Morocco has been elected a member of the United Nations’ Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf for the period 2023-2028, with 117 votes.
During the elections held on the occasion of the 32nd Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which is being held from 13 to 17 June 2022 in New York, the Kingdom guaranteed a spot within the commission.
Among the African countries that applied for this commission, Morocco (117 votes), Ghana (131 votes), Kenya (123 votes), Angola (116 votes), and Madagascar (115 votes), were elected by a two-thirds majority.
Among the African candidates, Algeria and Mozambique were not elected to this Commission, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Residing Abroad.
The votes won by the candidacy of the Kingdom of Morocco, in the person of Professor Miloud Loukili, were obtained after an intense diplomatic campaign of promotion, which has mobilized the entire Moroccan diplomatic apparatus, said the same source.
Professor Loukili has a long experience in the field of multilateral processes related to the law of the sea, following his expertise in maritime studies.
The professor was the target of a pro-Polisario campaign aimed at discrediting him and limiting his chances at the election.
A Scandinavian pro-separatist Polisario organization, Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), attacked the lawyer-researcher and professor at Mohammed V University in Rabat, on grounds that he advocates the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory of Western Sahara.
WSRW referred to an intervention from Loukili during a forum of the MAP agency held in 2018.
At the event, Loukili had stressed that it was “absolutely necessary to raise awareness of international public opinion, on all fronts, as to the legality of the Moroccan position.”
“I am a lawyer specializing in international law, particularly in the law of the sea. And I must, modestly, make my contribution to enlighten national public opinion and especially international public opinion, on what is happening in our Sahara,” he continued.
In an interview with MAP, Loukili had described the Polisario Front as a “terrorist organization” and had also severely accused the “delaying tactics of the Algerian authorities.”
According to WSRW, the jurist’s candidacy should be stopped for such statements. However, the plenary seemed to disagree, as Morocco’s election was consecrated to the professor this Thursday.
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