Alejandro Alvarez as a Judge at the International Court of Justice : Was He a Protagonist of the Newly Independent States and Their Aspirations?
Today's appeal by TWAIL scholars for a new solidarism and a new pluralism calls to mind Alvarez' theses on "international solidarity" and "international regionalism", which he elucidated in his many published works and also in his various dissenting and individual opinions as a judge at the ICJ. Alvarez has been described as a scholar whose views received wide acclaim from the developing world. As a judge at the International Court of Justice he had to deal with conflicts involving states under trusteeship or newly independent states, for example the International Status of South West Africa Case (Advisory Opinion, 1950) or the Anglo-Iranian Oil Case (Judgment, 1952). The first South West Africa Case dealt with typical transitional colonial problems. The question adopted as a resolution by the UN General Assembly and filed with the Court for an Advisory Opinion was with regard to the international status of South West Africa, whether the Union of South Africa continued to have international obligations under the former League of Nations Mandate for South West Africa and whether South Africa had the competence to modify the latter's international status. The other questions which arose were whether the territory could be placed under the UN trusteeship system and, if so, whether South Africa was under an obligation to place it under that system. Whereas the Court decided the first question unanimously in the affirmative, holding that this obligation represented the "very essence of the sacred trust of civilization", it was quite divided concerning the second one. The Court concluded that the Charter did not impose on South Africa an obligation to place South West Africa under the trusteeship system. Alvarez' own position in this case may help our understanding of how to situate him in the contemporary context. In the Anglo-Iranian Oil Case, the Court was asked to declare that the Iranian Oil Nationalization Act of 1951 was contrary to international law, because it violated the concession concluded in 1933 between the Imperial Government of Persia and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. In the dispute which arose after the Nationalization Act, the British Government came before the Court on behalf of its company, while the Iranian government argued that it could not be brought to the Court. The Court then declared in its judgment that it had no jurisdiction in the case since it could not regard the concession as a treaty; it also ruled that its earlier order of provisional measures from 1951 ceased to be operative. The two cases show typical problems resulting from confrontations between weaker "developing" and stronger "developed" countries, such as the principle of self-determination or of no intervention, in a period marked by the Cold War and decolonization. The new states were striving not only for their political, but also for their economic independence. Analyzing Alvarez' arguments in the dissenting opinions he attached will show whether he could be considered an advocate for the developing countries. Alvarez' position as a dissident at the ICJ and his Latin American background made him a critical voice, potentially on behalf of developing states, but how far did he go? Is this enough to explain why he was seen as a protagonist by the newly independent states?
Year of publication: |
2007
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Authors: | Zobel, Katharina |
Publisher: |
[S.l.] : SSRN |
Description of contents: | Abstract [papers.ssrn.com] |
Saved in:
Extent: | 1 Online-Ressource |
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Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Notes: | Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments April 20, 2007 erstellt Volltext nicht verfügbar |
Source: | ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014049396
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