Self-Determination in the International Court of Justice: Possible Approaches to Advisory Opinions on Southwest Africa and Western Sahara

Abstract

This article aims to identify through bibliographical and documentary research through the deductive method, whether there is any indication of a hermeneutic path or posture adopted by the Court in the decisions issued on self-determination. Thus, based on Advisory Opinions prolated by the Court, in temporally and circumstantially distinct cases, concerning decolonization processes as a sedimentation of the Principle of Self-Determination reflex. They are the Case of Southwest Africa and the Western Sahara Case. At the end, two jurisprudential standards related to the cases constructed by the Court are proposed, one legalistic and the other material.

Keywords: Self-Determination; International Court of Justice; Advisory Opinion