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It is humbly submitted that the state of Modus should submit to the jurisdiction of the
international court of justice because [A] it preaches Kritistans sovereignty, [B] It goes against
the principal of Right to Return, [C] and because the evacuation was illegal in nature.
Every recognised state have sovereign power vested in it, Sovereignty is the ultimate power,
authority and/or jurisdiction over a people and a territory. No other person, group, tribe or state
can tell a sovereign entity what to do with its land and/or people. A sovereign entity can decide
and administer its own laws, can determine the use of its land and can do pretty much as it
pleases, free of external influence.1 No other State can have formal political authority within
that State. Therefore, sovereignty is closely associated with the concept of political
independence. 2 Since a State has sovereignty over its territory, the entry into its territory by
the armed forces of another State without consent is a prima facie breach of international law.3
Among the attributes of sovereignty is the right to exclude foreigners from entering the
The principle of non-interference is that sovereign states shall not intervene in each others
internal affairs.5 It is the general principle of contemporary international law that the non-
interference in each others internal affairs is based on the respect for states sovereignty and
1
Bartelson, Jens. 1995. A Genealogy of Sovereignty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2
Bierstecker, Thomas J., and Cynthia Weber, eds. 1996. State Sovereignty as Social Construct.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3
Article 2(4) and 2(7) of Charter of the United Nations.
4
Introduction to International Law, Robert Beckman, Dagmar Butte. ILSA
5
Chen, Yifeng. 2013. On the principle of non-interference in contemporary international law.
Beijing: Peking University Press
territorial integration, which governs the relations between states in regard to their rights and
obligations. It has been established as the general principle of international law or customary
law in compliance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.6 Various cases in the
International Court of Justice have established this principle that there shall be no interference
Applying the above mentioned principles to the present set of fact, the council would humbly
like to submit that the secret evacuation operation undertaken by modus which was done
The Right of Return is an inalienable right sacredly held by all refugees and entitles them to
return at any time to their homes. This Right can never be diminished by the passage of time
or by any treaty unless the refugees themselves declare otherwise, or forfeit that Right
International Law considers agreements between occupiers and occupied as null and void if
they deprive civilians of their right to return to their homes, of their right to repatriation and of
their right to restitution. Under international law, all individuals have a right to return to their
homes - commonly referred to as their homes of origin- whenever they have become
displaced due to circumstances beyond their control.9 The state where the refugees are striding
6
A/RES/2625 (XXV). 1970. Declaration on principles of international law concerning
friendly relations and co-operation among states in accordance with the charter of the United
Nations. 24 October.
7
Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States) (Merits) ICJ Reports (1986) ; ICJ Report.
1955. Nottebohm case (Liechtenstein v. Guatemala) Second Phase Judgment, p. 22.
8
M. Cranston, The Political and Philosophical Aspects of the Right to Leave and to Return.
Bethlehem, BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, 2001,
9
G.J. Boling, The 1948 Palestinian Refugees and the Individual Right of Return: An
International Law Analysis, Bethlehem, BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency
and Refugee Rights, 2001, p. 5.
has the obligation to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of the victims.10 Like all human rights,
the right to return is an inherent human right that all individuals possess even if, in actual
practice, governments deliberately obstruct its free exercise. Since the right to return is one
international law and will in principle be illegal.11 The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights,12 adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, is the foundation of the right to
return in human rights law. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration phrases the right to return
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
The council would humbly like to submit that the government of Modus on 28.02.2016 by
issuing an order sanctioning adoption of evacuated children has clearly violated the right to
The guidline that have been specified for humanitarian evacuation specifies that the full
informed consent of the state and the person has to be taken while evacuation is being done,13
and it has been clearly specified that informed consent and written information of the
evacuation process are the key feature of the evacuation process.14 It has been also specified in
the said guidelines that the evacuation of children should not be done out of the bound of the
10
A.M. de Zayas, Population: Expulsion and Transfer, in R. Bernhardt (ed.), Encyclopedia of
Public International Law, Amsterdam, Elsevier, 1994, p. 1065.
11
W.T. Mallison and S. Mallison, The Right to Return , in Journal of Palestine Studies vol.
9, no. 3, 1980, p. 125. Lawand
12
Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December
1948
13
Protecting Persons Affected by Natural Disasters: IASC Operational Guidelines on Human
Rights and Natural Disasters, IASC, June 2006.
14
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Moving Kosovars to Albania: A Specific
Form of Humanitarian Evacuation, 3 May 1999
affected nation unless and until the evacuation is being done by the affected nation itself,15 and
that humanitarian international assistance could not be done without the consent of the nation
that is affected.16
It is humbly submitted in this honorable court that the evacuation done did not conform to any
of the guidelines that are mentioned above, the state of Modus carried out a mass evacuation
program without the consent and the assistance of the state of Kritistan and hence it was in
clear violation of the guidelines above specified and hence in violation of International Law.
15
Guidelines for the Humanitarian Evacuation Programme of Kosovar Refugees in the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia dated 26 April 1999 and Protection Framework Guidance
16
Evacuation of Children from Conflict Areas: Considerations and Guidelines, UNICEF and
UNHCR, Geneva, 1992