Conference "International Law and the Question of Western Sahara"

              Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, 27 and 28 October, 2006

Friday, 27 October

08.30-09.15 - Registration

09.15-09.30 - OFFICIAL OPENING

Prof. Louk Box (Rector of the Institute of Social Studies)

09.30-11.00 - HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND THE STAND OF THE PARTIES IN THE CONFLICT

José Ignacio Algueró Cuervo (Historian): The ancient history of Western Sahara and the Spanish colonization of the territory

Toby Shelley (Journalist and writer): The history of Western Sahara since 1975

Ambassador of Morocco to the Netherlands (to be confirmed): The position of Morocco

Mohamed Ould Salek (Minister for Foreign Affairs, República Árabe Saharaui Democrática - RASD) or Mohamed Sidati (Minister-Delegate for Europe, RASD) (to be confirmed): The position of RASD/Polisario Front

11.00-11.30 - coffee break

11.30-13.00 - WESTERN SAHARA AND INTERNATIONAL LAW: GENERAL ASPECTS

Prof. Roger Clark (Board of Governors Professor at Rutgers School of Law, USA): The "decolonisation" of Western Sahara and the UN norms of self-determination and aggression

Prof. Lauri Hannikainen (Professor of International Law, University of Turku, Finland): The case of Western Sahara from the perspective of ius cogens

Prof. Eduardo Trillo (Associate Professor of International Law and International Relations at the National University for Distance Education, Madrid): The obligations of Spain as Administering Power of Western Sahara

13.00-14.15 - lunch break

14.15-15.45 - THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS

Catriona Drew (Lecturer in International Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London): The meaning of self-determination and the case of Western Sahara

Prof. Iain Scobbie (Sir Joseph Hotung Research Professor in Law, Human Rights and Peace Building in the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London): Self-determination and the jurisprudence of  the International Court of Justice: the Western Sahara advisory opinion

Lord Eric Avebury (Vice Chair of the UK Parliamentary Human Rights Group) (to be confirmed): Human rights violations in occupied territories

Aminetu Haidar (Juan Maria Bandrès Prize 2005, ex-political prisoner): Repression and resistance in the occupied Western Sahara

15.45-16.15 -             tea break

16.15-17.45 - COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON WESTERN SAHARA

Prof. Stephen Zunes (Professor of politics and chair of the Peace and Justice Studies program at the University of San Francisco): East Timor and Western Sahara: a comparative view

Charles Scheiner (Timor-Leste Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis - La'o Hamutuk): Self-determination requires more than political independence: recent developments in Timor-Leste

Viktor Kaisiepo (Representative of the Presidium of the Papuan Council in Europe): West Papua and Western Sahara: a brief study in contrast

Saturday, 28 October

09.30-11.00 - THE SOVEREIGNTY OVER NATURAL RESOURCES

Gerry Simpson (Reader in International Law at the London School of Economics) (to be confirmed): International Law and natural resources of Non-Self Governing Territories

Stephanie Koury (Research Fellow at the Hotung Programme on Law, Human Rights and Peacebuilding in the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London): The European Union obligations under the EC-Morocco Association Agreement

Prof. Marcel Brus (Professor of International Law and the Law of International Organisations at the University of Groningen): The Corell opinion and oil exploration and exploitation in Western Sahara

11.00 - 11.30 - coffee break

11.30-13.00 - THE SOVEREIGNTY OVER NATURAL RESOURCES (CONT.)

Vincent Chapaux (Assistant in International Law and Political Science, Université Libre de Bruxelles): The EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement

Sasha Stepanova (Lawyer, Kocián Solc Balastík, Prague, Czech Republic): Lessons from the East Timor case (Portugal v. Australia)

Carlos Wilson (International Coordinator of Western Sahara Resource Watch)/Erik Hagen (Journalist): The foreign companies that plunder Western Saharan resources: Who´s involved and what is done to stop plundering?

13.00-14.00 - lunch break

14.00-16.30 - ROUND TABLE: PROSPECTS FOR RESOLVING THE PROBLEM

Ambassador of Spain to the Netherlands (to be confirmed): The position of Spain

Prof. Aymeric Chauprade (Professor of Geopolitics at the University of Paris-I Sorbonne) (to be confirmed): The position of France

Prof. Yahia Zoubir (Professor of International Relations and Management at the Euromed Marseille School of Management, France): Geopolitics of the Western Sahara Conflict

Prof. Pål Wrange (Senior Legal Advisor, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs) (to be confirmed): The position of Sweden

Ambassador Frank Ruddy (Former Deputy Chairman, United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara)(to be confirmed): The role of the United Nations in the conflict

Prof. Carlos Ruiz Miguel: (Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain): The referendum of self-determination and the role of Spain

Karin Finkler (Foreign policy adviser, US Congressman Joseph Pitts): The United States and the Western Sahara conflict

Karin Scheele (MEP, President of the Intergroup on Western Sahara in the European Parliament): The necessary new stance of the European Union

Prof. Jaume Saura-Estapà (Professor of International Law, University of Barcelona): Possible solutions to the conflict based on the full respect of international law

16.30-17.00 - KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Prof. Christine Chinkin (Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics): Western Sahara, the United Nations and the Second Decade to Eradicate Colonialism

17.00- reception

Venue:            Institute of Social Studies

                        Kortenaerkade 12,

2518 AX The Hague

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