Occupied territory

Occupied territory is territory under military occupation. Occupation is a term of art in international law. At the end of a war, usually the victorious side is in possession of territory previously possessed by another state. This territory is known as occupied territory. Examples of occupied territory include Germany and Japan by the Allies in the aftermath of World War II; mainland China by the Communist Party of China split from the Republic of China after its 1949 loss of Chinese Civil War; Cambodia by Vietnam from 1979 until 1989; and Iraq by the United States and its allies after the 2003 invasion.

Contents 1 History 2 Occupied territories since 1907 2.1 Jammu and Kashmir 2.2 Greater China 2.3 Israeli-occupied territories 2.3.1 West Bank & Gaza Strip 2.3.2 Golan Heights 2.4 Western Sahara 2.5 Cyprus 2.6 Abkhazia and South Ossetia 2.7 Nagorno-Karabakh 2.8 Kosovo 3 See also 4 References

History

In accordance with Article 42 of the Laws and Customs of War on Land (Fourth Hague Convention); October 18, 1907,^[1] territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised. Acquisition of occupied territory is incidental to a war, where the military forces of the occupying power come into the possession of territory previously held by another state. Occupation is usually temporary; and under the subsequent articles of the Hague convention (articles 43, 44, etc.), and the Fourth Geneva Convention the status quo must be maintained pending the signing of a peace treaty, the resolution of specific conditions outlined in a peace treaty, or the formation of a new civilian government.^[2]

During World War II, the use of annexation deprived whole populations of the safeguards provided by international laws governing military occupations. Changes were introduced to international law through the Fourth Geneva Convention that makes it much more difficult for a state to bypass international law through the use of annexation.^[2] GCIV Article 47, the first paragraph in Section III: Occupied territories, restricted the territorial gains which could be made through war,^[2] and Article 49 prohibits mass movement of people out of or into occupied territory.^[3] If a state unilaterally declares a territory that has been under military occupation to be annexed, bodies such as the United Nations Security Council frequently describe such territory as "occupied" when that annexation is in breach of international law or not accepted by the United Nations General Assembly, even if the territory is governed through the civil rather than military laws of the state that has integrated the occupied territory into their own territory.^[4][5][6][7]

Occupied territories since 1907

For a list of occupied territories since the Hague Convention of 1907 Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV); October 18, 1907 first clarified and supplemented the customary laws of belligerent military occupation see the list of military occupations and the list of territorial disputes.

Jammu and Kashmir

The Himalayan Kashmir region is a disputed and occupied territory since 1947, claimed by India as part of its country, while both the Peoples' Republic of China and Pakistan, dispute India's claims and Pakistan claims most of Kashmir as their territory. The former Princely state of Jammu and Kashmir is currently divided between India, Pakistan and Peoples' Republic of China. Kashmir under Indian illegal military occupation is called as Maqboza Kashmir or Occupied Kashmir where as Kashmiri areas under Pakistani administration is called P.A.K.^[8] and Northern Areas^[9][10] by India, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan^[9][10][11] by Pakistan, Chinese administered Kashmiri regions are called Aksai Chin,^[12] Trans-Karakoram Tract^[11] and Demchok by India while Peoples' Republic of China administer it as parts of Kashgar Prefecture^[11] and Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang,^[11][12] and Dêmqog of Tibet Autonomous Region.^[12] The United Nations^[13] and other local entities use the designation Jammu and Kashmir to geographically denote said area.

Greater China

The contemporary country now known internationally as "China" (PRC) was considered by the government of the Republic of China (ROC, now commonly known as "Taiwan") as territory occupied by the People's Liberation Army of the Chinese communists in the Chinese Civil War since 1949, when the ROC government fled to Taiwan and originally aimed to reclaim its mainland territory. This territory was referred to in the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion passed in 1948 as "Communist occupied mainland China", and the same term mainland China was used in the subsequent amendments to the ROC's constitution since mainland China is officially still considered an area of its "China" (id est "Republic of China").^[14][15] Taiwan and other ROC-controlled areas were referred to as "Free area of the Republic of China". Although the ROC government stopped making active claim on the mainland after the end of martial law in Taiwan in 1987, the official end of treating mainland China as occupied territory during the "period of Communist Rebellion" did not come into effect until April 22, 1991, when the Temporary Provisions was abolished and the "period of Communist Rebellion" was declared terminated on May 1.^[16]

Conversely, China's Communist government also considers Taiwan its "unliberated" territory occupied by an enemy force (ROC) and claims it as a province, and still aims to "liberate" it, by military force if necessary, formalized by its 2005 Anti-Secession Law.^[17][18]

Taiwan was an occupied territory taken from Japan by the Allied Powers following the defeat of Japan in World War II in 1945. The U.S. occupied it first and then transferred the occupation duties to the ROC under General Order No. 1 on August 17, 1945 as a temporary trustee to receive the surrender of Japanese troops and transfer of property. Due to the lack of a specified country assigned to receive the sovereignty of Taiwan under the Treaty of Peace with Japan in 1951, the continued presence and rule of Taiwan by the ROC is considered by some legal scholars and Taiwan Independence supporters to be illegitimate and that Taiwan is still an occupied territory whose sovereignty is yet undetermined. (See Legal status of Taiwan.)

