Contesse: Chagos and The Intelligence of a Future Day

Jorge Contesse (Rutgers Univ. - Law) has posted Chagos and The Intelligence of a Future Day (Temple International & Comparative Law Journal, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In The Last Colony, Philippe Sands brings complex issues of international relations, politics, and diplomacy close to readers, turning arid matters of legal procedure into a gripping story of human resilience, colonialism, and the pursuit of justice. At a time when trust in international law is shaky, when the norms and principles of international peace and security are seemingly impotent to constrain aggression, reminding us of a “lawless world,” The Last Colony is a book of hope. In this essay, I focus on three topics. First, I explore the role of the International Court of Justice as a forum for human rights adjudication. Second, I discuss the changing nature of advisory jurisdiction as a mechanism to rule on disputes, and not merely to advise on legal questions. Finally, I inquire about the potential change of the international legal order, as a space where small states may bring larger states, even former empires, to account for their actions. These three questions bring to the surface what I see as the major theme in The Last Colony, namely, the ways in which international lawyers participate in a conversation that seeks to remedy unjust treatment. This conversation can take decades to take form but moves forward in pursuit of the law’s goal to serve those who are wronged. In the words of Charles Evans Hughes, which served as inspiration to Judge Philip Jessup’s dissent in the ICJ’s South West Africa case—a central part of Sands’ book—this conversation places trust in “the intelligence of a future day.”