Grace Initiative Calls for a Humanitarian Trust Fund- Resource Stewardship and Future Generations Fund, Derived from Natural Resources and Fisheries:
United Nations C-24 Meeting at the UN.
During the June 16, 2026 C-24 meeting on Non-Governing Self- Territories, the Grace Initiative petitioned for a humanitarian trust fund for management and distribution of funds based on the extraction of natural resources. One pressing initiative could begin especially in the Western Sahara territory. Grace Initiative also took note of Security Council Resolution 2797 of 31 October 2025, which called inter alia the need for renewed international engagement with the Sahrawi people’s continued demand for self-determination and for any autonomy proposal to be genuine, inclusive, and consistent with international law.
The Sahrawi people, displaced yet determined, have embodied the paradox of being rooted in a transient existence. The refugee camps in Tindouf are not just sites of survival but poignant symbols of international inertia and unfulfilled promises. The human dignity challenges are in plain sight - the data for the refugee camps indicate serious malnutrition, especially for children and childbearing women.[1]
The potential to diminish humanitarian dependence and vulnerabilities, is found in the Western Sahara’s rich in natural resources, including phosphates, fisheries, and potentially oil and gas reserves. The exploitation of these resources, however, has raised significant legal and ethical concerns, particularly regarding the rights of the Sahrawi people.[2] To this end, the Grace Initiative called for a Resource Stewardship and Future Generations Fund.
In fact, in his annual report on Western Sahara submitted to the General Assembly 80th session, Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the exploitation of natural resources and illicit foreign projects in occupied Western Sahara. Also, the Secretary General referred to the European Court of Justice rulings regarding the European Union and Morocco fisheries and agriculture agreements as null and void for failing to consult the Sahrawi people and their representative, the Polisario Front, de facto sovereigns in Western Sahara. Also, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights received reports that the Sahrawi population does not benefit from the exploitation resources, and that this has perpetrated the population’s marginalization and malnutrition.[3]
[1] Situation of the Western Sahara, Secretary-General’s Report, S/2025/612 (30 Sept. 2025),
p. 10.
[2] Joanna Allan & Raquel Ojeda-García (2021): Natural resource exploitation
in Western Sahara: new research directions, The Journal of North African Studies, DOI:
10.1080/13629387.2021.191712.
[3] Situation of the Western Sahara, Secretary-General’s Report, p.11.