Los aspectos territoriales en el dictamen del Tribunal Internacional de Justicia de 16 de octubre de 1975, en el caso del Sahara Occidental

Abstract

Forty years after announcing Spain as administering power of Western Sahara, the organization of a referendum on self-determination, it is still not done. In this research, is performed an examination of the colonization and the long and unfinished process of decolonization, in relation to the doctrine and practice of the United Nations, which has led to the emergence of eighty-five new States, with special attention to the territorial aspects of the process. From a strictly legal perspective, it is analyzed the international legal status of the territory at the time of the Spanish colonization and its evolution to the present, in the light of the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which qualifies the Sahara as a territory not autonomous awaiting decolonization. A critical analysis of the opinionn shows that the Court lost a wonderful opportunity to have clarified the still unclear relationship between the two principles proclaimed by Resolution 1514 (XV) of the General Assembly at its fifteenth session: the principle of self-determination of peoples and the principle of territorial integrity of States, wich feeds the dialectical conflict. Doctrine and practice of the United Nations for self-determination of peoples is examined and it is determined which of the two principles must prevail in case of opposition, both in the field of decolonization and off it. The investigation ends contemplating various and uncertain prospects for the future status of the Saharawi people.