The International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, a UN body based in Hamburg, last week delivered a stern and unequivocal rebuke to the UK in ruling the UK has no legal interest in the maritime area of the Chagos Islands. You will recall that the UK in the 1970’s ethnically cleansed the entire population from Chagos at gunpoint to make way for the US nuclear base on the Chagos Island of Diego Garcia.
In its judgement, The Special Chamber of the Tribunal last week ruled (para 247) by 8 votes to 1 that the Maldives must agree a boundary with Mauritius, as
it is inconceivable that the United Kingdom, whose administration over the Chagos
Archipelago constitutes a wrongful act of a continuing character and thus must be
brought to an end as rapidly as possible, and yet who has failed to do so, can have
any legal interests in permanently disposing of maritime zones around the Chagos
Archipelago by delimitation.
The Tribunal was of course here following the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice; the illegality of British occupation of the Chagos Islands is now indisputable in international law. What this tribunal adds is the dismissal of the notion that the UK has any legal rights to impose administrative or regulatory measures on the grounds that sovereignty is disputed. The Tribunal has said the Chagos Islands are part of Mauritius and there can be no dispute.
I am pleased partly because of my long term advocacy for the Chagos Islanders, but also because enabling the coming into force of the Tribunal was one of the proudest moments of my life. It is a very long story, and some day I will tell it, but the short version is that the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea had been delayed for decades because of a dispute over the deep seabed mining regime. This specified a licensing system for mining in the deep seabed beyond all national limits, with the proceeds from licenses being distributed to developing nations. The United States had refused to ratify and the entire Convention, including the Tribunal, had been stymied as Western European powers followed the US lead over deep seabed mining.
When I became Head of Maritime Section at the FCO and Alternate Head of the UK Delegation to the UN Preparatory Commission (Prepcom) for the Convention – which was tasked with sorting out the mess – I can genuinely say that by persuading the UK government to soften its stance, (a Herculean task within Whitehall) and by establishing a strong personal rapport with the leaders of the developing world delegations, and especially with Dolliver Nelson and UN Under Secretary General Satya Nandan, I broke the impasse. My writing talent in clever drafting that eventually fed into the Protocol on Deep Seabed Mining made a real difference, but it really was the fact that I mixed freely with the developing world delegations, and sat on the beach with them drinking rum punch or eating ackee and fish washed down with Red Stripe in local restaurants, that broke the barriers.
I don’t know how to make you believe this, but this really was pretty revolutionary. The Prepcom met in Jamaica for a month every year and again in New York every August, and the “First World” delegates just did not socialise with the “G77 Delegates” except at stilted formal occasions or with enormous condescension. Making real friends across the barrier was not normal. I strongly recommend to you the current BBC true story drama “The Serpent”. Apart from the major subject, its portrayal of the milieu, lifestyle and attitudes of Western diplomats abroad is absolutely spot-on. I made the political breakthrough just by being straight and friendly with people. Indeed the key compromises were agreed with Satya and Dolliver while we splashed our legs in a pool. By coincidence, the UK had the revolving chair of the Western European and Others (WEOG) group at just the crucial time, which was a great help in getting the compromises through.
I should add that the FCO Legal Adviser, David Anderson, was my boss most of the time at these meetings; he was arguably the world’s leading authority on the law of the sea and the primary credit for the Convention coming onto force goes to him. He was to become one of the first judges at the Tribunal. A true Yorkshireman, I remember many hours walking around Brussels and New York with him while he peered at restaurant menus finding where he could get his chosen meal cheapest. I should also mention the tolerant and visionary Dr John Hughes, my line manager, who trusted me and gave me huge latitude. It is further fair to note that others took on the work to completion after me as I was posted to Poland by the time the Convention came into force. But somewhere I have kept the lovely note from John Hughes telling me the Convention had come into force, and that while my name would not be on it, the achievement was enormous.
I am very conscious that the strain of being on trial, and particularly awaiting the verdict, has made me self-obsessed. I have received really awful online abuse since I published my affidavits, and it has led me to want to think about the real achievements of my life, and even about the time when I was highly valued within the political establishment rather than somebody entirely outside of respectable society. Not that I would change a thing about my whistleblowing and I am sure this maudlin period will pass. Please forgive and indulge me for a little while.
Being chosen as the seat of the Tribunal was very important both to Hamburg and Germany, and I remember an official visit there to look at the site and discuss the accommodation for judges, the diplomatic status of staff and numerous other points. The hospitality was amazingly good, and I got taken out on the Gorch Fock for a day, which I shall never forget.
