Maldives says will not lose territory from Chagos policy change
Voting in a particular way on the independence issue will have no impact on the maritime boundary demarcation between Chagos and Maldives.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
Attorney General's Office said on Saturday that the Maldives' change in stance to recognise Chagos as part of Mauritius will not lose territory and that the country remains firm in its stand on the issue of demarcation of the sea area.
Speaking at a UN tribunal on the issue of separation of the Maldives and Mauritius' territorial waters, Riffath revealed on Thursday that the Maldives has changed its stand on the Mauritius issue.
The lawsuit was filed by Mauritius in 2019 before the International Tribunal on Oceans Law, alleging that parts of the Maldives' economic zone was under Mauritius' sovereignty as per the rulings issued by international tribunals on the territorial waters of the Chagos archipelago. The people have criticised the government’s move.
In a written response to questions from Atoll Times, the Attorney General's Office’s Communications Director Hussain Hassan said that the Maldives had decided to recognise Chagos as part of Mauritius as a mark of respect to the view of the international community.
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An advisory issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2019 ruled that Chagos is a part of Mauritius
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It was decided that the continuing British occupation of the islands was illegal, and should be handed over to Mauritius
"The international community is of the view that Chagos is a place in Mauritius. In 2019, 116 countries voted in favour of the decolonisation of Chagos in the UN General Assembly," Hussain said.
"The ICJ is a judicial body set up by the UN Charter to deal with international cases. The ICJ has the mandate to take decisions and advise on international issues."
He added that Maldives supports the policy of decolonisation or the liberation of previously enslaved places.
"It is in the best interest of the Maldives to vote in accordance with the spirit of the international community on such issues," Hussain said.
"Voting in accordance with the views of the international community will serve Maldives in the international community and improve our relations with other countries. Therefore, the Maldives will benefit from voting this way."
Hussain added:
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Even in a preliminary decision on the ongoing case at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the tribunal also agreed that it could pursue the case as it was burdened with the ICJ's 2019 advisory opinion that Chagos was a place in Mauritius.
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Voting in a particular way on the independence issue will have no impact on the maritime boundary demarcation between Chagos and Maldives with the ITLOS.
Mauritius, in its petition to the tribunal, has sought an area of 200 nautical miles from Chagos's Bleinhem Reef to be included within its economic zone. If the tribunal settles in favour of Mauritius, Maldives will have to divide around 96,000 square kilometres of the country's economic zone.
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