Etna Bay Case

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Court: Obsolete Court (Papua New Guinea)
• Date: 21 March 1956

Netherlands New Guinea, Court of Justice.

Etna Bay Case.

State Territory — Loss of Territorial Sovereignty — Continuation of status quo on Failure to Reach Agreement as to New Political Status of Territory — Status of Western New Guinea.

The Facts.—In October 1954 a party of Indonesians equipped with arms and munitions landed on the coast of Etna Bay in Netherlands (Western) New Guinea with the intention of bringing a part of that territory under the control of Indonesia. The whole party was arrested and prosecuted. In their defence they pleaded that they were entitled to consider Netherlands New Guinea as being part of the territory of the Republic of Indonesia.

Held: that the defence must fail and the accused must be convicted.

The Court said: “Agreement on Article 2[1] of the Charter concerning the Transfer of Sovereignty to Indonesia was reached at the Round Table Conference of 1949. That Article must be read in conjunction with the...