scholarly journals You can’t have your cake and eat it too: Portugal and the self-determination of Western Sahara

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-127
Author(s):  
Francisco Pereira Coutinho
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Law ◽  
East Timor ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Eu

Western Sahara self-determination posits a conundrum to Portuguese foreign policy. Moral and legal imperatives which stem from the relentless efforts taken in the 80’s and the 90’s advocating in international fora the self-determination of East Timor impel the pursuit of an idealistic diplomacy of unconditional support for the akin self-determination of Western Sahara. Political, strategic, economic, historical and cultural ties dictate a realpolitik aimed at fostering diplomatic relations with Morocco without shunning Algeria, another key stakeholder in the Maghreb region. These constraints motivated the adoption of an impartial and equidistant position towards the Western Sahara conflict. This strategy was exposed after the Court of Justice ceased in Front Polisario, the de facto application of the EU/Morocco agreements in Western Sahara. Notwithstanding multiple pledges to the contrary, the Portuguese Government picked Morocco’s side in the conflict by lodging written interventions aimed at neutralizing the Court of Justice of the EU, and by approving Council decisions that expressly extend EU/Morocco agreements to Western Sahara in breach of EU and international law.

The Western Sahara Cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union and International Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-352
Author(s):  
Balingene Kahombo
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Vienna Convention ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Eu

Abstract This paper reviews the relevance of the Western Sahara cases brought before the Court of Justice of the European Union to international law. These cases relate to the contestations of the consistency of a number of economic agreements concluded between the European Union (EU) and the Kingdom of Morocco, as well as the EU acts that approved them, with the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The issues arising from these disputes include the legality of the Court’s jurisdiction to review the validity of a treaty which is already in force between parties and the rules of international law that the contested legal instruments have violated, perhaps entailing their invalidity under EU law. While the Court has rightly found that none of the aforementioned agreements is applicable to Western Sahara—since their territorial scope does not extend to a territory which is not subject to Moroccan sovereignty——this paper tries to answer a different question as to whether the Court’s decisions are in line with international law. It is demonstrated that though the Court’s competence to rule on the validity of EU unilateral acts is obvious, the establishment of its power to review the validity of a treaty which is in force, such as the fisheries agreement of 2006, is dubious because of the inconsistency of such power with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In any event, the question which remains to be solved—and which was not submitted to the Court—pertains to the determination of the effects of the illegal application of the EU-Morocco agreements to Western Sahara on the rights of its people. It is concluded that such an application has violated the law of occupation and eventually international human rights law. These violations do not touch upon the validity of the contested legal instruments but relate to the question of responsibility for a wrongful act stemming from the illegal application of those agreements to occupied Western Sahara in a manner which is harmful to the interest of its people.

scholarly journals Council of the European Union v. Front Populaire pour la Libération de la Saguia-El-Hamra et Du Rio de Oro (Front Polisario)

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 731-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jed Odermatt
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Law ◽  
Grand Chamber ◽  
The Eu

On December 21, 2016, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) dismissed an action brought by the Front Polisario challenging a decision of the Council of the European Union (EU) approving the conclusion of an agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom Morocco on the reciprocal liberalization of certain agricultural products. The CJEU held, based on the relevant rules of international law applicable between the EU and Morocco, that the agreement did not apply to the territory of Western Sahara. Apart from its obvious political overtones, the judgment is significant in further developing the CJEU's approach to the law of treaties and the principle of self-determination in international law.

scholarly journals The principle of equality and self-determination of peoples and the problem of recognition of new state formations

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (Extra-C) ◽  
pp. 7-11
Author(s):  
Yulia Nikolaevna Avdonina ◽  
Guzel Firdinatovna Nagumanova
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
Un Security Council

The researchers put forward the thesis that in the case of systematic analysis of scientific views inherent in individual scientists, there is an opposition of the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples to the principle of the territorial integrity of states, and at the same time, in law enforcement practice there are various acts that do not meet the signs of uniformity in the interpretation of the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples. All this together leads not so much to a pluralism of opinions, but to the emergence of various kinds of legal conflicts. Additionally, the authors try to pose the problem of recognizing new state formations as subjects of international law, and also propose separate approaches to the processes that make it possible to recognize such states. So, at the end of the paper, the researchers set a vector for the continuation of the discussion, which speaks of giving such powers either the UN Security Council, or the Human Rights Council, or the International Court of Justice, subject to additional procedural requirements.    

scholarly journals Territorial Disputes in the EU Members / Teritorijalni sporovi u zemljama Evropske unije

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Vladimir Čolović
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Eu

The issue of territorial disputes is a problem of a large number of states. These problems exists in the EU and in countries candidate for accession to this organization. As to the former Yugoslav republics following the collapse of the common state, the problems are created in terms of determining the territory. The issue of borders after the dissolution of a federal state such as Yugoslavia, creating major problems that can be solved only by applying two basic principles - the principle of demarcation and the principle of self-determination of nation. In international law there is no general rule, according to which the retreating boundary between the states. The author deals with issues of particular territorial disputes in the EU and between the EU countries and countries of the Western Balkan. Practically, these disputes between EU countries have existed before, and have not been resolved to their joining the organization. Whether the EU can guarantee resolution of these disputes is one of the issues raised in the paper, given that many disputes are not settled in countries that are longer or shorter time-EU countries. The conclusion is that it can not, because there are no adequate tools for this so that all the leaves to the states in disputes.

Western Sahara Boundary Marker

2018 ◽  
pp. 529-538
Author(s):  
Jeffrey J Smith
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
International Law ◽  
The Self ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Unfinished Business ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
National Liberation Movement ◽  
Remote Part

In a remote part of Africa, a boundary marker can be found where the frontiers of Algeria, Mauritania, and Western Sahara meet. It marks the entry to the liberated zone of the Saharawi people’s homeland and presumptive state. The marker is a reminder of the role of territory in modern international law and law’s unfinished business of the self-determination of colonized peoples. The role of territory and boundaries in international law is considered. The paradoxes in law of the particular circumstances of a partly occupied Western Sahara, where its people constitute themselves both as national liberation movement and state, are addressed. The idea of national identity informing a desired marking of terrestrial space with certainty is explored. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the role of the border in a Westphalian system of law.

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