So I am delighted now to see the Tribunal be so robust over the Chagos Islands. It really does matter that the UK is in defiance of these international courts. The UK has wide interests, and may from time to time need to seek the authority of the International Court of Justice or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to assert them. That the UK has ignored major and overwhelming majority rulings from these courts, will undoubtedly be likely to rule the courts’ perception of the UK in other cases. Which will, for example, one day include the maritime boundary dispute with an independent Scotland.
The major question on Scottish Independence in international law is whether Wales, England and Northern Ireland (WENI) and Scotland will both be successor states, inheriting all the legal benefits and obligations of the UK, or whether only WENI is the successor state to the UK and Scotland is a new state. This is a crucial matter. There are examples both ways. For example, only Russia is the successor state of the Soviet Union, whereas Czechia and Slovakia are both successor sates of Czechoslovakia.
If WENI wants to keep its position on the UN Security Council it will need to be the sole successor state. But if it is, it will need to inherit all of the UK’s national debt and Scotland none (as Russia did for the Soviet Union). There will be strong international interest in WENI not being the sole successor state, as a lever to get this second rate power off its anomalous position on the UN Security Council. There are also consequences for nuclear weapon power status. Then there is the question of the colonies – to whom will they belong after separation? A disproportionate number of Scots shed their blood in obtaining those colonies or died of malaria administering them. (It is not lost on me they shed a lot more of the blood of those the colonies were stolen from). Scotland should demand the Chagos Islands as its share of colonial possessions – and then immediately decolonise. A plan which properly explained will certainly help attain UN recognition. The US base would then become a matter of negotiation between Mauritius and the USA, but from the starting point of the US having no right to be there.
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Sad – but not remotely surprising.
“face the truth…”? Lets start here:-
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=intersex&ia=web
Felicitations! Your work here, like your reporting of the Assange trial, and now your own trial, will endure for a long time. Many people are most grateful to you and I find this site a constant encouragement to persevere!
“…a constant encouragement to persevere.” And your works too. Like Mr Murray, you probably don’t hear it enough, thank you.
” A true Yorkshireman, I remember many hours walking around Brussels and New York with him while he peered at restaurant menus finding where he could get his chosen meal cheapest.” Seems that Yorkshire has a cultural affinity to Scotland — aversion to paying more than necessary.
Concerning the seat in UNSC, it can be split: WENI could retain the veto power, while Scotland could veto that veto.
Re UNSC seats. Maybe these should be China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Nigeria and Russia. Together these states constitute more than half the world’s population and with a spread of four continents rather than the current very skewed representation of Europe and none from S America or Africa.
You can’t keep a good man down. I live in hope.
Define “respectable society”.
Sounds like a bunch of &@#! to me.
Keep your chin up, you not alone….
Ignore the detractors, listen to the kind.
If you find out how to do this let me know!
LOL! Thanks, I needed a laugh. My feelings exactly.
Once again Britannia waves the rules, it’s not like the english establishment to attempt something like this maybe they think Victoria is still on the throne of england and a trusty gun boat will be dispatched shortly to teach those pesky natives
There are literally people people getting a salary, and being directed to denigrate you, so don’t take it personally, Craig.
Plus, power-worshiping bullies and hangers-on. It’s literally a badge of honor to earn their enmity.
Keep up the good work! All right-minded and caring people support you.
Literally!
“There are literally people people getting a salary, and being directed to denigrate you, so don’t take it personally, Craig.”
And there is literally software available to generate hundreds of fake social media personas that can all be run by one person.
Craig, your achievements in the foreign service are little known, and deserve to be more widely known. By all means go ahead and give us more posts about your time there.
Ahh, if only you were on the negotiating team during the transition period of Scotland’s independence, Craig, though I fear there might be too much boozing going on with the natives if you were. Impeccable logic on the UNSC desirability, and how desirable it would be to WENI.
Intra-history. Please, indulge us with the whole story! I am already looking forward to buy the book..
And all the abuse you might be receiving Craig, it’s not really directed at you, the person, it’s directed at an image of you that they are trying to create in the process.
Visualise all the abusers on a tv screen adressing their comments to a cardboard cut-out of of yourself – are those abusers real people, or are they cartoon characters? Are they just mouthpieces? Do the abusive comments hurt the cardboard cut out? Do they have any real meaning? While you are watching the imaginary tv screen, have it move further and further away from you, until you realise it’s no longer part of your real life, or your real self. None of it is valid criticism (it can’t be, by definition of being abusive)
I’m sure you know intellectually that it’s all just part of a political agenda – by publishing the affidavit you have done good, voters need to know what they are voting for, and you are standing up for our rights – so make yourself understand emotionally that it is ONLY part of a political agenda. Defend yourself with gusto and certainty.
