BACKGROUND
The European Conference of Support and Solidarity with the Sahrawi People (EUCOCO) has been held since 1975, the year the conflict began, on an ongoing basis, every year in a European city.
The EUCOCO are, without a doubt, the most important annual meeting of the European Solidarity Movement with the Saharawi People. It must be said from the outset that, although the European term is still used, for a long time the EUCOCOs have had a planetary dimension, as Organizations and people from the 5 continents participate in them.
It brings together, as we say, Delegations from the five continents, although as it is held in Europe, most of the participants are European.
Representatives of Governments that recognize the SADR, European and National Deputies and elected officials, Autonomous Governments, Provincial Councils, Cabildos, Island Councils and City Councils of the Spanish State, Political Organizations and Trade Unions, Friendship Associations with the Saharawi People, NGOs in general, jurists and personalities from the field of culture, participate every year in this solidarity
APPOINTMENT.
The Saharawi People, represented by the president of the SADR and general secretary of the Polisario Front and other authorities of the Saharawi Government, as well as defenders of Sahrawi human rights and delegates from numerous countries also do so, at the highest level.
LOCATION
The reasons for choosing the Canary Islands have been different. From its great location near the Western Sahara and accessibility to its suitability because it is also about its well-known solidarity with the Saharawi people.
The associative and solidarity movement is important and will have the opportunity to demonstrate it with the Conference Organization, which has the support of the Inter-groups of the Canarian Parliament and the Congress of Deputies and also has the support of the majority of the Municipalities and Cabildos of the Canary Islands, as well as its most important Institutions.
The city of Las Palmas de Gran Canarias meets all the conditions to host this event and it will be a good opportunity to project its image as a city of Congresses, with the certainty that it will live up to this important international event.
For this reason we will ask for the support of all the towns of Spain, so that it is not just another EUCOCO, but the most important of those held so far. It success will be that of everyone who contributes to making it possible.
We want the Conference to contribute decisively to the efforts of the International Community to advance in the peaceful solution of the conflict and to be a transcendental milestone in the peace process.
The Canary Islands can be a meeting point for the resolution of the conflict in Western Sahara, in accordance with what UN resolutions and international law dictate. We want it to also be an opportunity for PEACE and an end to the suffering of a people who deserve to live with dignity and freedom in their territory.
We need the support of all the FRIENDS of the Saharawi People, regardless of their political ideas and thinking. The noble cause of the Sahrawi people has always been characterized by the support of all, but that support has to translate into something more than good intentions. A humanitarian support, but also a political one.
The Conference is not against anyone or anything. It will be a Conference in favor of the legitimate rights of the Saharawi People. Therefore, we are going to ask everyone for their support, their active solidarity and their presence at the 45th Conference of Support and Solidarity with the Saharawi people.
GOALS
The main objective of the 45 EUCOCO is to vindicate the inalienable right of the Saharawi People to self-determination and independence.
Another general objective, already mentioned, is to contribute to the peace process to advance in the resolution of the conflict.
Denouncing the systematic violation of human rights by Morocco in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara and supporting the struggle that is being waged permanently by the Saharawi population in these territories would be another priority objective. The cessation of the repression of the most fundamental rights and the release of all Sahrawi political prisoners will have to be and preside over each of the decisions and actions of the conference, as well as the extension of the mandate of MINURSO to the surveillance and protection of Human Rights in Western Sahara. Likewise, the looting of Natural Resources and the destruction of historical and cultural heritage carried out by the Moroccan government in the Occupied Territories must be denounced.
To sensitize world public opinion about the causes of the conflict and the consequences it is having on the Saharawi population, both in the Occupied Territories and in the refugee camps.
Serve as a window and speaker for the Saharawi cause and the Solidarity Movement.
Be a space for reflection on solidarity activity in our country in the first place and in the rest of the countries and continents.
Be a catalyst for solidarity initiatives, organizing, through workshops or outside of them, work spaces and coordination.
The CANARY ISLANDS Conference will have to take stock of the work carried out in the last year, since the previous conference held in Vitoria and clearly define the actions and strategy to be followed so that the rights of the Sahrawi People, recoginized by multiple UN resolutions, lead the way once and for all.