Israeli-occupied territories

After the Six-day War in 1967, the Israel Defence Forces took control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The situation in these territories has been described by almost the entire international community as occupation.^[19]

West Bank & Gaza Strip

The presence and establishment of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and formerly, in the Gaza Strip, and the construction of a barrier dividing parts of the territory are major bones of contention in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) 2004 Advisory Opinion on the 'Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory' ruled that all the territories occupied by the Israeli Defense Forces in 1967, '(including East Jerusalem), remain occupied territories and Israel has continued to have the status of occupying Power'. The Palestine Liberation Organization has repeatedly called on the international community to enforce ICJ's rulings on the West Bank.^[20]

Whether or not Israel still occupies the Gaza Strip following its 2005 unilateral disengagement from there is disputed.^{[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]} Paul S. Riebenfeld, an international lawyer, who represented Jewish interests at the League of Nations, argued that the West Bank and the Gaza Strip do not belong to any other sovereign state, are part of former Mandate Palestine, and therefore fall legitimately within Israel's jurisdiction.

Golan Heights

The United Nations,^[30] the United States,^[31] the European Union,^[32] the United Kingdom,^[33] the Arab League,^[34] the International Committee of the Red Cross,^[35] Amnesty International,^[36] and Human Rights Watch^[37] consider the Golan Heights to be Syrian territory occupied by Israel.

Western Sahara

Western Sahara is considered an occupied territory by the POLISARIO (Sahrawi national liberation movement), the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) (government in exile in Algeria), the United Nations,^[38] the African Union and some other countries and human rights groups. International bodies^[39][40] and some other states as a policy of deliberate ambiguity see Morocco as the de facto administrative power pending a solution to the conflict.^[39][40] The referendum that the UN wants to hold has been effectively blocked, and many of the incidents reported to have occurred in the territory^[41] are consistent with an unaccountable military occupation.

Most of the territory claimed by the SADR in Western Sahara is currently under the unrecognized but effective sovereignty of Morocco. They do not recognize the SADR, though dozens of countries do.^[42]

Cyprus

The northern part of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus has been occupied by the Turkish military since 1974^[43][44][45] and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which has declared independence on the island has not been recognized except by Turkey.^{[46][47][48][49]} The Turkish invasion caused a significant exodus of Greek Cypriots from the north, followed by a similar movement of Turkish Cypriots from the south. The Turkish government has initiated a policy of colonisation by settlers from various parts of Turkey,^[50] leading to a demographic alteration of the occupied territories.^{[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70]}

Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Following the 2008 South Ossetia war in early August 2008, Russia recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states on 26 August 2008.^[71] In response, on 28 August 2008, the Georgian parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling on the Georgian government to sever diplomatic relations with Russia, because of the recognition of what the Georgian parliament deemed to be occupied territories.^[72] This culminated on 29 August 2008 with Georgia severing diplomatic relations with Russia.^[73]

On 23 October 2008, Georgia endorsed "The Law on Occupied Territories" defining "the status of territories occupied as a result of the military aggression of the Russian Federation" and envisaging "a special legal regime" on these territories.^[74] In March 2009, the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional and legal issues, asked by Georgia to opine on the law, said that the criminalisation of entry into the occupied territories without making explicit exceptions for emergency situations or humanitarian aid was a matter of concern.^[75]

Nagorno-Karabakh

Some 30,000 people died in the Nagorno-Karabakh war,^[77][78] which erupted after the mountainous region declared independence in 1991.^{[79][80][81][82]} Nagorno-Karabakh has been under Armenian control^[83] since a Russian-brokered ceasefire in 1994.^[84][85] Additional to this, Armenians occupy seven other Azerbaijani districts. This resulted in the displacement of 528,000 Azerbaijanis.^[86] The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on the "Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan" in 1993. The UN General Assembly^[87] and other international organizations have similarly passed several resolutions recognizing Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh, urging withdrawal of all occupying forces and peaceful resolution. The peace mediation is taken up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group since 1992.^[88]

Kosovo

Occupied since 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia, Kosovo is a province inside Serbia which self-proclaimed secession of the de-facto annexed territories in 2008. This is in violation of the UN resolution 1244, which placed Kosovo under KFOR and NATO occupation, while admitting Serbian sovereignty. Nevertheless, some 80 countries have recognized the secession, led by NATO countries that waged the war against Serbia. The secession does not have the support of UN General Assembly, nor the UN Security Council, in which permanent members (also NATO members that illegally bombed Serbia) United States, Great Britain and France lobby for secession, while non-NATO permanent members China and Russia vehemently oppose this violation of international law.

See also

• List of states with limited recognition
• Political status of Taiwan

References

• Douglas J. Feith, William V. O'Brien, Eugene V. Rostow, Paul S. Riebenfeld, Malvina Halberstam, & Jerome Hornblass, Israel's Legitimacy in Law and History, Proceedings of the Conference on International Law and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Sponsored by The Lois D. Brandeis Society of Zionist Lawyers, October 21, 1990, New York. ed. Edward M. Siegel, Esq., assoc. ed. Olga Barrekette, (New York: Center for Near East Policy Research, 1993) ISBN 0-9640145-0-5