The Heart of My Home: Colonialism, Environmental Damage, and the Nauru Case
![handle is hein.journals/hilj34 and id is 451 raw text is: VOLUME 34, NUMBER 2, SPRING 1993
The Heart of My Home: Colonialism,
Environmental Damage, and the Nauru
Case
Antony Anghie*
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' th' island
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE,
THE TEMPEST act 1, sc. 2, lines 341-44
I. INTRODUCTION
On June 26, 1992, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled
that it has jurisdiction to hear the case Certain Phosphate Lands in
Nauru, I brought by the Republic of Nauru against the Commonwealth
of Australia. In the absence of a settlement, the Court will proceed to
consider the merits of the allegations made by Nauru-that it suffered
damage as a result of Australia's violation of its rights under both the
relevant United Nations Trusteeship provisions and several general
principles of international law including self-determination, perma-
* B.A., LL.B., Monash University; S.J.D. Candidate, Harvard Law School; MacArthur
Scholar, Harvard Center for International Affairs; Research Assistant, Nauru Commission of
Inquiry into the Rehabilitation of Worked Out Phosphate Lands, 1987-88. My thanks to
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Alexia Brown, Jos6 de Areilza, Keith Higher, Qadri Ismail, Duncan
Kennedy, Ileana Porras, Riaz Raheem, Annelise Riles, Ronald Roberts, Henry Steiner, and
Detlev Vags. My particular thanks to Abram Chayes, Mark Hageman, and David Kennedy. I
first became acquainted with the Nauru Case as a result of working for the Nauru Commission-
and my thanks in that regard to Barry Connell; and to C.G. Weeramantry, for whom I had the
privilege of working as a Research Assistant while attached to the Commission, and whose work
has helped immensely in providing the basis for the inquiry outlined in this Article.
1. Certain Phosphate Lands in Nauru (Nauru v. Australia), 1992 I.C.J. 240 (June 26)
(Preliminary Objections, Judgment) [hereinafter Preliminary Objections, Judgment]. As used
in this Article, the term Nauru Case refers generally to the dispute and the proceedings. This
Article suffers from the awkwardness of discussing a case that is currently before the International
Court of Justice; any conclusions drawn as to matters before the Court derive from the compre-
hensive research and findings detailed in REPUBLIC OF NAURU, COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO
THE REHABILITATION OF WORKED OUT PHOSPHATE LANDS OF NAURU, REPORT (1988)
[hereinafter COMissION REPORT]. A summary of this report is presented in CHRISTOPHER
WEERAMANTRY, NAURU: ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE UNDER INTERNATIONAL TRUSTEESHIP
(1992).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/hilj34&div=21&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
The Heart of My Home: Colonialism, Environmental Damage, and the Nauru Case
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most