Patrícia Jerónimo Justice (ICJ) in its judgment on the case East Timor (Portugal v Australia), of 1995.37 In spite of Indonesia’s attempts to ‘normalise’ its occupation of the territory in the 1980s, through a decrease in military operations and the adoption of policies designed to ‘Indonesianise’ East Timor, such as transmigration and education reforms (Lisson 2008: 1479; Hicks 2007: 13-14), the occupation was never lawful from an international law perspective. Not only it disrespected the East Timorese people’s right to self-determination, but it was also marked from the start by egregious human rights violations. While unlawful, the Indonesian occupation of East Timor was not without effects, including in matters of citizenship. With the formal annexation of East Timor as the 27th Province of the Republic of Indonesia, in July 1976, the East Timorese were automatically considered to be Indonesian citizens, entitled, at least in principle, to the same rights as citizens from the other provinces, including political rights, access to civil service employment, and the right to a passport (Piotrowicz 1996: 323; Nygh 2002: 509-510). However, the East Timorese who so wished were authorised to renounce Indonesian citizenship and retain Portuguese citizenship. Many of those who retained Portuguese citizenship left East Timor for Portugal or Australia. Those who remained in East Timor were treated as foreigners and excluded from participation in the public affairs of the country, including the right to vote and access to employment as civil servants (Jerónimo 2011b: 3031). Not satisfied with this, in 1991, the Indonesian authorities promulgated a decree prohibiting foreigners from owning land in East Timor, a move which was designed to force the East Timorese who had retained their Portuguese citizenship to renounce it and become Indonesian, under threat of expropriation (Cabasset-Semedo and Durand 2009: 247).38 For the duration of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, the criteria for attribution, acquisition and loss of Indonesian citizenship were set by Law no. 62 of 1958.39 The East Timorese men who did not renounce their Indonesian citizenship in favour of their Portuguese citizenship passed the Indonesian citizenship to their legitimate offspring, even when the child was born within 300 days after the father’s demise, per Article 1 (b) (c) of Law no. 62 of 1958. Children born out of wedlock acquired Indonesian citizenship if born to a mother who was a citizen of Indonesia [Article 1 (d)]. The mother’s Indonesian citizenship also passed to her legitimate offspring when and for as long as the father’s citizenship was unknown [Article 1 (e)]. Children born in the territory to unknown parents or to stateless parents or to parents of unknown citizenship were Indonesian citizens, and the same was true of foundlings when both parents were unknown [Article 1 (f) (g) (h)]. Indonesian citizenship was also attributed to persons born in the territory to foreign parents if they had not acquired November 1980, available at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/35/a35r27e.pdf [03.01.2017]; Resolution 36/50, of 24 November 1981, available at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/36/a36r050.htm [03.01.2017]; and Resolution 37/30, of 23 November 1982, available at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/37/a37r030.htm [03.01.2017]. The majorities supporting these resolutions decreased as the years passed and the issue of East Timor became less topical (Schrijver 2000: 28-30; Escarameia 2002). 37 East Timor (Portugal v Australia), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1995, available at http://www.icjcij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=3&case=84&code=pa&p3=4 [02.01.2017]. Australia, which had been the only country to formally recognise the annexation, by entering into a treaty with Indonesia for the exploitation of natural resources in the Timor Sea (Timor Gap Treaty), had to acknowledge before the ICJ that ‘the territory of East Timor remain[ed] a non-self-governing territory and its people ha[d] the right to self-determination’ (p. 90, par. 37; see also par. 31). 38 The East Timorese were given until 31 May 1992 to become Indonesian or be expropriated (Cabasset-Semedo and Durand 2009: 247). 39 Law no. 62 of 1958, Law on the Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia, of 1 August 1958, available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b4ec8.html [29.12.2016]. It was repealed by Law no. 12/2006, of 1 August 2006, available at http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=74794 [04.01.2017]. 10 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/7 - © 2017 Author