Global lawsuit

The International Court will do little to help the Serbs

Today, the International Court of Justice in The Hague begins to consider the issue of independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo , proclaimed by local Albanian leaders in February 2008. In the fall of the same year, Serbia, having by that time secured the support of the UN General Assembly, filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice and demanded that the act of independence of Kosovo be recognized as a violation of international law.

Kosovo's independence has already been recognized by 57 of the 192 UN member states. However, Serbia itself, as well as Russia, China, India and a number of other influential powers do not recognize the sovereignty of Kosovo. Within three months, representatives of Serbia and the Kosovo authorities will familiarize themselves with documents collected by the International Court of Justice. After this, arguments between the parties will take place, and the court will render its verdict - presumably at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2010.

“The decision of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo will be advisory and will not automatically lead to the abolition of the declaration of independence of the Serbian region or the withdrawal of its recognition by other states. But it will become a precedent for international law,” Alexander Karasev, a leading expert at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Vremya Novostey.

For the first time since its creation in 1945, the International Court of Justice is considering whether part of a state's territory legally declared its independence without the consent of the central authorities. “Kosovo’s position looks more vulnerable than, for example, Abkhazia’s arguments in favor of its independence. The latter was a union republic in the 1920s, and since the 1930s an autonomous republic within Georgia. Kosovo, during the period of the existence of a united Yugoslavia, was an autonomous region of Serbia, and before that it was one of the regions of the Serbian kingdom,” our interlocutor recalls. According to him, “if the International Court recognizes the legality of Kosovo’s independence, this will be a strong incentive for separatist movements around the world.”

Serbia and the Kosovo authorities turned to the UN members for help, inviting them to send their conclusions to The Hague. As you might expect, opinions are divided. According to media leaks, Serbia was supported by Russia, China, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Georgia, Spain, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia. On the side of the Albanian separatists are the USA, Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Slovenia, Finland, France and Switzerland.

“The Kosovo issue has split the United Nations. Under these conditions, the International Court may ultimately recognize its incompetence to make a decision on the merits,” Mr. Karasev is confident. But the matter, in his opinion, is not so much a matter of legal conflicts as the real state of affairs: “The European Union could postpone for a while the debate about the status of the Serbian region (out of 27 EU members, Kosovo’s independence is not recognized by Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia. - Ed. ) and quickly accept Serbia into its ranks, as well as Kosovo as a territory under international control. This would take the edge off the problem. The EU would provide large-scale financial and economic assistance to Belgrade and Pristina. And after that we could try to improve relations between Serbs and Albanians.”

Petr ISKENDEROV