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).
Borders
What does the ‘hybrid attack’ carried out by Belarus against the EU borders mean in reality? An international law perspective
In reaction to the fraudulent 2020 Belarusian presidential elections and violent suppression of oppositionists by the State apparatus, the European Union imposed sanctions on Belarus, including a travel ban and an asset freeze. After the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk, it also prohibited various aircraft operated by Belarusian airlines from taking off…
At Daggers Drawn: International Legal Issues Surrounding the Conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh
On 10 November, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Statement with the Russian Federation that fundamentally changes the scope of the conflict concerning Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories as well the status of the so-called “Republic of Artsakh” that had declared independence in early 1992. Even if it remains to be seen whether…
The Monetary Gold Doctrine and the ICC: Can the ICC determine the Territorial Boundaries of Israel and Palestine?
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been engaged in a Preliminary Examination of the situation in Palestine since January 2015. By December 2019, the Prosecutor had come to the conclusion that there is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes have been, or are being, committed on territory of Palestine, and that the other…
How Trump’s Migration Policy Erodes National and International Standards of Protection for Migrants and Asylum Seekers
Early this month, 5,600 US soldiers were deployed to the southern border as a response to an approaching migrant caravan consisting of several thousand Central Americans. U.S. President Donald Trump called the advancing group in official statements a foreign “invasion” that warrants deploying up to 15,000 army members to support the border patrol. He further publicly warned…