Backgrounder: Precedents of major countries vs. third party verdict

There are well-established precedents by several countries including the United States and Britain not to accept international courts' verdicts when their sovereignty or national security interests are infringed upon, a U.S. political scientist said.

Graham Allison, director of Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, wrote in an article published Monday on the website of The Diplomat that no permanent member of the UN Security Council has ever complied with a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on an issue involving the Law of the Sea.

He took examples as follows:

-- The United States

In 1986, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the United States had violated international law by supporting the Contras rebels against the Nicaraguan government and by mining Nicaragua's harbors.

The United States argued that the ICJ does not have the authority to hear the case. When the court rejected that claim, the United States refused to participate in subsequent proceedings and denied the court's jurisdiction on any future case involving it, unless Washington explicitly made an exception and asked the court to hear a case.

-- Britain

In 2015, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that Britain had violated the Law of the Sea by unilaterally establishing a Marine Protected Area in the Chagos Islands. The British government disregarded the award and the Marine Protected Area remains in place today.

The Chagos Islands, an archipelago of 55 islands, are a part of the British Indian Ocean Territory which is located south of India approximately half way between Africa and Indonesia. The islands are part of the legacy of colonialism as one of few territories still controlled by Britain.

-- Russia

When the Netherlands sued Russia after the latter's navy boarded and detained the crew of a Dutch vessel in waters off the Russian coast in 2013, Moscow asserted that the court had no jurisdiction in the matter and refused to participate in the hearings.

It also ignored a tribunal's order that the crew be released while the dispute was being resolved. Russia refused to pay the Netherlands compensation. Endi