The 2019 Chagos Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice is a decision of profound legal and political significance. Presented with a rare opportunity to pronounce on the right to self-determination and the rules governing decolonization, the ICJ responded with remarkable directness. The contributions to this book examine the Court's reasoning, the importance of the decision for the international system, and its consequences for the situation in the Chagos Archipelago in particular. Apart from bringing the Chagossians closer to the prospect of returning to the islands from which they were covertly expelled half a century ago, the decision and its political context may be understood as part of a broader shift in North/South relations, in which formerly dominant powers like the UK must come to terms with their waning influence on the world stage, and in which voices from former colonies are increasingly shaping the institutional and normative landscape.
List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Table of cases and awards; Table of legislation; List of abbreviations; 1. Decolonization and the international court of justice: new directions from the Chagos advisory opinion Thomas Burri and Jamie Trinidad; 2. Chagos, custom and the interpretation of UN general assembly resolutions James Summers; 3. Reflections on the treatment of general assembly resolutions in the Chagos advisory opinion Stephen Allen; 4. The Chagos advisory opinion and the principle of consent to adjudication Zeno Crespi Reghizzi; 5. Two takes on Chagos - reconciling the advisory opinion with the res judicata effect of the unclos arbitral award Johannes Hendrik Fahner; 6. State responsibility in advisory proceedings: thoughts on judicial propriety and multilateralism in the Chagos opinion Fernando Lusa Bordin; 7. Peremptory norms in the advisory opinion of the international court of justice on the decolonization of Mauritius and the Chagos archipelago Antoni Pigrau; 8. Reflections on the United Kingdom's assertion of sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago in the wake of the Chagos advisory opinion Chris Monaghan; 9. The Chagos marine protected area Sue Farran; 10. Human rights and the Chagos advisory opinion Irini Papanicolopulu and Thomas Burri; 11. Heightened scrutiny of colonial consent according to the Chagos advisory opinion: pandora's box reopened? Mohor Fajdiga, Ula Aleksandra Kos, Gregor Oprckal, Anze Medizevec, Pia Novak, Ana Samobor, Miha Plahutnik, Anze Kimovec, Ursa Demsar, Vid Drole and Hana Serbec; 12. Chagos and the perplexities of the law of treaties Peter H Sand; 13. Prospect of the Chagos advisory opinion and the subsequent UN general assembly resolution helping resolve the future of the Chagos archipelago and of its former inhabitants: a political perspective David Snoxell; 14. Reflections on the human tragedy underlying the Chagos case and the way forward Sebastian Schnitzenbaumer; Index.
Thomas Burri is a Professor of International Law and European Law at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. He has published numerous articles in international journals, including German Yearbook of International Law, European Journal of Risk Regulation, and Yearbook of European Law and two books, The Greatest Possible Freedom (2015) and Models of Autonomy? (2010). Jamie Trinidad is a Fellow, Tutor and Director of Studies in Law at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge and Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. He is also a practising barrister. His publications include Self-Determination in Disputed Colonial Territories (Cambridge, 2018) and several articles in journals such as the British Yearbook of International Law, International and Comparative Law Quarterly and Leiden Journal of International Law.
Reviews for The International Court of Justice and Decolonisation: New Directions from the Chagos Advisory Opinion
'... extremely interesting and worthwhile ... The editors of The International Court of Justice and Decolonisation are to be commended for providing a thorough and in-depth examination.' Miriam Bak McKenna, European Journal of International Law
