The International Court of Justice [official website] found [order summary, PDF] on Monday, by a vote of eight judges to seven, that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) acted against the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) [text, PDF] when it ordered all Qatari citizens to leave the country within fourteen days in June of 2017.

In Qatar v. United Arab Emirates [case documents], the court ordered the UAE to reunite families who were separated by the UAE’s actions and to allow Qatari students to continue their studies within the UAE.

The UAE was found to be in contravention of Article 5 of CERD [text] after the court ruled that the de facto expulsion of Qatari citizens without regard to individual circumstances violated the rights of Qataris to marriage, education, freedom of movement, and access to justice, even though the UAE contended that no orders were given to expel Qataris.

One separate opinion was written as well as four dissents.

The case was brought before [JURIST report] the ICJ by Qatar in June.