A case for Kosovo? Self-determination and secession in the 21st century

International Journal of Human Rights

Volumn 15, Issue 6, 2011, Pages 926-947

  Jaber, Tamara ^a  

^a LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 80155183926     PISSN: 13642987     EISSN: 1744053X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13642981003666268     Document Type: Article

References (176)

1. Who Recognized Kosova?, http://www.kosovothanksyou.com/ (accessed January 2010).
2. Kosovo's Independence to be Tested, 17 April 2009, http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20090417/121182488.html (accessed December 2009).
3. See A. Cassese, Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Appraisal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)
4. H. Quane, 'The United Nations and the Evolving Right to Self-Determination', International and Comparative Law Quarterly 47, no. 3 (1998) 537.
5. Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation Among States on Accordance With the Charter of the United Nations, GA Res 2625, UN GAOR, 25th sess., Suppl. No. 8, UN Doc. A/8028 (1970), 121 at 122.
6. Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, (1975) 14 I.L.M. 1292, at 1295
7. UN General Assembly, Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 12 July 1993, A/CONF.157/23, p. 3, para. 2, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6b39ec.html (accessed January 2010).
8. A. Buchanan, Justice Legitimacy and Self-Determination: Moral Foundations for International Law (New York: OUP, 2004), 229-230
9. D. Orentlicher, 'Separation Anxiety: International Responses to Ethno-Separatist Claims', Yale Journal of International Law 23, no. 1 (1998): 49-50.
10. T. Judah, Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know (New York: OUP, 2008), 2.
11. R. Muharremi, 'Kosovo's Declaration of Independence: Self-Determination and Sovereignty Revisited', Review of Central and East European Law 33 (2008): 401, 406.
12. Ibid., 407.
13. P. Williams, 'Earned Sovereignty: The Road to Resolving the Conflict Over Kosovo's Final Status', Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 31 (2002): 387 at 396.
14. Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, 'Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia', UN Doc. E/CN.4/1992/S-1/10 (1992).
15. Williams, Earned Sovereignty, 397.
16. Ibid., 402-404.
17. NATO: Kosovo on the Brink of 'Major Humanitarian Disaster', March 28, 1999, http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9903/28/kosovo.fighting.02/ (accessed December 2009).
18. Judah, Kosovo, 90.
19. SC Res. 1244, UN SCOR, 4011th mtg., UN Doc. SC/Res/1244 (1999), paras 6, 10, 11.
20. Judah, Kosovo, 108.
21. Ibid., 111.
22. M. Ahtisaari, Report of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Kosovo's Future Status, UN Doc. S/2007/168 (2007).
23. Muharremi, Declaration of Independence, 412.
24. Who Recognized Kosova?, http://www.kosovothanksyou.com/ (accessed January 2010).
25. Whatever ICJ Decides, Serbia will not Recognize Kosovo, April 22, 2009, http://bsannanews.ukrinform.ua/newsitem.php?id1/48954&lang1/4en (accessed May 2009).
26. J. Duursma, Fragmentation and the International Relations of Micro-States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 9.
27. United Nations Charter.
28. Ibid., 17.
29. Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, GA Res. 1514, UN GAOR, 15th sess., Suppl. No. 16, UN Doc. A/4884 (1960) 66.
30. Declaration on Friendly Relations.
31. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 19 December 1966, 6 I.L.M. 368, 999 U.N.T.S.171, (entered into force 23 March 1976, accession by Republic of Serbia 6 Sept. 2001), art. 1.
32. Declaration on Friendly Relations, Principle (VII), 123.
33. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 1.
34. See Cassese, Self-Determination
35. Quane, Self-Determination.
36. See D. Raic, Statehood and the Law of Self-Determination (Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2002)
37. C. Tomuschat, The Modern Law of Self-Determination (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1993)
38. G. Simpson, 'The Diffusion of Sovereignty: Self-Determination in the Post-Colonial Age', Stanford Journal of International Law 32 (1996): 255.
39. Duursma, Micro-States, 21.
40. UN Doc. A/AC.125/SR.107, 85-86.
41. UN Doc. A/AC.125/SR.43 (1966), 6-7.
42. According to Article 32 of the Vienna Convention on the law of Treaties, one may have recourse to the travaux preparatoires in order to confirm the meaning of a the treaty, or where the meaning of a provision is ambiguous under Article 31, as is arguably the case here: Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 23 May 1969, 8 I.L.M. 679, 1155 U.N.T.S. 331, (entered into force 27 January 1980), arts 31-32.
43. M. Bossuyt, Guide to the 'travaux préparatoires' of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Boston, MA: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1987), 32.
