[1] East Timor (Port. v. Austl.), 1995 I.C.J. The case Judgment can be viewed online from the excellent ICJ website (http://www.icj-cij.org/); or, see, e.g., International Legal Materials, p1581-1591.
[2] The outcome of this case reflects some problems of the jurisdiction of the ICJ. For general discussion of the problems and reforms of the ICJ jurisdiction, see Bingbin Lu, The Reform of International Court of Justice-Jurisdiction Perspective, Perspectives, Overseas Young Chinese Forum, vol.5, 2004 (forthcoming).
[3] See U.N. Charter art. 1, para. 2 (announcing respect for self-determination).
[4] See e.g., Malcolm N. Shaw, International Law (4th Edn), Cambridge, pp 144-146; Henkin Pugh, Schachter Smit, International Law (3rd Edn), West, pp302-305; etc.
[5] See James Falkowski, Secessionary Self-Determination: A Jeffersonian Perspective, 9 B.U. Int'l L.J. 209, 212 (1991).
[6] See Cf., Claudia Saladin, Self-Determination, Minority Rights and Constitutional Accommodation: The Example of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, 13 Mich. J. Int'l L. 172, 173 (1991).
[7] Halim Morris, Self-Determination: An Affirmative Right or Mere Rhetoric?, 4 ILSA j. Int'l & Comp. L. 201, 203 (1997).
[8] President Woodrow Wilson, address before the League to Enforce Peace (May 27, 1916), reprinted in 53 Cong. Rec. 8854 (May 29, 1916).
[9] Ved Nanda, Self-Determination: The Case of Palestine, 82 Am. Soc'y Int'l L. Proc. 334, 335 (1988).
[10] The U.N. Charter calls on member states "to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples...." U.N. Charter art. 1, para. 2. It also creates a trusteeship system designed to "promote the progressive development of the inhabitants of the trust territories toward self-government or independence, taking into account the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned," and requiring members to become the administering powers and protect the interests of those countries whose people had not yet attained self-government. U.N. Charter art. 76.
[11] See Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, G.A. Res. 1514, U.N. GAOR, 15th Sess., Supp. No. 16, at 66, U.N. Doc. A/4684 (Dec.14, 1960).
[12] Principles Which Should Guide Members in Determining Whether or Not an Obligation Exists to Transmit the Information Called for Under Article 73e of the Charter, G.A. Res. 1541, U.N. GAOR, 15th Sess., Supp. No. 16, at 29, U.N. Doc A/4684 (1960).
[13] "A Non-Self-Governing Territory can be said to have reached a full measure of self-government by: (a) Emergence as a sovereign independent State; (b) Free association with an independent State; or (c) Integration with an independent State." Id.
[14] See Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, G.A. Res. 2625, U.N. GAOR, 25th Sess., Supp. No. 28, at 121, U.N. Doc. A/8028 (1970).
[15] See Daniel Thumurer, Self-Determination, in 8 Encyclopedia of Public International Law 470, 474 (R. Berhardt ed., 1985). "It should be added that apart from the law of decolonization with its special foundation in the U.N. Charter, the principle of self-determination does not seem to include a general right of groups to secede from the States of which they form a part." Id. at 474.
[16] See id. at 472.
[17] Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) Notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), 1971 I.C.J. 16 (June 21); Western Sahara, 1975 I.C.J. 12 (Oct. 16).
[18] See, e.g. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, art. 1, para. 1, 999 U.N.T.S. 171; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, art. 1, para. 1, 999 U.N.T.S. 3, 5; Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, G.A. Res. 1514, U.N. GAOR, 15th Sess., Supp. No. 16, at 66-67, U.N. Doc. A/4684 (1960); Declaration on the Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, G.A. Res. 2625, U.N. GAOR, 25th Sess., Supp. No. 28, at 123, Doc. A/802 (1970).
[19] Charter of the Organization for African Unity, May 25, 1963, African States 479 U.N.T.S. 39.
[20] Morris, supra note 7, at 204.
[21] Id.
[22] See Sam Blay, Self-Determination: A Reassessment in the Post Communist Era,
[22] Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 275 (1994); Gregory H. Fox, Self-Determination in the Post Cold War Era: A New International Focus?, 16Mich. J. Int'l L. 733 (1995).
[23] Hurst Hannum, Autonomy, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination: The Accommodation of Conflicting Rights 49 (1990).
[24] Edward A. Laing, The Norm of Self-Determination, 1941-1991, 22 Cal. W. Int'l L.J. 209, 248 (1992).
