The United Nations Security Council Resolution 2797, adopted in October 2025 on Western Sahara, marks a significant normative turning point.

I. Introduction: From Political Endorsement to Legal Consolidation

For the first time, the Council explicitly takes Morocco’s 2007 Autonomy Proposal as the basis for achieving a “just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution.” It affirms that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty could constitute the most feasible outcome, and it calls upon all parties to engage without preconditions and in good faith.

The language, structure, and sequencing represent a major evolution in the Council’s interpretative practice under international law. The text consolidates more than a decade of gradual linguistic shifts since Resolution 1754 (2007), moving from cautious acknowledgment of the Moroccan initiative as “serious and credible” toward its explicit legal centrality within the UN-mandated political process.

This development carries far-reaching implications for international law—especially regarding self-determination, sovereignty, and the evolving meaning of decolonization in the twenty-first century.

II. The Resolution’s Core Legal Architecture

The resolution 2797 rests on five mutually reinforcing pillars:

1.Reaffirmation of all previous resolutions, creating continuity and legal coherence within the Council’s corpus juris on Western Sahara

2.Full support for the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, to advance negotiations and maintain MINURSO’s stabilizing role.

3.Identification of Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal as