[Coral-List] Sovereignty over the Coral Reefs and Islands of the Chagos

[Richard Dunne]

An important legal opinion was delivered this week by the United Nations 
International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning the sovereignty of the 
Chagos Archipelago and its Marine Protected Area.

The ICJ decided that: (1) Britain's detachment of the islands in 1965 
was unlawful and has no legal effect under international law, (2) the 
right of the inhabitants of Mauritius and Chagos to self-determination 
was part of international law in 1965 and was not respected by Britain 
at the time, (3) Chagos continued to form a part of Mauritius after 
1965, and does so today. The full opinion was near unanimous (13-1), the 
sole dissenter being the US judge.

Britain's immediate response was to accuse the UN General Assembly of a 
"misuse of powers", claiming that the dispute between Mauritius and the 
UK was bilateral and by inference that it will not recognise the 
advisory opinion (it had submitted these arguments to the ICJ which 
unamimously rejected them).

It will be unprecedented for Britain to fail to heed an international 
law opinion of the ICJ even though it is not legally binding. If it does 
so it will for example strengthen China's territorial claims in the 
South China Sea and the potential for further destruction of the coral 
reefs there. Britain has hitherto prided itself as an upholder of 
international law and human rights. Listers may recall that an 
International Tribunal has already ruled that the creation of the MPA by 
Britian was unlawful.

The fate of the Chagos will unfold when the matter is once more taken up 
in the UN, with pressure for Britian to recognise and end its 
occupation. Mauritius has said that it will respect the US military base 
on Diego Garcia and the rights of Chagossians to return to the land from 
which they were unlawfully expelled.

There is now an onus of Britain to respect international law and to 
discuss the restoration of sovereignty with Mauritius to assure the 
future status of the MPA and the conservation of the archipelago.

-- 
Richard P Dunne