Statehood, Recognition and the United Nations System: A Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Kosovo

Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law

Volumn 12, Issue , 2008, Pages 1-44

  Orakhelashvili, Alexander ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 84923524681     PISSN: 13894633     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1163/18757413-90000019a     Document Type: Review

References (87)

1. Letter dated 26 March 2007 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council, Doc. S/2007/168.
2. P. Reynolds, "Kosovo: To Recognise or Not To Recognise", BBC Information, 18 February 2008, available at:
3. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, " and calling for settling the issue "in accordance with norms of international law" and on the basis of "an agreement" and "through negotiations" between Belgrade and Pristina. The text of the RIC joint communiqué of 15 May 2008 is available on the website of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, available at: .
4. See e.g. Statement by the Russian Representative Mr. Churkin to the United Nations 14 December 2007.
5. Troika Press Communiqué: the Baden Conference, Baden, Austria, 28 November 2007
6. Troika Press Statement: the Brussels Conference, Brussels, 20 November 2007.
7. "Kosovo Tool Kit for Separatists", BBC Information, 20 February 2008, available at: .
8. "EU Offers Serbia Deal on Kosovo", BBC Information, 14 December 2007, available at: .
9. Information of the Serbian Foreign Ministry, 25 April 2008, available at: .
10. Information of the Serbian Foreign Ministry, 24 April 2008, available at: .
11. Information available from
12. of 11 May 2008.
13. But for an accurate analysis see K. Wirth, "Kosovo am Vorabend der Statusentscheidung: Überlegungen zur rechtlichen Begründung und Durchsetzung der Unabhängigkeit", ZaöRV 67 (2007), 1065
14. A. Orakhelashvili, "The Acts of the Security Council: Meaning and Standards of Review", Max Planck UNYB 11 (2007), 143
15. B. id., "The Impact of Peremptory Norms on Interpretation and Application of UN Security Council Resolutions", EJIL 16 (2005), 59
16. id., Peremptory Norms in International Law, 2006, Chapters 12-14.
17. J. Crawford, The Creation of States in International Law, 2006, 142
18. J. Dugard/ D. Raic, "The Role of Recognition in the Law and Practice of Secession", in: M. Cohen (ed.), Secession: International Law Perspectives, 2006, 94
19. T. Musgrave, Self-Determination and National Minorities, 1997, 189.
20. T. Franck, Fairness in International Law and Institutions, 1995, 157
21. R.Y. Jennings, "Hersch Lauterpacht, A Personal Recollection", EJIL 8 (1997), 301 et seq.
22. See for detail A. Orakhelashvili, The Interpretation of Acts and Rules in Public International Law, 2008, Chapter 5.
23. J. D'Aspermont, "Regulating Statehood: The Kosovo Status Settlement", LJIL 20 (2007), 649 et seq. (654 et seq.).
24. T. Christakis, "L'état en tant que 'fait primaire': réflexions sur la portée du principe d'effectivité", in: M. Cohen (ed.), Secession: International Law Perspectives, 2006, 138.
25. H. Lauterpacht, Recognition in International Law, 1948, 8.
26. H. Lauterpacht, The Function of Law in the International Community, 1933, 77.
27. Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 12 July 1993, Doc. A/CONF.157/23, para. 2.
28. See Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua, ICJ Reports 1986, 14 et seq. (100-101).
29. US Department of State, "Why Kosovo Is Different", available at: .
30. The UNMIK-FRY common document, adopted in Belgrade on 5 November 2001 "Promotes the protection of the rights and interests of Kosovo Serbs and other communities in Kosovo, based on the principles stated in UNSCR 1244, including the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as in the Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-government." Furthermore, the document "Reaffirms that the position on Kosovo's future status remains as stated in UNSCR 1244, and that this cannot be changed by any action taken by the Provisional Institutions of Self-government." 40 See the text of the UDI of Kosovo under , 19 February 2008.
31. Department of State document, "Kosovo's Final Status: A Key to Stability and Prosperity in the Balkans", available at: of 23 January 2008.
32. Statement by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Kosovo, 17 February 2008, available at: (in English).
33. Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), ICJ Reports 1971, 16 et seq. (36, para. 69).
34. C. Borgen, "Kosovo's Declaration of Independence: Self-Determination, Secession and Recognition", ASIL Insight, 29 February 2008, available at: .
35. E.g. the statement by the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, 14 December 2007, available at: .
36. J.A. Frowein, Das de facto-Regime im Völkerrecht, 1968, 6-7.
37. Statement of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, "The U.S. Recognizes Kosovo as Independent State", 18 February 2008;
38. the Department of State document, "Kosovo's Final Status: A Key to Stability and Prosperity in the Balkans", 23 January 2008, available at:
39. United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Milliband see "Split EU Meets to Debate Kosovo", 18 February 2008, available at: .
