The international law gaze: the ICJ strikes at colonialism

Abstract

The International Court of Justice (the Court) rendered a few weeks ago a blow to the excesses of colonialism and its disdain for humanity in its advisory opinion (See Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 (Advisory Opinion) [2019] (Chagos)). The advisory opinion deals with some dimensions of the right to self-determination and is of interest to New Zealand. The opinion is related to international law obligations New Zealand has as a result of its being administrator of Tokelau, and second, because the U.N Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is mentioned by two judges in their separate opinions (see Separate Opinion of Judge Cançado Trindade at [244] (Cançado Trindade) and Separate Opinion of Judge Robinson at [70(g)] (Robinson)).