Vanuatu is taking a long-running dispute with France to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking a ruling on who has sovereignty over two remote, uninhabited islands and how the surrounding maritime boundary should be defined. The case also involves the wider issue of ownership in the Pacific islands region and the limits of sea claims tied to those territories.
Both outlets report that the ICJ said the matter can proceed only if France agrees to the court’s jurisdiction. The dispute has persisted for decades, with the two nations disagreeing on the legal basis for the islands’ ownership and the resulting maritime border.
The two reports focus on different aspects of the same development: one emphasizes Vanuatu’s attempt to obtain a definitive decision on territorial and sea-border questions, while the other highlights the ICJ’s procedural step—its confirmation that the attempt to bring the dispute before the court is underway but depends on France’s consent.