44. Ibid., 32-33.
45. Ibid, 32.
46. Quane, Self-Determination, 560.
47. See the section on a remedial right of secession below.
48. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, GA Res 61/295, UN GAOR, 68th sess., Suppl. No. 12, UN Doc. A/61/L.67 (2007).
49. Ibid., 4.
50. Case Concerning Military and Parliamentary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Merits, [1986] I.C.J Rep. 14, para. 188; vote: 143-4-11
51. On the point of the development of the rights of indigenous people specifically, it is worth noting four states which may be considered as 'specially affected' due to their large indigenous populations, Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, voted against the resolution, although Australia has since reversed its position. However, this could be attributable to the exhaustive list of additional obligations that the resolution contains beyond the right of selfdetermination.
52. Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217, para. 124.
53. Study of the Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities, 'The Right to Self-Determination: Historic and Current Development on the Basis of United Nations Instruments', UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/404/Rev. 1 (1981), 41
54. Duursma, Micro-States, 38; these criteria have been supported in scholarly opinion - see footnotes 52-63 below.
55. Raic, Statehood, 262.
56. Bossuyt, travaux preparatoires, 32
57. H. Hannum, 'Rethinking Self-Determination', Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 34 (1994): 1 at 35.
58. Raic, Statehood, 262
59. L. Chen, 'Self-Determination and World Public Order', Notre Dame Law Review 66 (1991): 1287 at 1290.
60. Judah, Kosovo, 9.
61. See N. Malcolm, Kosovo: A Short History (New York: NYU Press, 2002).
62. Hannum, Self-Determination, 35
63. M. Sellers, The New World Order: Sovereignty Human Rights and the Self-Determination of Peoples (Oxford: Berg, 1996), 22.
64. Raic, Statehood, 264-266.
65. Judah, Kosovo, 56.
66. Ibid., 44.
67. Bossuyt, travaux preparatoires, 32-36.
68. Cristescu, Self-Determination, 41
69. see also Duursma, Micro-States, 45
70. Hannum, Self-Determination, 35
71. Raic, Statehood, 262.
72. Malcolm, Kosovo, Ch. 8-9.
73. Judah, Kosovo, 33-34.
74. Ibid., 34.
75. Ibid., 47.
76. Ibid., 36.
77. Ibid., 57.
78. Ibid., 2.
79. Quane, Self-Determination, 549.
80. Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso/Republic of Mali), Merits [1986] ICJ Rep. 554, 565-566.
81. M. Shaw, 'Peoples, Territorialism and Boundaries', European Journal of International Law 3 (1997): 478 at 494.
82. A. Pellet, 'The Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee, A Second Breath for the Self-Determination of Peoples', European Journal of International Law 3 (1992): 178 at 184.
83. NATO Fellowship Final Report, D. Kumbaro, 'The Kosovo Crisis in an International Law Perspective: Self-Determination, Territorial Integrity and the NATO Intervention', (2001), 37, http://www.nato.int/acad/fellow/99-01/kumbaro.pdf (accessed January 2010).
84. As Hurst Hannum has indicated, however, the continued application of this principle is capable of creating an uncomfortable paradox: Hannum, Self-Determination, 38-39.
85. SC Res. 1244, UN SCOR, 4011th mtg., UN Doc. SC/Res/1244 (1999).
86. See Quane, Self-Determination, 549-550.
87. P. Clark, 'Taking Self-Determination Seriously: When Can Political and Cultural Minorities Control Their Own Fate?', Chicago Journal of International Law 5 (2004): 737.
88. Bossuyt, travaux preparatoires, 27.
89. Cristescu, Self-Determination, 41.
90. See Self-Determination above.
91. Duursma, Micro-States, 45.
92. Quane, Self-Determination, 547.
93. Ibid., 553.
94. Declaration on Friendly Relations, 122.
95. Helsinki Final Act, 1295.
96. Declaration on Friendly Relations, 122.
97. Helsinki Final Act, 1295.
98. Vienna Declaration.
99. J. Crawford, The Creation of States in International Law (New York: OUP, 2006), 388-402.
100. Simpson, Sovereignty, 278-283.
101. Hannum, Self-Determination, 34.
102. Buchanan, Justice, 229-230
103. Orentlicher, Separation Anxiety, 49-50.
104. Buchanan, Justice, Ch. 8.
105. L.C. Buccheit, Secession: The Legitimacy of Self-Determination (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1978), 74.
106. Raic, Statehood, Ch. 7.
107. Tomuschat, Self-Determination, Ch.1.
108. Raic, Statehood, 368-372.
109. Ibid., 371-372.
110. ICJ Statute, Article 38(1)(d): 'judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations, as subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law'.
111. The Aaland Islands sought to secede from Finland, and be incorporated into Sweden.
112. Report of the Committee of Rapporteurs (Beyens, Colander, Elkens), 16 April 1921, LN Council Doc. B7/2I/68/106 [VIII], 27-28.
113. African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Communication 75/92, Katangese Peoples' Congress v. Zaire, Decision taken at its 16th Session, Banjul, The Gambia, 1994.
