Mauritius has alleged Maldives vying to take 99 percent control over the disputed waters between the countries. Mauritius made the claim during Monday's hearing at International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
Mauritius representative at the court, Mr. Dheerendra Kumar Dhaabee claims the overlapping area belongs to them.
The overlapping area between Maldives and Mauritius measures 95,828 square-kilometers. This overlapping zone was formed following allotment of exclusive economic zones in accordance with international law.
"These are neighboring nations, both facing similar predicaments," Mr. Dhaabee spoke in front of a bench of nine judges at the ITLOS.
After Mauritius filed the case at ITLOS, Maldives maintained its dialogue asserting the former had no claim over the territory since it was part of UK's protectorate.
The Hamburg court, however, in 2021 upheld the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion, claiming the detachment of Chagos Islands from Mauritius by UK was a violation of international law.
After sticking to its pro-UK stance for decades, Maldives in a surprising turn of events, declared on October 20, its decision to support Mauritius over Chagos Islands' decolonization. Following this decision, Maldivian government attracted criticism with allegations made on state for relinquishing continental shelf control to Mauritius.
Several political commentators from the Maldives condemned the move, with many lambasting the state for wavering its stance. Some perceived this as a potential loss of a sizeable portion of sovereign area from the Maldives.
Maldives declared its support for Chagos Islands' decolonization following ICJ's advisory opinion claiming UK's colonization of the islands violated international law. In more recent statements, Maldives government has firmly held its dialogue, asserting the decision was in line with its strong anti-colonization policies; which it prioritized after gaining independence from the British in 1965.
While the more recent switch of allegiance may have met with failure, the dispute regarding the overlapping areas between the countries entered into tense territory after Mauritius declared for delimiting the maritime boundary between the nations. Maldives has continued to hold to its claim of a 200 nautical miles continental shelf, which was proposed earlier in 2010 - a claim that Mauritius dissents.
The case at ICJ is more concerned with granting the Chagos Islands back to its original settlors. Maldives continued to vote against Mauritius regarding the transfer of Chagos Islands' control under the latter; which was evident both in 2017 under Abdulla Yameen's administration, and again in 2019 under incumbent president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration. Maldives refused voting in favor of Mauritius in these instances, claiming it was due to the latter's decision to file the maritime boundary delimiting case at ITLOS.
During Thursday, October 20, hearing at the ITLOS trials, Maldives Agent Mr. Ibrahim Riffath, the current Attorney General shed light into a recent development regarding the dispute. He said, "The President of the Maldives set a letter to the Prime Minister of Mauritius. This letter stated that the Maldives would vote in favor of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution entitled Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965".
He went on to further add, referring to the letter, "The Maldives had previously voted against this resolution for reasons which have been explained by the Maldives at the preliminary objections phase, in its written pleadings on the merits and indeed in the President's letter itself. However, as communicated in the President's letter, the Maldives has decided to vote in favor of the resolution. It has done so in view of the impending conclusion of these proceedings and with the intention of putting behind it the difficulties that arose from the formal protest which Mauritius raised in 2011 against the CLCS submission of the Maldives, several years before the 2019 advisory opinion."
The Maldives Attorney General, went on to further note this decision by Maldives executive shows the long-standing and steadfast commitment of the Maldives to decolonization and to upholding the right to self-determination. He also notes that Maldives welcomed Mauritius' decision to withdraw its claim against the Maldives for compensation "in respect of its survey of Blenheim Reef."
Speaking in this regard, AG Riffath also highlighted that the Mauritian Prime Minister affirmed the "Parties' shared desire to maintain their warm relations" and that the Prime Minister referred to his country's interest in undertaking joint measures to protect the marine environment of the Chagos Islands, as well as the Maldives and enhance maritime security in the Indian Ocean.
