Case Concerning East Timor (Portugal v. Australia)

The Territory of East Timor was historically a colony of Portugal (plaintiff). In 1960, the United Nations stated that the territory was considered under the administration of Portugal. In 1970, following internal disturbances in East Timor, the Portuguese military withdrew from the territory altogether. The neighboring Republic of Indonesia then began to occupy the territory and eventually incorporated it as its own. The United Nations’ General Assembly and Security Council then passed several resolutions with respect to East Timor. In particular, the Security Council called on all states of the United Nations to respect the rights of the people of East Timor to self-determination and further called on Indonesia to withdraw. Australia (defendant) eventually engaged with Indonesia to negotiate boundary lines in the body of water off the coasts of Australia and East Timor, known as the Timor Gap. In 1989, Australia’s legislature enacted a treaty that allowed shared use of the resources in the Timor Gap. Portugal brought an application before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging that Australia’s involvement with the Indonesian government infringed on the rights of the people of East Timor to self-determination and the rights of Portugal as the administering power. Indonesia did not recognize the compulsory jurisdiction of the court. Australia objected on the bases that there was not an actual dispute between Portugal and Australia, that the application requests the court to rule on the rights of parties not in the proceedings, and that Portugal lacked standing to bring the case.