MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th August, 2019) US President Donald Trump has � arguably as a joke � suggested buying Greenland from Denmark, causing bewilderment and anger in the kingdom and confusion in the rest of the world as to whether such a transaction is still feasible in this day and age.
Trump, a former real estate tycoon, said on Sunday that the purchase would be "essentially ... a large real estate deal," despite Greenland's Foreign Ministry warning him on Twitter that the world's largest island was "open for business, not for sale."
Lawyers told Sputnik that, jokes aside, Greenland can not be bought or sold, but that did not mean it could not change hands in another way.
Territory was frequently transferred from country to country up until the late 1940s, but the market for that has effectively been dried out, Eugene Kontorovich, a professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law school of George Mason University, said.
"Modern international law has a concept of 'self-determination,' but this principle does not mean people can choose what country they live in � most people in the world, including those in Greenland, have no choice in this matter," he explained.
From the perspective of international law, the decision on who owns Greenland belongs to Denmark, and the United States would need to obtain the consent of the government or people of the territory "in some fashion."
Any trade would be complicated by the fact that the island's population is recognized under Denmark's 2009 Act on Greenland Self-Government as a people within the meaning of international law, Pierre-Emmanuel Dupont, the director of the Public International Law Advisory Group, said.
"[Given] that this people, as such, is entitled to the right of self-determination, it is highly unlikely that it [Denmark] considered itself as entitled to make unilateral decisions," he remarked.
International laws have gone a long way since the United States first tried to buy the island in the 19th century.
The only way to proceed now would be for Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States. The concept of "cession" refers to an understanding under international law by which territory is transferred from one state to another with the consent of both states, according to Dupont. He went on to say that while cession of territories was not regulated by any specific procedures, it was still expected that any such transfers be approved beforehand by the "interested people" living there.
"This would obviously call for a referendum to be held," he pointed out.
Should the United States and Denmark choose not to obtain prior consent from the island's inhabitants as expressed in a referendum, a strong argument could me made that said inhabitants would be entitled to challenge the transfer, possibly before Danish courts, or an international court or tribunal.
Another thing to consider is that Greenland would come with a baggage. Any cession, Dupont said, would involve the settlement of complex issues related to pre-existing international treaties applicable to the autonomous territory.
Regardless, considering the pushback from Denmark, this appears to be one deal that the self-proclaimed deal-maker will unlikely be able to close.
