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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 February 2017
1 Full text: Kosovo declaration, BBC News (Feb 17, 2008) <http://news.bbc.co.Uk/2/hi/europe/7249677.stm.>
2 S.C.Res 1244 (10 June 1999) available at <http://www.nato.int/Kosovo/docu/u990610a.htm.>
3 In November 2005, the Secretary General appointed Martti Ahtisaari Special Envoy for Kosovo. After mediating negotiations between the parties for fifteen months, Ahtisaari submitted in March 2007 the Comprehensive Proposalfor the Kosovo Status Settlement (“the Ahtisaari Plan”). Serbia rejected the Plan while the Kosovar Albanian leadership endorsed it.
4 Report of the EU/U.S./Russia Troika on Kosovo, para. 1 (Dec 4,2007) available at <http://www.ico-kos.org/pdf/Report%20of%20the%20EU-US-Russia%20Troika%20on%20Kosovo.pdf.>
5 Declaration, supra note 1.
6 Wikipedia is a useful resource for keeping track of international reactions to Kosovo's declaration. See, International reaction to the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence available at <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_that_have_recognized_the_Republic_of_Kosovo.>
7 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said concerning a potential Kosovar secession: We are speaking here about the subversion of all the foundations of international law, about the subversion of those principles which, at huge effort, and at the cost of Europe's pain, sacrifice and bloodletting have been earned and laid down as a basis of its existence. Paul Reynolds, Legal furore over Kosovo recognition, BBC News (Feb 16, 2008) available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7244538.stm. The Romanian Defense Minister said that such a declaration “is not in keeping with international law.” Romania not to recognize unilateral Kosovo independence, says minister, ChinaView.cn, available at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/12/content_7231934.htm. The Cypriot Foreign Minister warned against the EU “breaking international law.” Harry de Quetteville and Bruno Waterfield, EU-US showdown with Russia over Kosovo, The Daily Telegraph Online (Dec. 12, 2007) available at <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml7xmt/news/2007/12/11/wkosovo111.xml.>
8 Reynolds, supra note 7.
9 Paragraph 1l(a) states that the international civil presence will promote “the establishment, pending a final settlement, of substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo…” (emphasis added).
10 Report of the Group of Experts Concerning the Territorial Integrity of Quebec in the Event of the Attainment of Sovereignty, available at <http://www.tamilnation.org/selfdetermination/countrystudies/quebec/quebec2.htm> [hereinafter the “Quebec Commission”] at sec. 3.07.
11 Reference re: Secession of Quebec, 2 S.C.R. 217 at para. 123 (1998) (emphasis added).
12 See, Antonio Cassese, Self Determination Of Peoples: a Legal Reappraisal 40 (1995) (citing to the drafting committee of the UN Charter); see, also, Id., at 42 (stating that self-determination does not mean a right to secede).
13 UN Charter, art. 2 (4).
14 See, James Crawford, The Creation Of States In International Law 135-36 (2ded. 2006) (stating “[i]t is probably the case that the use of force by a non-State entity in exercise of a right of self-determination is legally neutral, that is, not regulated by international law at all (though the rules of international humanitarian law may well apply).”).
15 Thomas Franck, as quoted in Suzanne Lalonde, Determining Boundaries In a Conflicted World: The Role Of UTI Possidetis 209 (2002) (emphasis in original).
16 See, e.g., Patrick Daillier & Allain Pellet, Nguyen Quoc DINH'S Droit International Public, sec. 346, 500 (1994) (“la sécession n'est pas prise en compte en elle-même par le droit international”).
17 Crawford, supra note 14, at 135.
18 Malcolm Shaw, International Law 271, n. 140 (5th ed. 2003).
19 This framework is covered at greater length in a report (of which I am the principal author) on the international legal issues concerning the secessionist conflict in Moldova. See, Special Committee on European Affairs, Thawing a Frozen Conflict: Legal Aspects of the Separatist Crisis in Moldova, 61 Rec. Of The Ass'n Of The Bar Of The City Of New York (2006), available at <http://www.abcny.org/Publications/record/vol_61_2.pdf.>
20 Report of the International Committee of Jurists Entrusted by the Council of the League of Nations with the Task of Giving an Advisory Opinion upon the Legal Aspects of the Aaland Islands Question, League of Nations Off. J., Spec. Supp, No. 3, at 5-10 (1920).
21 Daniel Thurer, Self-Determination, 1998 Addendum, in 4 Encyclopedia Of Public International Law 364, 367 (R. Bemhardt, ed. 2000) (stating “ [r]ather than formally recognizing a right of secession … international law only became subsequently relevant within the context of recognition”).
22 1 Oppenheim's International Law (9th ed.1992) (Robert Jennings and Arthur Watts, eds) at §54, p. 183.
23 For an example of the international community indicating illegality, the Security Council issued a resolution condemning the recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
24 See for example, the statement of the Russian Duma that read, in part:The right of nations to self-determination cannot justify recognition of Kosovo's independence along with the simultaneous refusal to discuss similar acts by other self-proclaimed states, which have obtained de facto independence exclusively by themselves. As quoted by the NY Times in Nicholas Kulish and C.J. Chivers, Kosovo Is Recognized but Rebuked by Others, NY Times (Feb 19, 2008) available at <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/world/europe/19kosovo.html?pagewanted=2&hp.>
25 In announcing the recognition of Kosovo by the United States, Secretary of State Rice explained: The unusual combination of factors found in the Kosovo situation-including the context of Yugoslavia's breakup, the history of ethnic cleansing and crimes against civilians in Kosovo, and the extended period of UN administration-are not found elsewhere and therefore make Kosovo a special case. Kosovo cannot be seen as precedent for any other situation in the world today. U.S. Recognizes Kosovo as Independent State, statement of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Washington DC (Feb, 18 2008). Moreover, in a statement to the UN Security Council following Kosovo's declaration, British Ambassador John Sawers said that the unique circumstances of the violent break-up of the former Yugoslavia and the unprecedented UN administration of Kosovo make this a sui generis case, which creates no wider precedent, as all EU member States today agreed. Ban Ki-moon urges restraint by all sides after Kosovo declares independence, UN News Centre (Feb. 18, 2008), available at <http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25659&Cr=Kosovo&Crl=.>
* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text appearing at the Republic of Kosovo assembly website: (visited May 21, 2008) <http://www.assembly-kosova.org/?krye=news&newsid=1635&lang=enpdf>
