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Questions Relating to the Seizure and Detention of Certain Documents and Data (Timor-Leste v. Australia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ronald J. Bettauer
Ronald J. Bettauer*
Affiliation:
George Washington University Law School
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Abstract

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Keywords

International Court of Justiceprovisional measuresirreparable harmattorney-client privilege
Type
International Decisions
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 108 , Issue 4 , October 2014 , pp. 763 - 769
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2014

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References

1 Questions Relating to the Seizure and Detention of Certain Documents and Data (Timor-Leste v. Austl.), Provisional Measures Order (Int’l Ct. Justice Mar. 3, 2014). Decisions and documents of the ICJ cited herein are available at the Court’s website, http://www.icj-cij.org.

2 Timor Sea Treaty, E. Timor–Austl., May 20, 2002, [2003] Austl. TS 13, 2258 UNTS 3 (entered into force Apr. 2, 2003).

3 Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea, Timor-Leste–Austl., Jan. 12, 2006, 2483 UNTS 359 (entered into force June 27, 2006).

4 See Case View, Arbitration Under the Timor Sea Treaty (Timor-Leste v. Australia), at http://www.pcacases.com/web/view/37 (listing arbitrators and counsel, but no details about the case). For the Australian government’s announcement of the arbitration, see Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Arbitration Under the Timor Sea Treaty (May 3, 2013), at http://foreignminister.gov.au/releases/2013/bc_mr_130503.html.

5 See ICJ, Questions Relating to the Seizure and Detention of Certain Documents and Data (Timor-Leste v. Austl.), at http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=3&code=tla&case=156&k=17 [hereinafter Docket]; Anton, Donald K., The Timor Sea Treaty Arbitration: Timor-Leste Challenges Australian Espionage and Seizure of Documents , ASIL Insight, Feb. 26, 2014, at http://www.asil.org/insights/ Google Scholar; Kate Mitchell & Dapo Akande, Espionage & Good Faith in Treaty Negotiations: East Timor v Australia, EJIL: TALK! (Jan. 20, 2014), at http://www.ejiltalk.org; David Robie, East Timor Takes on Australia in ‘Rip off’ Spy Case with Country’s Future on Line (Pacific Media Centre Jan. 20, 2014), at http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/articles/east-timor-takes-australia-rip-spy-case-country-s-future-line.

6 Oral proceedings were also scheduled to be held in the ICJ from September 17 to 24, 2014. The parties agreed to request a six-month postponement of the hearings in both forums “to enable [them] to seek an amicable agreement.” ICJ Press Release 2014/28 (Sept. 5, 2014) (quoting letter to the Court dated Sept. 1, 2014, from the agents of Timor-Leste and Australia); Bullying for Oil, Politicoz (Austl.), Sept. 8, 2014, at http://www.themonthly.com.au/politicoz/september/1410138393/bullying-oil.

7 ICJ, Rules of Court (1978), as amended Apr. 14, 2005. Article 74(4) provides: “Pending the meeting of the Court, the President may call upon the parties to act in such a way as will enable any order the Court may make on the request for provisional measures to have its appropriate effects.”

8 For transcripts of the hearings, see Docket, supra note 5.

9 In the March 22, 2002, revision of its declaration accepting jurisdiction under Article 36(2), Australia excluded disputes related to the delimitation of maritime zones or the exploitation of any disputed maritime zone area pending its delimitation. Declaration of Australia, Mar. 22, 2002, at https://treaties.un.org/Pages/Declarations.aspx?index=Australia#EndNotes. Thus, the CMATS dispute could not be brought to the Court, but the claim arising from the seizure of materials from Collaery, which the Court determined by its January 28, 2014, order to be distinct, could be.

10 See Rain Liivoja, Timor-Leste v Australia: Provisional Observations, EJIL: TALK! (Mar. 6, 2014), at http://www.ejiltalk.org (critique of Callinan’s views).

11 Press Release, Attorney General of Australia, International Court of Justice Decision, Timor Leste v Australia (Mar. 4, 2014), at http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.au/Mediareleases/Pages/default.aspx#Q12014.

12 E.g., Oil Platforms (Iran v. U.S.), 2003 ICJ Rep. 161 (Nov. 6); Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicar. v. U.S.), 1986 ICJ Rep. 14 (June 27).

13 Verbatim Record, Questions Relating to the Seizure and Detention of Certain Documents and Data (Timor-Leste v. Austl.), ICJ Doc.CR 2014/2, at 13, para.17 (Jan. 21, 2014) (Statement of Justin Gleeson, solicitor general of Australia).

14 Philip Dorling, Black Vault for a Deluge of Secrets—Data Mining—Australian Link to Prism, Sydney Morning Herald, June 13, 2013, at 14 (1st ed.), available in Access World News, Record No. 2013061300 0039223241.

15 E.g., Oliver Laughland & Lenore Taylor, Indonesia Halts Co-operation with Australia in Phone-Tapping Row, Guardian, Nov. 21, 2013, at 2, available in Access World News, Record No. 110407453.

16 See, e.g., Timberg, Craig, Slide Shows NSA Surveillance of Data from Undersea Cables, Wash. Post, July 11, 2013, at A8, available in 2013 WLNR 16797179Google Scholar; Glenn Greenwald, How NSA Can See ‘Nearly Everything You Do Online’: Secret Tool Searches Email, Chat and Social Media Use, Guardian, Aug. 1, 2013, at 1, available in Access World News, Record No. 108224451; see also U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, Report on the Surveillance Program Operated Pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (July 2, 2014), at http://www.pclob.gov/documents/(follow “Report on the Section 702 Program” hyperlink); Office of the Press Secretary, the White House, Presidential Policy Directive— Signals Intelligence Activities, Pres. Pol’y Directive/PPD-28 (Jan. 17, 2014), at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/presidential-policy-directive-signals-intelligence-activities; Ellen Nakashima & Barton Gellman, For NSA, Broad Leeway to Intercept Data, Wash. Post, July 1, 2014, at A 1, available in 2014 WLNR 17795202.

17 U.S. Dep’t of State, History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, ch. 5, at 161–62 (2011), available at http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/176701.pdf.

18 Shenon, Philip, A Spy’s Bug Set Artfully in Woodwork, U.S. Concedes, N.Y. Times, Dec. 11, 1999, at A8 Google Scholar, available in 1999 WLNR 2814559.

19 Embassy Espionage: the NSA’s Secret Spy Hub in Berlin, Spiegel Online Int’l, Oct. 27, 2013, at http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/cover-story-how-nsa-spied-on-merkel-cell-phone-from-berlin-embassy-a-930205.html; Matthew Schofield, Germany Opens Criminal Probe into US Tapping of Merkel’s Phone, Mcclatchy Wash. Bureau, June 4, 2014, available in 2014 WLNR 15109467.

20 See, e.g., Press Release, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, Statement on the Request to Hong Kong for Edward Snowden’s Provisional Arrest (June 26, 2013), at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/June/13-opa-761.html.

21 Jane Sutton, Rip out Guantanamo Microphones to Prevent Eavesdropping: Judge, Reuters, Feb. 4, 2013, at http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/05/us-usa-guantanamo-idUSBRE91400T20130205.

22 Suchasituation was reportedin February 2014. Australia intercepted communications between Indonesia and its American lawyers on trade issues and shared that information with the U.S. government while the United States was involved in trade negotiations with Indonesia and in disputes with Indonesia, apparently on the same issues, before the World Trade Organization. James Risen & Laura Poitras, Spying by N.S.A. Ally Entangled U.S. Law Firm, N.Y. Times, Feb. 16, 2014, at A 1, available in 2014 WLNR 4661358.