âHumanizingâ the Law of Self-Determination: The âWestern Saharaâ Case (1975) and the Chagos Island Case (2019) Compared

Peter Hilpold

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Chapter 2 âHumanizingâ the Law of Self-Determination: The âWestern Saharaâ Case (1975) and the Chagos Island Case (2019) Compared

In: Western Sahara in the International Legal Order

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Peter Hilpold

Peter Hilpold
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 28â38

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004739215_004

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Abstract

The groundbreaking icj Western Sahara Opinion is nearly half a century old. The concept of the right to self-determination has developed further in the meantime, as has international law in general. The Chagos Opinion by the icj of 2019 would have been a good opportunity for a stocktaking integrating also all the achievements of the last decades on the way to a âhumanization of international lawâ whereby the interests and needs of the individual should be attributed a pivotal position when interpreting and applying international. This opportunity was missed, but nonetheless the Opinion of 2019 not only contains some useful statements also for the future lot of the Western Saharaâs indigenous population, the Sahrawi, but also gave rise to an intense debate about the present nature of the right to self-determination that could eventually lead to a more modern vision of self-determination. As a result, it can be stated that âcolonial self-determinationâ, the legally most powerful branch of the right to self-determination, can no longer neglect the ultimate beneficiaries of self-determination â and these are human beings and not the abstract entities of states. The legal discussion about the self-determination of the Western Sahara should continue on this track putting the Sahrawi people centre stage.

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Western Sahara in the International Legal Order

50 Years after the ICJ Advisory Opinion

Series:Â International Studies in Human Rights, Volume: 148

Cover Western Sahara in the International Legal Order

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004739215

Publisher:: Brill | Nijhoff

Print Publication Date:: 18 Dec 2025

Subjects
- Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
  - Human Rights

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Chapter 2 âHumanizingâ the Law of Self-Determination: The âWestern Saharaâ Case (1975) and the Chagos Island Case (2019) Compared

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Western Sahara in the International Legal Order

50 Years after the ICJ Advisory Opinion

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Chapter 2 âHumanizingâ the Law of Self-Determination: The âWestern Saharaâ Case (1975) and the Chagos Island Case (2019) Compared