It was also noted that Mauritius, at the United Nations Oceans Conference on July 1, 2022 announced its intention to establish a marine protected area around the Chagos Islands. A decision which Maldives considers to be "consistent with the obligations Mauritius owes, under UNCLOS" with regards to protection and preservation of marine environment.
Mr. Riffath also emphasized, that with these new developments Maldives hoped Mauritius would now withdraw its 2011 protest against the submission of the Maldives to the CLCS of 2010 - referring to the 200 nautical mile claim.
According to the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) charter of 1982, Article 57 the "exclusive economic shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured."
The dispute has risen between Maldives and Mauritius, owing to the overlapping areas of their respective exclusive economic zone. Both countries, under the UNCLOS may have a right to an EEZ not extending 200 nautical miles. Following the Blenheim Reef survey, Mauritius charted is exclusive economic zone close to the territorial waters of Maldives, due to which the overlapping area expanded.
Mauritius counsel Mr. Philippe Sands had noted that the stand taken by Maldives to extend its EEZ to 200 nautical miles, as well as claim the Chagos territories, was wrong.
"In the eyes of the world - the Court in The Hague, the General Assembly, the United Nations Secretary-General, every African country, every developing country - under international law the situation of Mauritius is entirely without any ambiguity: its territory includes the Chagos Archipelago, period. As the International Court made clear, self-determination, decolonization, independence and territorial integrity are, in international law, a part of a seamless whole. They go together", said Mr. Sands.
According to Mr. Sands, with this preposition Maldives is attempting to take control of 99 percent of the overlapping area.
Previously, Maldives had filed procedural issues regarding the case, noting the case cannot be lodged or taken under the jurisdiction of ITLOS. The reason it explained, was due to Chagos Islands being a UK colonized area. However, it was decided, via voting, that the current case at ITLOS did not have any stake or relevance with UK, as Mauritius had pointed out it was not about the decolonization, but rather about the exclusive economic zones. The court itself reviewed and upheld the 2019 ICJ advisory opinion, which declared that Chagos Islands were a part of Mauritius.
It is said that Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to discover the archipelago. Portuguese seafarers named the group of islands as Bassas de Chagas, while they named some of the atolls including Diego Garcia and Peros Banhos Atoll.
The French were the first to lay claim to Chagos after settling in Ile Bourbon and Isle de France (now known as Mauritius). Some historical documents indicate that the French then began issuing permits for companies to establish coconut oil plantations on the Chagos during the 1770s.
On April 27, 1786 the Chagos Islands and Diego Garcia were claimed for the Great Britain but the territory was ceded to Britain by treaty only after Napoleon's defeat in 1814. During this period, Chagos were governed from Mauritius which itself was a British colony.
On August 31, 1903 the Chagos Islands were administratively separated from Seychelles and attached to Mauritius. In November 1965, UK purchased the entire Chagos Archipelago from the then self-governing colony of Mauritius for GBP 3 million, to create the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), after which UK would close down the coconut plantations and provide the British territory to the United States to conduct military activities in the region.
On December 30, 1966 both the UK and USA executed an agreement through an Exchange of Notes, which permitted the United States Armed Forces to use any of the BIOT for defense purposes for a period of 50 years, until December 2016 with a 20-year optional extension up to 2036. Both parties were required to agree to this by December 2014, but as of 2010 Diego Garcia is the only atoll under the BIOT that was transformed into a military facility.
Between 1967 and 1973, the population of Chagos was cleansed and shifted to Mauritius and Seychelles to establish a joint US-UK military base in Diego Garcia.
On April 1, 2010 the British government declared the establishment of the Chagos Marine Protected Area as the world's largest marine reserve. The area spanned 640,000 square-kilometers, exceeding that of France and the California state, US.
However, on March 18, 2015 the Permanent Court of Arbitration unanimously held that the British declared marine protected area around the Chagos Archipelago in April 2010 violates international law.
On December 20, 2010 Mauritius began official proceedings against UK under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to challenge the legality of the Chagos Islands.
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