List of active national liberation movements recognized by intergovernmental organizations

This is a list of national liberation movements recognized by intergovernmental organizations.

Background

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The United Nations General Assembly, by resolution 3247 (XXIX) of 29 November 1974, decided to invite also the nationalist movements recognized by the Organization of African Unity (OAU, later transformed into the AU) and/or by the League of Arab States (AL) in their respective regions to participate in the United Nations Conference on the Representation of States in Their Relations with International Organizations as observers.[1]

The Conference adopted a resolution on the status of "national liberation movements",[2] and similar provisions were also adopted by the UNGA.[3][4]

The UNGA recognized some of these nationalist movements as representatives of the people of their respective territories, along with their right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty there. In 1973 South West Africa People's Organization was recognized as representative of the Namibian people and gained UN observer entity status in 1976.[5] In 1974 the UN took similar decision for the Palestine Liberation Organization and it was also given the status of UN observer entity[6] The OAU and the UN have contacts with the Polisario Front[7] and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (established by the Polisario Front) is member state of the OAU since 1982. Since 1991 the UN is maintaining a peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara overseeing a cease-fire between Morocco and the Polisario Front. The goal of the mission is to conduct a referendum on the status of Western Sahara.

The aim of these movements is to eventually establish independent states and some of them have already succeeded. After independence most of the liberation movements transform into political parties – governing or oppositional. The most recent of these that finished the process of decolonization in its territory was SWAPO that established Namibia in 1990.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC, formerly the Organisation of the Islamic Conference) also recognized some nationalist movements.[8][9]

List

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Nationalist movement Nation Territory Recognized by Current administering power Established state Former administering power
Southern Cameroon Liberation Movement Cameroonians Southern Cameroons   Organisation of African Unity[citation needed]   Cameroon   United Kingdom
  Moro National Liberation Front Moro people Mindanao[a]   Organisation of Islamic Cooperation   Philippines   Spain
  United States
Turkish Muslim community of Cyprus Turkish Cypriots Northern Cyprus   Organisation of Islamic Cooperation   Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (de facto)   Republic of Cyprus
  Polisario Front Sahrawi people Western Sahara   African Union
  United Nations
  Spain (de jure)[b]
  Morocco (de facto)
  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (de facto)
  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic   Spain
Biafraland Government Biafrans Biafra Region   UNICEF   Nigeria   Biafra   Nigeria
  United Kingdom

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Another Insurgency in the Philippines continues in the same region with the Islamist groups of Abu Sayyaf, Rajah Sulaiman Movement, Jemaah Islamiyah, Ampatuan and al-Khobar.
  2. ^ In 1976, Spain informed the UNSG that it had relinquished administrative control of Western Sahara and considered itself henceforth exempt from any responsibility of an international nature in connection with the administration of the said territory.[10] Nevertheless, the Criminal Chamber of the Spanish National Supreme Court ruled on 4 July 2014 that Spain, "de jure, although not de facto", remains the "administering power" of the non-self governing territory of Western Sahara and, as such, until the decolonization process is completed, it has the obligations under In Articles 73 and 74 of the United Nations Charter.[11]

References

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  1. ^ United Nations Conference on the Representation of States in Their Relations with International Organizations, 1975, Volume II, page 190:"The following national liberation movements accepted this invitation: ..."
  2. ^ United Nations Conference on the Representation of States in Their Relations with International Organizations, 1975
  3. ^ Observer status of national liberation movements recognized by the Organization of African Unity and/or by the League of Arab States
  4. ^ United Nations General Assembly Session 43 Resolution 160. A/RES/43/160 Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  5. ^ UNGA Resolution A/RES/31/152 Archived 28 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Observer status for the South West Africa People's Organization
  6. ^ United Nations General Assembly Session -1 Resolution 3237. A/RES/3237(XXIX) Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  7. ^ Point 7, Res. 34/37 -Question of Western Sahara- 34th General assembly UN, 21-11-1979 Archived 21 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ OIC Observer Muslim Organisations and Communities[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Cyprus and the Organization of Islamic Conferences
  10. ^ "Western Sahara | The United Nations and Decolonization". www.un.org.
  11. ^ Balín, Mateo (23 March 2022). "La Audiencia Nacional avala la jurisdicción española sobre el Sáhara Occidental". El Correo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
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