Morocco highlights UN cooperation as Sahara critics turn to resources and climate

Morocco emphasized its cooperation with UN human rights mechanisms at the Human Rights Council’s 63rd session in Geneva, as rights advocates described a growing effort by its opponents to challenge development projects in the southern provinces through arguments about resources, energy and climate.

Speaking on the session’s second day, the Moroccan delegation called for dialogue and practical implementation of international commitments. It highlighted its contribution to reforming the Universal Periodic Review, citing a June consultation in Rabat involving governments, UN officials, civil society and academics.

A September 24 side event will present the consultation’s conclusions, giving Morocco an opportunity to contribute proposals for strengthening the international review mechanism.

Alongside that institutional engagement, advocates said Morocco could draw on its development record to answer criticism raised in parallel events.

Naji Moulay Lahsen, executive director of the Independent Human Rights Network in North Africa, argued that opponents were turning to environmental and economic issues because earlier approaches had become less effective.

He pointed to Morocco’s engagement with international mechanisms, its national human rights institutions and investment in the southern provinces as evidence supporting its position.

Attempts to portray those investments as resource depletion, he said, overlooked a development strategy encompassing economic, social and cultural needs. He urged Morocco to foreground local residents’ participation in economic activity and public institutions.

Aicha Douihi, president of the Geneva Center for Human Rights, cautioned against interpreting NGO interventions as a change in the Council’s agenda or an endorsement by the United Nations.

The appearance of Sahara-related arguments in side events, she said, does not make the dispute a separate agenda item or replace its UN political settlement process.

For Douihi, the expanding discussion also gives Morocco an opportunity to present projects through their measurable benefits: employment, social impact, environmental standards and residents’ involvement in decisions.

Questions about who invests, who benefits and how development priorities are set are legitimate, she said, but Morocco’s response would be stronger when supported by studies, figures and local testimony.

“The most effective confrontation is not decided by the strength of slogans, but by the quality of evidence,” she said.

The Moroccan delegation also addressed climate change, artificial intelligence, online hate speech and migrants’ rights, outlining priorities beyond the Sahara dispute.

Douihi advocated combining diplomatic engagement with civil society participation, using Geneva to document economic and social developments in the southern provinces while keeping the political negotiations distinct from debates over individual projects and their effects.