The Congress will try to carry out a proposition of the law of adding to grant nationality by nature of nature to the Saharawi who lived under the Spanish administration of the Western Sahara, that is, those born before 1976, after the abandonment by Spain of the Spain of the Old colony. He will do it without the support of the PSOE, who has not yet clarified whether he will abstain or vote against. In 2022, the Socialists rejected a similar text presented by Unidas Podemos, after the government’s position with respect to the Western Sahara.
The initiative, whose consideration is being discussed on Tuesday in Congress, will be supported by adding, the Popular Party, PNV, Junts, Pode Hemicycle Socialist sources confirm that the PSOE will not vote in favor, so they are discussed between abstention and “no.”
The deputy of adding, Tesh Sidi, has been one of the in charge of presenting the proposal. The parliamentarian, born in the Saharawi refugee camps in Tinduf (Algeria), has spoken in the first person to describe the reasons why his group considers this measure necessary. “I arrived in Spain in 2002, with three years, and until I was awarded, nationality spent 20 years. 20 years passed, ”said Sidi to denounce the obstacles with which the Saharawis find in his attempt to obtain nationality, despite proceeding from an old Spanish colony.
The Sumar representative has also shown to the Hemicycle the Social Security card of her father, who is part of that generation of Saharawis that resided in the so -called “53 province of Spain.” “My father was censored in the Western Sahara [durante la época colonial]. This document is signed by the Spanish Ministry of Finance, ”said the deputy. The proposal to add also includes the reduction of the deadlines (from ten to two years) required to the Saharawi to obtain nationality, due to the historical and cultural ties that unite both territories, as is the case with the Latin American or Guinea Nadals Equatorial, among others.
Although the PSOE has not confirmed whether it will refrain or vote “no” to the initiative of its government partners, its parliamentary group has made it clear that it will not support it with a “yes”. “Being close to the proposal of law in people who could have the right to facilitate the procedures of nationality, we do not agree that the process is that of nature letter,” said the socialist deputy, Sergio Gutiérrez. “We do not share the jurit-technical procedure of the proposal,” said the parliamentarian, who has opted for another approach focused solely on reducing the deadlines for the Saharawi citizens to obtain citizenship. Socialist sources have indicated to Eldiario.es that the parliamentary group is discussed between the abstention and rejection of the adding text.
For its part, Carmelo Barrio, deputy of the PP has evidenced during the debate that his group will support the taking into consideration of the proposal. “It is appropriate that this debate be repeated in the Chamber to remember from this unfortunate attitude and hopefully this time its process is completed and we will soon have a law so that the saharawi can access nationality,” he defended.
The proposition of the law is very similar to the one presented during the last legislature Unidas Podemos, except for some issues in the exposition of reasons that the coalition has included after receiving the contributions of the Solidarity Movement with the Saharawi people. That text was taken into consideration by the Plenary of Congress in 2022, the first step for subsequent approval, but with the abrupt end of the legislature, the text declined. At that time, the PSOE rejected the taking into consideration, the Government’s position turn with respect to the Western Sahara. The procedure went ahead thanks to the support of the usual government partners and also to the ‘yes’ of the PP.
What does the text say
In his text, add recalls the links between Spain and the non -autonomous territory, currently partially occupied by Morocco. During the colonial era, the inhabitants of the Western Sahara, known as the Spanish province number 53, had “with representation in the courts of the dictatorship, had a Spanish national identity document, studied in Spanish universities, could access the public function, And even be members of our army, ”recalls the parliamentary group in the exposition of text reasons.
The text takes into account the difficulties that the Saharawi population would find to prove compliance with the requirements, since many of the potential beneficiaries have lived exiles for decades in refugee camps raised in the Algerian desert. The initiative would allow justification through several ways: a national Spanish identity document, even if it is expired; a certificate of registration in the census for the Western Sahara referendum issued by the United Nations; as well as a birth certificate issued by the Saharawi authorities of the Refugee camps in Tinduf and legalized by the representation of the Polisario Front in Spain.
It also offers other alternatives such as a “birth certificate, family book, documents that prove the status of public employee issued by the Spanish Administration in the Western Sahara” or “Any other document of a Spanish administrative authority that accredits birth in Sahara Western before February 26, 1976 ”.
The proposition also seeks to facilitate nationality procedures to the children of the Saharawi who benefit from this law. The text proposes a period of 5 years from the registration in the Civil Registry of its predecessors so that they could request Spanish nationality. In addition, in these cases it would reduce to two years the required time of legal residence in Spain to obtain nationality, matching the children of the Saharawi born under Spanish control with other immigrants from countries or communities with a special historical or cultural link with Spain with Spain .
Beyond the descendants of the potential beneficiaries of the measure, adding wants to extend the reduction of deadlines to obtain citizens to all Saharawi, appealing to the existing historical connection with the old colony. People from Latin America, for example, can ask for nationality only with two years of residence in Spain, as opposed to the ten years of demand currently to the Saharawi (five in the case of refugees). “Their ties with the ancient metropolis are still as living today as more than four decades ago, for their knowledge of the language, the close cooperation developed from all Spanish official institutions and the general feeling of linking with the Saharawi people of the Spanish people,” holds the exposure of text reasons.
In case of getting ahead, it would not be the first time that nationality by nature of nature to populations is granted with a strong historical relationship with Spain. In 2015, the government of Mariano Rajoy approved to grant Spanish citizenship through this way to the sefardi originating in Spain, specifically to the descendants of the communities expelled by the Edict of Granada of 1492. Then, after the announcement of this measure, collective De Saharawis denounced feeling forgotten, due to the many obstacles with which they collide to obtain nationality.
The former Spanish colony of the Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 despite the resistance of the Polisario Front, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both parties signed a stop the fire with a view to the celebration of a referendum of self -determination, sponsored For the United Nations, but the rejection of Morocco, the differences on the elaboration of census and the inclusion or not of the settlers Moroccans have so far prevented their call.
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