I know this will be a stressful time for you in post trial limbo. We await the judges ruling and trust that decency and common sense will prevail.
We live in exciting times and the criminality and corruption of the Scottish establishment is on the verge of exposure to the general public. What you have had the courage to do has been a large part of that. I earnestly hope that In the days to come those at the head of the Scottish Government, senior civil servants. the Lord Advocate and those at the head of COPFS and the police will be made to rue their actions. Regime change is in the wind and with it will come fairness and retribution.
Here is a detailed description of how governments are(not) concerned about “embarrassment” when it comes to not following “Laws” by Nils Melzer.
The system is cooked and power is all that matters!
A murderous system is being created before our very eyes
By Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56268.htm
The ‘murderous system’ has been around for a long time. Right now it is being expanded and refined but it is hardly a new phenomenon.
Your writings on the Assange trial were some of the most gripping, yet awful accounts of supposed justice I could imagine. Sadly, in Scotland, it seems to be as bad.
Thank you for your courage.
Good luck Craig. The SNP are wrecking Scotland. The state of UK politics must be at an all time low.
Well done. Chin Up. Keep up the good work. Fight the good fight with all thy might 🙂
We’d disagree on many things (including giving “Developing Nations” – who defines? – bungs from deep sea mining) but on the important things we’d agree.
All the best 🙂
SBFC
Something odd…. Coming here from Google, I was asked for “verification” before I could read the blog. Not at all sure what this was about. Never seen anything like it…. If Craig is protecting his space against ill wishers, all well and good. If not I can’t help but fell something less savoury is afoot following Craig’s superb articles recently.
I was too and at about the same time
Me too. Very odd.
[Mod: Don’t panic as it is from our end. DDOS (distributed denial of service) protection has been temporarily enabled after the site came under a sustained barrage of nonsense web requests]
Same here just now. The SNP high office must be somewhat exercised!
Waiting for a verdict:
Deferred judgments are cruel and unusual punishment.
Craig’s torture is similar to Julian Assange’s except Her Majesty provided poor Julian with free accommodation while he waited for Baraitster to publish her pre-determined decision to leave him in Belmarsh prison where he seems to have disappeared without trace. A case of no news is bad news.
The Crown Office’s jigsaw puzzle must be truly fascinating as I’m sure the judges can put it together in numerous different ways and will spend endless coffee breaks playing with it. Indeed they may be able to demonstrate that Nicola Sturgeon is a sexual assault complainer and ban the publishing of her name.
This resembles a Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera from the 1800’s.
The Crown Office is just determined to kill the messenger.
Ah well! Craig had a good time on the Gorch Fock and may soon have time to write about it. Two years makes for a lot of reminiscing.
Red Stripe breaks barriers? That I can believe.
Well played.
I sympathise with Craig because he has obviously received some shitty treatment from the FO, from the SNP and the Scottish prosecutorial service (I am not sure what its called), and I bear in mind he has written some good books which opened up my eyes to some things but I don’t agree with everything he says and I regret his over enthusiastic wish to see the UK break up and lose it’s international status. We are not alone in this world in behaving badly, others do and or would if given half a chance and this current post (as interesting as part of it is) does sound a tad like gloating that he has cleverly set up something many years ago, which has come back to sting the country. Not an attractive gloat. I dare say that it was not at the forefront of his mind when he set it up, but the whole thing reads rather like that and not a great position to take whilst waiting one’s verdict.
Perhaps that’s why I encountered an obviously off-putting and annoying message that pops as I logged on warning that my browser is being checked. As if to say “don’t look here etc…” Good grief: I am not sure who is the more childish…..
“I regret his over enthusiastic wish to see the UK break up and lose it’s international status.”
Most Scots, as in 2014, will be happy to see the back of the UK alliance and its ever-dominant member. I’m sure England will get by with any diminished international status, which is perhaps not as great as some might think.
Craig,
Don’t let the abuse get to you, difficult as that must be.
You are head, shoulders and a whole lot more better than your detractors.
Keep up the good work, you are a breath of fresh air and a source of much truth and education for all.
Keep Safe.
Craig said, “Please forgive and indulge me for a little while.”
Clearly I see nothing to forgive or forget especially in the context and framework of the Chagos islands where we can isolate the crudeness of the UK political establishment and it’s “final solution” towards the Chagossians. This barbarity lies within the confines of a ‘respectful society’ where respectful has mutated from gracious, humble and polite into pliable, servile, passive and nasty; ‘respectable society’ morphed into a coalition of the willing.
