After decrease home approval, the invoice to grant tens of 1000’s of Sahrawis citizenship now goes to the Spanish Senate.
Revealed On 10 Sep 2026
Spanish lawmakers have backed laws that might grant citizenship to tens of 1000’s of Western Saharans who had been born when Spain ran the disputed territory now largely managed by Morocco.
Spain’s decrease home of Parliament on Thursday authorized the laws 168-31, with 145 abstentions.
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The invoice nonetheless requires Senate approval earlier than changing into regulation.
The textual content grants Spanish nationality to Sahrawis born earlier than September 29, 1977 and to their youngsters via naturalisation, even when they by no means resided in Spain.
Though the precise variety of beneficiaries is unknown, Sahrawi teams estimate that between 70,000 and 120,000 folks may gain advantage from the laws, which supporters described as addressing a “historic injustice” by colonial Spain within the Western Sahara.
Tensions with Morocco
The vote comes at a very delicate time for Madrid’s traditionally delicate relations with Rabat as a result of migration disaster in Spain’s north African territory of Ceuta, and the mass arrival of no less than 70,000 migrants from Morocco in July.
Spain’s leftist authorities has averted blaming Morocco – which doesn’t recognise Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta and Spain’s different North African territory of Melilla – however the proper accuses Rabat of orchestrating the surge for political motives.
Morocco claims sovereignty over Western Sahara and started asserting management over the territory after Spanish rule ended.
The Algerian-backed Polisario Entrance independence motion seeks recognition of an impartial state known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Many Sahrawis stay in refugee camps in Tindouf in western Algeria, or elsewhere overseas, whereas others stay in Western Sahara.
Towards this backdrop, the initiative to grant Spanish nationality to Sahrawis has divided opinion in Morocco however not prompted condemnation from the federal government.
Moroccan media quoted Ramadan Messaoud, a member of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs, as saying in July that Rabat had “no downside” with Sahrawis acquiring Spanish citizenship. Others had accomplished so “over the previous few years”, famous Messaoud, who can also be president of the Sahrawi Affiliation for Human Rights.
‘Restoring’ identification
Western Sahara was a Spanish colony till 1975, when Spain relinquished its administration beneath agreements with Morocco and Mauritania.
Spain’s ruling Socialist Occasion and its junior left-wing companion Sumar, which filed the initiative, had been amongst those that supported the invoice, whereas the opposition conservative Individuals’s Occasion abstained and far-right Vox voted in opposition to it.
“With the adoption of this laws, we’re restoring – and I emphasise, restoring – the Spanish nationwide identification card to these Sahrawis who as soon as held it and from whom this state took it away,” mentioned Tesh Sidi of the leftist Sumar coalition, the primary lady of Sahrawi origin to serve in Spain’s Parliament.
The invoice will now go to the Senate, the place amendments are anticipated, earlier than returning to the decrease home for closing approval.
