International Courts: Chagos Island Ruling

What happens when countries have disputes? One option is to take those disputes to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ is the principal judiciary mechanism for the United Nations, it began operations in April of 1946. The ICJ is located in The Hague (Netherlands) and is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. The court was established to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted by countries and give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by the UN. The UN General Assembly recently did just that, adopting resolution 71/292, requesting the ICJ's advisory opinion in regards to Chagos Islands and whether or not the United Kingdom should return them to Mauritius.

The Chagos Islands, located halfway between Africa and Indonesia, once belonged to Mauritius. Mauritius was a British Colony until it gained independence in 1968. Mauritius claims that it was forced to sell the Islands, which the UK now refers to as British Indian Ocean Territory, for 3 million dollars in order to gain its independence. Mauritius has now turned to the UN to get them back. Complicating the matter further is the fact that the United States leases one of the Islands, Diego Garcia, which houses a US military base and the lease is not set to expire until 2039. In early 2019 the ICJ issued its advisory opinion to the General Assembly and it stated the separation of the Chagos Islands was illegal according to international law and the UK was instructed to properly finish the decolonization process, and return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

With the advisory opinion in mind, the General Assembly voted 116 to 6, with 56 abstentions in May of 2019 on a resolution demanding that the UK unconditionally withdraw its Colonial administration from the area within 6 months. However, it was reported on 11/22/19 that the 6 month period has since past and the Islands have not been returned. The official statement out of the UK is that it has every right to hold on to the islands. It has yet to be seen how the international community will react and if sanctions or other immediate punishment will follow.