40. Statement of the Deputy Press-Secretary of the President of Russia, 20 February 2008;
41. Russian Foreign Minister predicted the inevitable chain reaction, cf. Reynolds, see note 2; earlier on, the Russian Foreign Minister warned that if the United States or the United Kingdom would like to see the Kosovo independence as special and tell other secessionist entities that it does not create precedent for them, this will simply not work, RIAN information, 13 December 2007, available at:
42. Deputy Prime Minister Ivanov was convinced that Kosovo was a precedent and chain reaction will follow; other secessionist entities will ask why they are worse than Kosovars, 19 February 2008, RIAN information, available at:
43. "Observations by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry", 20 February 2008, Foreign Ministry information, available at: .
44. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Information and Press Department, "Commentary Regarding a Media Question Concerning Remarks of US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns on Kosovo", 24 February 2008, available at: .
45. L. Kubosova, "Serbian FM says he is ashamed by EU's actions on Kosovo", 21 February 2008, available at: .
46. See the analysis in A. Orakhelashvili, "The Idea of European International Law", EJIL 17 (2006), 315 et seq.
47. In Britain 53 percent favour this view, and so do two-thirds of Germans and Italians, see Financial Times, 17 May/18 May 2008.
48. "US Recognizes Kosovo as Independent State", 18 February 2008, available at: .
49. "Serbia recalls ambassador from US", BBC Information, 19 February 2008, available at: .
50. E. Vucheva, "EU Fudges Kosovo Independence Recognition", 18 February 2008, available at: .
51. RIAN Information, 19 February 2008.
52. J.N. Moore, "The Lawfulness of Military Assistance to the Republic of Viet-Nam", AJIL 61 (1967), 1
53. ICJ Reports, 1995, para. 36.
54. Crawford, see note 11, 24 et seq.
55. Musgrave, see note 11, 206.
56. Frowein, see note 47, 36.
57. Dugard/ Raic, see note 11, 134.
58. J. Dugard, Recognition and the United Nations, 1987, 130 et seq.
59. Dugard, see above, 100, 115.
60. Dugard, see note 70, 132, 135, 137.
61. J. Dugard, "Collective Non-Recognition: The Failure of South Africa's Bantustan States", in: Boutros Boutros-Ghali - Amicorum Discipulorumque Liber - Peace, Development, Democracy, Vol. I (1998), 383 et seq. (402).
62. Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of its Fiftythird Session (2001), GAOR 56th Sess., Suppl. No. 10, Doc. A/56/10.
63. See on this A. Orakhelashvili, "Legal Stability and Claims of Change: The International Court's Treatment of Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello", Nord. J. Int'l L. 75 (2006), 371 et seq.
64. F.A. Mann, "The Consequences of an International Wrong in National and International Law", BYIL 48 (1976-77), 1 et seq. (41).
65. Statement of Foreign Minister S. Lavrov, 10 December 2007, available at: ;
66. J.A. Frowein, "Unilateral Interpretation of Security Council Resolutions - A Threat to Collective Security?" in: V. Götz/ P. Selmer/ R. Wolfrum (eds), Liber Amicorum Günther Jaenicke - Zum 85. Geburtstag, 1999, 97 et seq.
67. Available at: .
68. D. Miliband, "Kosovo: Is it legal?", available at: , 17 February 2008.
69. Doc. S/PV/4011, 10 June 1999, 7.
70. Information of the Serbian Foreign Ministry 26 April 2008, available at: .
71. Council Joint Action 2007/334/CFSP, 14 May 2007, Official Journal of the European Union, 15 May 2007, L 125/29, preambular paragraph (4).
72. Article 3, Council Joint Action 2008/124/CFSP, 4 February 2008, Official Journal of the European Union, 16 February 2008, L 42/92.
73. Barroso calls the EU mission to Kosovo legal, 21 February 2008, Xinhua information, available at: .
74. Statement by the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, 14 December 2007.
75. "Kosovo Tool Kit for Separatists", BBC Information, available at: , 20 February 2008;
76. Transcript of Remarks and Replies to Media Questions by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov at a Joint Press Conference with the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Babajan, Moscow, February 20, 2008, available at: .
77. Serbian Foreign Ministry Information, see note 86.
78. Council Joint Action, see note 88.
79. See on this A. Orakhelashvili, "The Legal Framework of Peace Operations by Regional Organisations", International Peacekeeping: The Yearbook of International Peace Operations 11 (2006), 111 et seq.
80. Council Joint Action 2006/304/CFSP, 10 April 2006, Official Journal of the European Union, 26 April 2006, L 112/19.
81. See Rücker, "Local Election Results Will be Invalid", Serbian Foreign Ministry, 8 May 2008,
82. Serbian Minister Slobodan Samardzic to Rücker, in which the Serbian Minister observes that despite Rücker's professing of taking the neutral political stance, he did not actually remain neutral, see .
83. AFP Information, 14 December 2007.
84. See the statement by the Foreign Minister of Germany Steinmeier, "Kosovo erklärt sich unabhängig - EU Außenminister beraten die Lage", 18 February 2008.
85. "Kosovo: Russian Ambitions and American Mistakes", RIAN information, 14 December 2007, available at: .
86. H. Kissinger, A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace 1812-1822, 1957, 1 et seq.