The territory of Western Sahara and the outer lying marine areas remain stymied in a forty-year long dispute, which should have been resolved soon after the MINURSO UN Peacekeeping mission was installed in the territory in 1991, but which has been evaded by the multiple powers of Morocco and its allies.  In lieu of a full referendum over the control of the annexed territory, which becomes increasingly complex due to both the length of the dispute and the high ratio of Moroccan settlers-turned-residents in comparison to indigenous Sahrawi (many of which have been living in refugee camps for the duration), multiple international bodies have issued legal decisions to limit the potential for conflict over the exploitation of petroleum and other resources. According to the UN Legal Opinion in 2002, any exploration or exploitation of Western Sahara´s mineral resources is considered to be illegal if the Sahraoui people have not provided signed consent prior to any exploration within the territory of Western Sahara. Yet, in Total S.A.´s and Kosmos´s cases, this consent was never obtained.  As stated by Erik Hagen [1], the chairman of the Western Saharan Resource Watch (WSRW), "the oil industry is becoming an obstacle in terms of putting pressure in Morocco to accept that right [to self-determination].” Despite written requests that Total S.A. clarifies its involvement in Western Sahara, the company refuses to outline its position and justify its actions, all the while purporting that Total S.A. is complying to international standards.   Massive protests, outcries, and countless written responses have dominated the conflict, and these organized movements have also garnered support from international bodies such as the African Union and international organizations focusing on environmental justice. On December 6, 2012, officials of the SADR (Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic) sent letters to both Total and the United Nations demanding the immediate cessation of all exploratory oil activities. In this same month, French environmental justice organizations demanded that Total S.A. leave Western Sahara, and the WSRW (Western Sahara Resource Watch) wrote a letter to Total S.A. asking specific questions about their actions, the latter of which received a brief response. On February 7 2013, twenty-six non-governmental organizations made of SADR civil society groups and refugee groups in France published a declaration demanding that Total S.A. leave Western Sahara. March 2015, the African Union´s Peace and Security Council called for a global boycott of all products of the companies involved in illegal exploitation of resources in Western Sahara. The African Union issued a 14 October 2015 a Legal Opinion that ongoing exploration and exploitation of Western Sahara´s natural resources is a stark violation of international law [2]. 

¨The government of the SADR underscores once again that the Saharawi people do not consent to further exploration and exploitation of natural resources in occupied Western Sahara, and specifically reject the exploration, development and exploitation of petroleum on land and the continental shelf of the territory.¨ [3]

In early October 2015, the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights recommended that Morocco respect the Sahrawi peoples ‘right to be consulted, consent to, and benefit from exploitation of their natural resources. The African Union´s Peace and Security Council concurrently stated a Legal Opinion in October 2015 that the continuation of exploration and exploitation of Western Sahara´s natural resources are in violation of international law. Morocco rejected the UN´s recommendations and has otherwise been mostly unresponsive to complaints about these extraction activities.