The law on decolonization has two primary objectives: transfer power from colonizer to people in accordance with their will and protect the people until that happens. On 21 March 2024, Advocate General Ćapeta delivered three linked opinions at the European Court of Justice that seriously undermine these objectives. The cases concern EU trade agreements with Morocco purporting to apply to the territory of Western Sahara. Western Sahara is a non-self-governing territory that has been occupied by Morocco since its invasion in 1975. Two of the opinions concern a long line of litigations brought by the Western Saharan national liberation movement, the Front Polisario, discussed on the pages of this blog here, here, here, here, and here. (The third, brought by a French agricultural union, concerns labelling of goods from Western Sahara and is not discussed here).
Territorial Disputes
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A Sympathy Borne out of Legal Identity? (Re)Viewing Ethiopia’s Move to Recognize Somaliland’s Statehood from a Different Angle
Introduction In the process of understanding the undeclared drivers behind Ethiopia’s move towards recognition of Somaliland’s statehood, this blog post sheds light on how changes in legal identities guide the decision-making process of States in international law. It specifically examines the potential links between Ethiopia’s shifting position on the principle of territorial integrity and its…
Essequibo referendum: An unlawful threat of force?
Essequibo (or Guayana Esequiba according to Venezuela) is an oil rich region given to Guyana by the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award. It amounts to approximately two thirds of Guyana’s territory. Since the early 1960s, Venezuela disputed the validity of the arbitral award and laid claim to the territory. In 1966, the Geneva…
Unpacking Sovereignty and Self-determination in ITLOS and the ICC: A Bundle of Rights?
In a short space of time, two international courts have handed down rather dramatic decisions related to the contested issues of self-determination and sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago and Palestine, which have, for a very long time now, been under the UK and Israeli occupation respectively. On 28 January 2021, an ITLOS Special Chamber found…
Air Navigation in Abkhazia: Another Inter-State Litigation between Georgia and Russia in the Making?
In November 2020 the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, held a meeting with the head of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia to discuss relations between Russia and the de facto entity. According to the Abkhaz leader, an agreement was reached to restore the functioning of the Sokhumi airport. Russian plans to renovate the airport…
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