This nastiness from the British Establishment proved perennial. The Chagossians took up their claims of return, including unacknowledged fishing rights, badgering the UK government repeatedly in their efforts. One ploy adopted by these so called diplomats in Her Majesty’s Government was its attempt to turn the area of claim, known as the British Indian Ocean Territory, into a marine park or reserve. Our corrupt Establishment retreated from this using the same weary homily that invokes terrrrror namely by saying, “The defence facilities on the British Indian Ocean Territory help to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organised crime and piracy.”
When in a tight corner, always aspire to universal relevance and importance. In the meantime, the fortunes of the Chagossians, and international opinion, have turned thanks to Wikileaks and the courage of whistle-blowers and the gutsiness and candor of folk like Craig Murray.
You don’t need to justify yourself Craig, you are one of those people who can say “all that and I’m still here” as you watch the corpses of your enemies float by. Whatever the result of the hearing, you’ll always be still here.
Nil carburundum. Please don’t let the psychotic disorders of Empire1 or Empire2 imperialism undermine your self confidence Craig.
There are many Empire1 Man Friday mythology islands where “” savages “” stand in the way of British interests. Empire1 has to look the other way while China colonises in the footsteps of the British, building roads and railways across hundreds of countries to the Man Friday island of UK , inhabitated by “” us “” who stand in the way of their interests.
Projecting our nuclear power over the countries to our East, under the wing of the US, we can divert planes to Diegos Garcia, flashing our musketry in the Empire 1 way. But what of Empire2? Craig has fulfilled the destiny of his time and place, standing on the shoulders of those who brought the British Empire1 to its knees in WW1 and WW2. But who and when will dismantle British Empire2? Only time will tell.
Our destiny as a nation could lead down the Corbyn route , recognising the pomposity and violence of Empire 1 and building a fair society , trading fairly as an equal nation , with the rest of the world. But instead his Labour Party has been hijacked by Empire2 Tories whose tools of re – conquest of their lost Empire are:
1/ hang on to whatever is left of Empire1
2/ Zionist conquest of the Middle East in the name of a long forgotten deal between God and Palestine.
3/ Islamist conquest every where that was previously controlled by the Turkish Caliphate.
Although I personally am English I personally detest Empire 1 ism. Although I am.partly Jewish I detest Zionism. Although I am for 20 years Muslim I detest Islamism, which has destroyed so many countries in my lifetime and killed, maimed, made homeless, made victims everywhere Empire2 has shat , in the pursuit of British Empire2.
I very strongly disagree with the idea of Islam re-building its lost Caliphate on the back of a second go at British Imperialism, especially when those same Islamist nations already know not to trust that pompous rah rah entity called the UK.
Lakum deenukum. If that’s what lifts their skirts up , there’s very little I can do to dissuade them. The scholars of Islam compare the modern Islamists, working for British Empire2, trashing the lives of Muslims wherever they go with the Khawarij group who gained power 1300 years ago. They similarly had no mercy, and no regret at destroying civil society.
All.of which is totally counter- productive imho to the causes of Britishness or Islam, the two main tags of my personal.identity.
After experiencing years of incompetent and corrupt governance, hearing your stories of what good governance looks like, done by competent people of good will, is medicine. Please do not hesitate to write more in this vein.
I wish I were shocked that G7 members don’t socialize with G77 members. But honestly, that’s just . . . amateurish.
Look who they are. Politicians. They are infantile, vain, shortsighted and only interested in short term personal gain. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that those who consider themselves in the top 7 (according to their own understanding of empire) would be snooty to the rest.
i think you’re a hero, mr. murray, along with julian assange. i’m amazed by how much good you have done in your life. don’t let the bastards grind you down.
No one can begrudge you your moment of self promotion, you rarely do it but you have many great achievements and frankly could’ve sat on your hands after that and lived off them. You didn’t. You took risks in order to right the wrongs you saw in your career and risked everything including your liberty. You have continued to do so since and have been scrupulous in your journalism in order to convey facts which we so rarely see in news these days. I hope you hear soon from the courts and that they have found in your favour, good luck!
The Tribunal was of course here following the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice; the illegality of British occupation of the Chagos Islands is now indisputable in international law. What this tribunal adds is the dismissal of the notion that the UK has any legal rights to impose administrative or regulatory measures on the grounds that sovereignty is disputed. The Tribunal has said the Chagos Islands are part of Mauritius and there can be no dispute.
1. The Establishment state friendly media will not give this ruling any air whatsoever
2. Britain will join the US in the egregious hypocrisy of “Freedom of Navigation” willy waving in the South China Sea.