[25] Catharine J. Iorns, Indigenous Peoples and Self-Determination: Challenging State Sovereignty, 24 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 199, 353 (1993).
[26] U.N. Charter art. 2.
[27] Henry J. Richardson III, Rights of Self-Determination of People in Established States: Southern Africa and the Middle East, 85 Am. Soc'y Int'l L. Proc. 541, 545 (1991).
[28] G.A. Res. 1514, supra note 11.
[29] See John Pilger, We Resist to Win. It is 20 Years Since Indonesia Invaded East Timor, The Guardian, Dec. 2, 1995, at TO22.; John Pilger, The Rising of Indonesia, June, 16, 1995 New Statesman & Soc'y 14; Timor Trembles, Asian Wall St. J., May 20, 1994, at 8
[30] See U.N. Charter ch. XI.
[31] East Timor (Port. v. Austl.), 1995 I.C.J.(holding that the Court could not exercise jurisdiction because in ruling on Portugal's claims, it would have to rule on the lawfulness of Indonesia's conduct in Indonesia's absence).
[32] Id. at 139 (Weeramantry, J., dissenting).
[33] See G.A. Res. 1541, supra note 12, at 29.
[34] Id.
[35] Id.
[36] Only five of the twenty-eight representatives to the "People's Assembly" were elected by popular vote. Peter Lawrence, East Timor, in 12 Encyclopedia of Public International Law 94, 95.
[37] Id.
[38] Chapter XI of the U.N. Charter lays out several obligations owed by the administering powers to non-self-governing territories. These include the duty to develop self-government and the duty to regularly transmit statistical and other information to the Secretary General.
[39] U.N. Charter art. 73(e).
[40] See East Timor, 1995 I.C.J. (noting need to consider realities of situation).
[41] See Gerry J. Simpson, Judging the East Timor Dispute: Self-Determination at the International Court of Justice, 17 HASTINGS INT'L & COMP. L. REV. 323, 324 (1994), at 337 (providing several possibilities facing East Timor).
[42] Willliam Shakespeare, Macbeth act 5, sc. 5, lines 27-28 (Nicholas Brooks ed., 1990) (1606).
[43] For background, see the UN's website, http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/etimor.htm
[44] These Resolutions are available online at: http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/docs/UntaetDrs.htm
[45] This was 'requested' by Indonesia on 12 September 1999 and authorised by Security Council Resolution 1264 (1999), 15 September 1999. Security Council Resolution 1264 is thus an interesting hybrid. In the preamble, the Security Council welcomes Indonesia's readiness to accept an 'international peacekeeping force', yet paragraph 3 makes clear that the establishment of the multinational force is more accurately characterised as a (non-consensual) Chapter VII peace-enforcement action rather than (consensual) peacekeeping. The Australian-led multinational force was deployed on 20 September 1999. It finally handed over to UNTAET peacekeeping troops on 22 February 2000.
[46] 19 October 1999. This was pursuant to Article 6 of the Agreement Between the Republic of Indonesia and the Portuguese Republic on the Question of East Timor (hereinafter the 'General Agreement'), A/53/951, Annex 1 of the 'Report of the Secretary-General', S/1999/513 (the Agreement is available on the UN website, http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/etimor.htm). Article 6 of the General Agreement provides: 'If the Secretary-General determines, on the basis of the result of the popular consultation and in accordance with this Agreement, that the proposed constitutional framework for special autonomy is not acceptable to the East Timorese people, the Government of Indonesia shall take the constitutional steps necessary to terminate its links with East Timor thus restoring under Indonesian law the status East Timor held prior to 17 July 1976.' The decision of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly to repeal the law was welcomed in Security Council Resolution 1272 (1999), 25 October 1999 and in General Assembly Resolution A/54/194, 15 December 1999. For the background to the 1976 law, see e.g. Clark, 'The "Decolonisation" of East Timor and the United Nations Norms on Self-Determination and Aggression', in CIIR and IPJET (International Platform of Jurists for East Timor), International Law and the Question of East Timor (1995) 65, at 69-73.
[47] UNTAET was established by the Security Council on 25 October 1999. Security Council Resolution 1272 (1999), 25 October 1999. Its initial mandate was to January 2001. On 31 January 2001, the Security Council decided to extend the current mandate of UNTAET until 21 January 2002. Security Council Resolution 1338 (2001), 31 January 2001.
[48] See Charles Scheiner, Accomplishments and Challenges After One Year of Independence, Eastafter, vol. 9, no. 1, available online http://www.etan.org/estafeta/03/spring03/default.htm