Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has stated the Maldives has not reversed its stand on the dispute against Mauritius at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) regarding the Chagos Islands.
Director of Communications Hussain Hassan said the current dispute at the ITLOS is concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. He said the case was submitted by Mauritius, and that the Maldives has not decided to give up any of its territories. He, however, said the Maldives will set the maritime boundary at the disputed territory in accordance with the conditions set by ITLOS. He noted maritime boundaries are set in accordance with the equidistance principle.
Additionally, Hassan said the Maldives is challenging Mauritius on its request to redraw the maritime boundary and that the Maldives is unwilling to give up an inch of its territory. He said the Maldives has formulated its defence team with the international experts on maritime law as well as experts in hydrography and geology. He said the letter Attorney General (AG) Ibrahim Riffath had cited at the oral proceedings was sent by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to the prime minister of Mauritius stating that the Maldives believes the Chagos Islands should be handed over to its rightful owner. He noted that the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice had also stated the UK should give up control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. He also noted that 116 members voted in favour of decolonising the Chagos Islands at the United General Assembly in 2019 and that the Maldives is also committed to decolonisation, adding that it will not affect the current dispute with Mauritius regarding the maritime boundary near the Chagos Islands.
The Chagos Islands is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500km south of the Maldives. In 1965, the UK constituted the Chagos Islands as British Indian Ocean Territory. Mauritius gained independence from the UK in 1968, and has since claimed the Chagos Islands as Mauritian territory. In 2019, the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding advisory opinion stating that the UK has an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Islands as rapidly as possible, and that all member states must cooperate with the United Nations to complete the decolonisation of Mauritius.