Spain’s Parliament backs citizenship for Western Saharans born before 1977

After lower house approval, the bill to grant tens of thousands of Sahrawis citizenship now goes to the Spanish Senate.

Spain is granting citizenship to Western Saharans who lived under Spanish colonial rule, along with their children [File: Mark Thompson/Getty]

Spanish lawmakers have backed legislation that would grant citizenship to tens of thousands of Western Saharans who were born when Spain ran the disputed territory now largely controlled by Morocco.

Spain’s lower house of Parliament on Thursday approved the legislation 168-31, with 145 abstentions.

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The bill still requires Senate approval before becoming law.

The text grants Spanish nationality to Sahrawis born before September 29, 1977 and to their children through naturalisation, even if they never resided in Spain.

Although the exact number of beneficiaries is unknown, Sahrawi groups estimate that between 70,000 and 120,000 people could benefit from the legislation, which supporters described as addressing a “historical injustice” by colonial Spain in the Western Sahara.

Tensions with Morocco

The vote comes at a particularly sensitive time for Madrid’s historically delicate relations with Rabat due to the migration crisis in Spain’s north African territory of Ceuta, and the mass arrival of at least 70,000 migrants from Morocco in July.

Spain’s leftist government has avoided blaming Morocco – which does not recognise Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta and Spain’s other North African territory of Melilla – but the right accuses Rabat of orchestrating the surge for political motives.

Morocco claims sovereignty over Western Sahara and began asserting control over the territory after Spanish ⁠rule ended.

The Algerian-backed Polisario Front independence movement seeks recognition ⁠of an independent state called the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Many Sahrawis live in refugee camps in Tindouf in western Algeria, or elsewhere abroad, while others remain in Western Sahara.

Against this backdrop, the initiative to grant Spanish nationality to Sahrawis has divided opinion in Morocco but not prompted condemnation from the government.

Moroccan media quoted Ramadan Messaoud, a member of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs, as saying in July that Rabat had “no problem” with Sahrawis obtaining Spanish citizenship. Others had done so “over the past few years”, noted Messaoud, who is also president of the Sahrawi Association for Human Rights.

‘Restoring’ identity

Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975, when Spain relinquished its administration under agreements with Morocco and Mauritania.

Spain’s ruling Socialist Party and its junior left-wing partner Sumar, which filed the initiative, were among those who supported the bill, ‌while the opposition conservative People’s Party abstained and far-right Vox voted against it.

“With the adoption of this legislation, we are restoring – and I emphasise, restoring – the Spanish national identity card to those Sahrawis who once held it and from whom this state took it away,” said Tesh Sidi of the leftist Sumar coalition, the first woman of Sahrawi origin ⁠to serve in Spain’s Parliament.

The bill will now go to the Senate, where amendments are expected, before returning to the lower house for final approval.

下议院批准后，授予数万名撒哈拉人公民身份的法案现在将提交西班牙参议院。

西班牙向曾在西班牙殖民统治下生活的西撒哈拉人及其子女授予公民身份。[图片：Mark Thompson/Getty]

西班牙议员支持一项立法，该立法将授予数万名西撒哈拉人公民身份，这些人出生于西班牙统治这片争议领土时期，而该领土现在大部分由摩洛哥控制。

西班牙下议院周四以 168 票赞成、31 票反对、145 票弃权通过了这项法案。

列表 1/3：休达移民危机持续一个月，数千人在西班牙举行抗议活动

摩洛哥执政联盟在大选开始前反目成仇（共3个联盟中的第2个）

西班牙情报机构在边境危机前曾警告称，将有大规模越境进入休达。（列表3/3）

该法案仍需参议院批准才能成为法律。

该文本赋予 1977 年 9 月 29 日之前出生的撒哈拉人及其子女西班牙国籍，即使他们从未在西班牙居住过。

虽然确切的受益人数尚不清楚，但撒哈拉维团体估计，该立法可能会使 7 万至 12 万人受益。支持者称该立法旨在解决西班牙殖民时期在西撒哈拉造成的“历史不公正”。

与摩洛哥的紧张关系

由于西班牙北非属地休达的移民危机，以及7月份至少7万名来自摩洛哥的移民涌入，此次投票正值马德里与拉巴特之间历史上较为敏感的关系时期。

西班牙左翼政府一直避免指责摩洛哥——摩洛哥不承认西班牙对休达和西班牙在北非的另一块领土梅利利亚的主权——但右翼指责拉巴特出于政治动机策划了这波攻势。

摩洛哥声称对西撒哈拉拥有主权，并在西班牙统治结束后开始对该地区行使控制权。

阿尔及利亚支持的波利萨里奥阵线独立运动寻求承认一个名为“撒哈拉阿拉伯民主共和国”的独立国家。

许多撒哈拉人居住在阿尔及利亚西部廷杜夫的难民营或国外其他地方，而其他人则留在西撒哈拉。

在此背景下，给予撒哈拉人西班牙国籍的倡议在摩洛哥引起了意见分歧，但并未招致政府的谴责。

摩洛哥媒体援引撒哈拉事务皇家顾问委员会成员拉马丹·梅萨乌德（Ramadan Messaoud）7月份的话说，拉巴特方面对撒哈拉人获得西班牙国籍“没有任何异议”。梅萨乌德指出，过去几年里，也有其他人这样做过。他同时也是撒哈拉人权协会的主席。

“恢复”身份

西撒哈拉曾是西班牙的殖民地，直到 1975 年，西班牙根据与摩洛哥和毛里塔尼亚的协议放弃了对西撒哈拉的管辖权。

西班牙执政的社会党及其左翼盟友苏玛党（该党提出了这项提案）都支持这项法案，而反对派保守派人民党弃权，极右翼政党Vox投了反对票。

“通过这项立法，我们将恢复——我强调，是恢复——西班牙国民身份证，归还给那些曾经持有该身份证但被国家剥夺的撒哈拉人，”左翼苏玛联盟的特什·西迪说道，她是第一位在西班牙议会任职的撒哈拉裔女性。

该法案接下来将提交参议院，预计参议院会进行一些修改，之后再返回众议院进行最终批准。