Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2019 to Question 115, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the conclusion of the International Court of Justice that the right of self-determination was a norm of customary international law in 1965 when the UK detached the Chagos Islands from Mauritius.

We were disappointed that this matter was referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), contrary to the principle that the Court should not consider bilateral disputes without the consent of both States concerned. Nevertheless, the United Kingdom respects the ICJ and participated fully in the ICJ process at every stage and in good faith. An Advisory Opinion is advice provided to the UN General Assembly at its request; it is not a legally binding judgment. The British Government has considered the content of the Opinion carefully, however we do not share the Court’s approach.​