council, but we think that the petition will help to ensure that the conflict in Western Sahara is not forgotten. The unsustainable situation in which the Sahrawi population has found itself for some 40 years is on the agenda of numerous organisations in Switzerland, which will continue to work for a solution to the conflict.
Focus on public relations work
Despite this disappointment, terre des hommes schweiz will continue to focus its public relations work this year on the conflict in Western Sahara and the living conditions of the Sahrawi refugees in Algeria. Nevertheless, at the end of his vote, Federal Councillor Burkhalter stated that Switzerland would in future participate in the resolution of this conflict with more military observers.
MINURSO petition submitted
In February, 45 organisations and Swiss personalities signed a petition to extend the UN mandate in Western Sahara. The petition calls for Switzerland to lobby the UN Security Council to extend the mandate of the UN protection force MINURSO to include human rights monitoring. At the end of March, the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Council had given the petition its approval by 16 votes to 3.
