국제법상 식민지 문제와 영토분쟁

The Colonial Question and Territorial Disputes in International Law: “Dependencies” and “Territories”

In the 1943 Italian Armistice and the 1947 Treaty of Paris, the Allies purported to assume control over all of Italy’s dependencies and territories, without specifically defining what those treaty terms signified. Nonetheless, municipal law, decisions from national tribunals, and scholarly writings had addressed dependencies and territories, and therefore provided a viable interpretation of those terms. Specifically, dependencies and territories are functionally equivalent, sharing many of the same characteristics. They are usually separated in a physical and political sense from a dominant nation; a foreign country usually administers some of its governmental functions, most often foreign affairs; and most importantly, the dominant country’s relationship with its dependencies and territories does not rise to the level of territorial sovereignty. Rather, the relationship is one of de facto administration and control, not formal title in the sovereign sense. In many ways this formulation of dependencies was historically necessary, not only because the distinct concept was needed to accurately describe certain colonial relationships, but also because the interpretation thematically supported the UN’s decolonization initiative. In essence, effective disposition of territories under the relevant treaties and comprehensive colonial independence under the UN initiatives both depended on the broad reading of such misunderstood concepts as dependent territories, dependencies, and territories.