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

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 f ield 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