114. Ibid., para. 6.
115. Loizidou v. Turkey. 40/1993/435/514. Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights. 23 February 1995, Concurring Opinion of Judge Wildhaber, Joined by Judge Rysdall, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,ECHR,CYP,4562d8b62,43de104d4,0.html (accessed November 2009).
116. Ibid., para. 2.
117. Quebec, see note 50.
118. Ibid., para. 134.
119. Ibid., para. 135.
120. North Sea Continental Shelf (Federal Republic of Germany v. Denmark) [1969] I.C.J. Rep. 3, para. 77.
121. Nicaragua, see note 49, para. 188.
122. Declaration on Friendly Relations, 122.
123. Raic, Statehood, 319.
124. Ibid., 319-320.
125. Duursma, Micro-States, 23-24.
126. UN Doc. A/AC.125/SR.107 (1969), 85-86.
127. Raic, Statehood, 320.
128. Shaw, Peoples supra, 482.
129. Cassese, Self-Determination, 122.
130. Crawford, Creation of States, 388-402.
131. S.L. Burg, Conflict and Cohesion in Socialist Yugoslavia, Political Decision Making since 1966 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), 117-121.
132. R.J. Crampton, The Balkans Since the Second World War (London and New York: Longman, 2002), 251.
133. M.C. Greenberg et al. (eds), Words Over War, Mediation and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conflict (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), 76.
134. Ibid., 86.
135. M. Kohen, Secession: International Law Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 125.
136. Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties, 23 August 1978, 17 I.L.M 1488, 1946 U.N.T.S 3 (entered into force 6 November 1996), Arts 34-35.
137. Crawford, Creation of States, 390.
138. M. Shaw, International Law (Cambridge: Grotius Publications, 1986), 139.
139. Crawford, Creation of States, 395-401.
140. Hannum, Self-Determination, 51-52.
141. Raic, Statehood, 361-362.
142. Kohen, Secession, 125.
143. Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, 'Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia', UN Doc. E/CN.4/1992/S-1/10 (1992), para. 13.
144. Raic, Statehood, 354.
145. Declaration on Yugoslavia, Informal Meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Haarzuilens, 5 October 1991, EPC Press Release, P. 97/91, Reprinted in: S. Trifunovska Yugoslavia Through Documents (London: Nijhoff, 1994), 352.
146. Declaration on the Guidelines for the Recognition of New States in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, Extraordinary EPC Ministerial Meeting, Brussels, 16 December 1991, EC Bulletin 12-1992, 119.
147. Brioni Accords, Europe Documents, No. 1725, 16 July 1991, 17.
148. A. Pellet, 'The Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee, A Second Breath For the Self-Determination of Peoples', European Journal of International Law 3 (1992): 178, Opinion 1, p 184, para. 3.
149. Conference on Yugoslav Arbitration Commission, Opinion 8, 4 July 1992, I.L.M, Vol. 31, 1521-1523 at 1523, para. 4.
150. Crawford, Creation of States, 401.
151. Ibid., 399.
152. The International Commission of Jurists, 'East Pakistan Staff Study', International Commission of Jurists Review 8 (1972): 23 at 24.
153. Ibid., 25.
154. Ibid., 27.
155. Ibid., 28.
156. Ibid., 38-51.
157. Crawford, Creation of States, 393
158. Cassese, Self-Determination, 123.
159. See D. Horowitz, 'A Right to Secede', in A. Buchanan and S. Macedo (eds), Secession and Self-Determination (New York: New York University Press, 2003).
160. North Sea Continental, para. 77.
161. E. Slava, 'Opinio Juris in Customary International Law', Oklahoma City University Law Review 15, no. 2 (1990): 603 at 617.
162. North Sea Continental supra, dissenting opinion of Judge Sorensen, 247.
163. Of course this presumption of coherence could be rebutted through a detailed consideration of the 22 instances of failed unilateral secession.
164. Nicaragua, para. 207.
165. Christine Gray, The Use of Force (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 22.
166. See Declaration on Friendly Relations above.
167. Judah Kosovo supra note 8 pg 141.
168. Who Recognized Kosova?, http://www.kosovothanksyou.com/ (accessed January 2010).
169. A. Orakhelashvili, 'Statehood, Recognition, and the United Nations System: A Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Kosovo', Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law 12 (2008): 1 at 15-16.
170. Ibid., 19
171. 'Diplomat: Russia Regards Unilateral Claim of Kosovo Independence Illegal, 11 December 2007, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/11/content_7227098.htm (accessed December 2009).
172. 'Rupel: Canada Says Kosovo Sui Generis Case', 5 March 2008, http://www.ukom.gov.si/eng/slovenia/publications/slovenia-news/6158/6181/
173. 'US State Secretary: Kosovo is Sui Generis', 6 March 2008, http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option1/4com_content&task1/4view&id1/4170&Itemid1/465 (accessed May 2009).
174. Quebec, para. 141.
175. Crawford, Creation of States, 189, 666, 718.
176. Ibid., 189.