Weekly Report: ICJ Advisory Opinion on Kosovo Independence

On July 22, the International Court of Justice issued its Advisory Opinion on Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, ruling that the declaration was not a violation of the international Law, which doesn’t prohibit such declarations.

The ICJ Advisory Opinion offers an excellent overview of the chronology of events, the question, hearings it conducted and the legal basis for its opinion, including a list of relevant precedents. The Opinion is available, as PDF document, on the website of the International Court of Justice.

ICJ noted that the fact that the Court ruled that it had jurisdiction to rule on the matter and its actual ruling doesn’t refer, in any way or fashion, to the question of Kosovo achieving statehood. Furthermore, while ICJ’s advisory opinion is intended to assist the UN General Assembly which filed the request for the opinion, on initiative of Serbia, and is not binding or mandatory for individual states, it does carry major legal, political and moral weight.

Different countries had different comments on the Advisory Opinion, which was, after all, to be expected. According to Serbian President Boris Tadic, who noted that the decision was difficult for Serbia, ICJ “clearly took no position on the matter of secession” and left it to be decided at the General Assembly, which offers Serbia a chance to defend its policies in the UN General Assembly next Autumn.

Serbian Parliament has convened for a session on July 26, on request of the Government of Serbia, which proposed a resolution to be submitted to the UN General Assembly in September, pushing for new negotiations between Belgrade and Prishtina, which was to be presented by Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic. The resolution calls for national unity and announces the use of all available diplomatic and political means to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

“The Parliament finds it necessary to hold peaceful negotiations to allow for a permanent, sustainable and mutually acceptable solution for Kosovo and Metohija, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, which will allow the historic reconciliation of the Serbian and Albanian people, as well as peace and stability in the region”, states the resolution.

Kosovo leadership took the ICJ’s advisory opinion as a victory in its efforts to ensure international recognition of its statehood and, most importantly, membership of the United Nations, which Serbia is expected to block.

While Deputy Foreign Minister Vlora Citaku expressed her conviction that Kosovo will be able to defeat Belgrade through diplomacy, PM Hashim Thaqi noted that ICJ’s Opinion opens new perspectives for Kosovo, adding that “there was now no reason for countries not to recognize Kosovo”. Foreign minister Skender Hyseni announced renewed campaign of requests for recognition of Kosovo’s independence, adding that 121 requests were already sent all over the world.

Reactions abroad were similarly divided. States that supported Kosovo’s independence and have recognized Kosovo as independent state greeted the Advisory Opinion. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on all states that have not done so, to recognize Kosovo, while Member of European Parliament for Austrian Social-Democrats Hannes Swoboda said that Kosovo’s independence completes the dissolution of Yugoslavia and marks the establishment of a new order in the Balkans Region. On the other hand, several countries, notably Russia and China (both permanent members of the UN Security Council) announced they would continue to respect Serbia’s territorial integrity. (The Balkaninsight.com offers a fine overview of comments and reactions to the ICJ rulings).

Like the EU officials, political leaders from the neighbouring countries also focused on the capacity of ICJ’s ruling to bring greater stability for the region and emphasized the need for future cooperation towards common goals of Euro—Atlantic integration for the whole region.

Croatian Foreign Minister Goran Jandrokovic greeted the ICJ Opinion and added the Croatia will continue to support all countries in the region in their efforts towards EU accession, adding that Croatia has recognized Kosovo and presented the argumentation in favour of independence to ICJ.

Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Rocen has said that stability will bring the region together to progress faster on the path towards European integration. Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, even before ICJ presented its Opinion, that the State will remain reserved on the matter.

The majority of international reactions to the Advisory Opinion referred to the issue of potential consequence it may have for other similar secessionist and independence movements around the world, not the least to such aspirations in the Republic of Srpska, in Bosnia and Herzegovina or, indeed, to Northern Kosovo itself.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Serbian member of BiH Presidency Nebojša Radmanovic said that he won’t allow for BIH to recognize Kosovo and the ICJ’s Opinion will encourage similar secessionist movements around the globe, Bosniak Member of the Presidency Haris Silajdžic said that there is no relation between situations in BiH and in Kosovo.

“This is a result of the wrong policies of Serbia and long repression in Kosovo. BiH never implemented such policies. On the contrary, it was a victim of such policies, including genocide, and for those reasons, BiH integrity and sovereignty is guaranteed. Any attempt against its integrity will be stopped and prevented”, Silajdzic said.

Croat member of the Presidency Željko Komšic said he hoped that Serbia will find the strength to leave behind the mythology and projects to create great States, and will turn to the future of cooperation and development, on the road to EU and NATO membership.

A number of commentators and analysts also pointed out that, although proponents of Kosovo’s independence claim that “Kosovo was a unique case”, there is a great risk that this could be used as a precedent. In fact it would be difficult for secession and independence movements around the world not to be encouraged.

Milan Miloševic, political editor at Belgrade’s Vreme weekly news-magazine, noted that “the fact that 36 countries, including the five permanent US Security Council members, participated in the proceedings in front of ICJ, proves that the thesis about Kosovo as a “unique case” is pure nonsense”.

Croatian political scientist Damir Grubiša said he believed that the Court decided that “nobody can be denied the right to self-determination”, although it didn’t confirm that other countries and territories could invoke their right to self-determination.?The CSO’s in the region remained silent on the matter, and, so far, there were no comments about ICJ’s ruling and its possible consequences for the region and globally.

However, the Youth Initiatives for Human Rights, regional NGO with local offices in Serbia, BiH, Kosovo, Montenegro and Croatia, launched an initiative last week to put pressure on BiH Government to recognize Kosovo’s Passports and to separate that issue from the issue of recognition of Kosovo’s independence, as part of a wider regional campaign by civil society which insists on freedom of movement for all citizens. The deadline for collection of endorsements expired on Sunday, July 25.