East Timor Portugal v. Australia

As discussed in Chapter 6, East Timor was a Portuguese colony until 1976. After Portugal withdrew as the colonizer, the island was forcibly annexed by 

The ICJ s unwillingness to answer any legal issues regarding self-determination in the East Timorese context can be easily explained by politics and the politically charged context of this entire situation. As explained in 

Judge Skubiszewski, a native of Poland, arrived at a similar conclusion in his dissenting opinion. Judge Skubiszewksi wrote that even if the Court had found itself without jurisdiction to adjudicate on any issue relating to the Timor Gap Treaty, the Court could have nonetheless dealt with issues regarding the status of East Timor, the applicability to that territory of the principle of 

The ICJ ruling in the case of Kosovo also illustrates a formalistic, rigid approach by the most supreme international jurisdiction intent on respecting the territorial status quo imposed by the great powers, at the expense of failing to develop normative law on the issue of self-determination. 

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International Court of Justice (1995) Case Concerning East Timor (Portugal v. Australia) Judgment of 30 June 1995,1.C.J. Reports 1995, p. 90, para. 29. 

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