The child’s right to freedom of expression in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a mixed-methods study on the child’s right to freedom of expression in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara (MCWS). Qualitative data for this paper was obtained by the author and student researcher through covert field research and online interviews. The data is analysed according to three academic perspectives: first a legal doctrinal perspective, which discusses the content of the child’s right to freedom of expression under international law. Second, a normative pluralism perspective, which shows how the child’s right to freedom of expression is protected and/or violated on different social levels in MCWS, such as the state, the school and the family. Third, a narrative theory perspective, which discusses the two dominant narratives in MCWS (the Sahrawi activist and the Moroccan nationalist narrative), both of which are the presentations, the subject, and a cause of the illegal restrictions placed on the child’s freedom of expression for children living in MCWS. The paper ends with a presentation of an alternative, third narrative: a silent narrative, which according to the author has the potential to be a new political space where certain topics can be discussed more freely.