KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE

ICJ's Decision Regarding Kosovo's Independence

ICJ's Decision regarding Kosovo's Independence

Introduction

“Accordingly, [the court] concludes that the declaration of independence on 17 February 2008 did not violate general international law”ICJ president Hisashi Owada, Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in respect of Kosovo

The above mentioned question is analyzed and discussed in this paper. Firstly, this paper discusses the theories of constitutions in relevance with Kosovo. Secondly, the paper will highlight the decision of Kosovo's self-determination claims, its outcome and the ICJ decision. Third, the paper looks at the effects of this issue of Kosovo and its citizens. Finally, the paper also refers to some of the past examples of the states similar to that of Kosovo. These aspects discussed in the paper show the issues faced by Kosovo because of its self-determination claim. The decision does not answer whether Kosovo is entitled to statehood. It was an unnecessary opinion which failed to shed light on the self-determination claim while it also weakened the territorial integrity principles through providing movements of nationalist all over the world, legal license to declare independence.

Discussion

The advisory opinion was ruled in by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 22nd July' 2010 which stated that the Kosovo unilateral independence declaration from Serbia on 17th February' 2008 does not break the international law. The declaration of independence as stated by the parliament of Kosovo is that the state will continue the bound with the 1244 resolution of the United States Security Council and the Ahtisaari plan. The Kosovo's special envoy of the United States, Martti Ahtisaari's proposal which was produced in February 2007, described the internal settlements of Kosovo, mechanism of the protection of minority and permitted for the independence under the supervision of the international states. The powers delegated to Kosovo were increased by this proposal (Raic, 2008, 10). However, it did not provide the complete exclusion of the international authority and oversight.

After two years of the submission of the request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in context to the Kosovo's Declaration of Independence, in February 2008, an advisory opinion was issued by the court on 22nd July 2010. This advisory opinion stated that the independence declaration of Kosovo did not violate the international law. In accordance with the theory of the constitution, the last crucial factor is recognition which changes the state which is being recognized into an international person. While the theory of declaratory, the recognition of a state is just an acceptance of the already existed actuality is that the state, which is being recognized, is already an international person (Muharremi, 2002, 678).

According to Shaw, recognition is "a method of accepting factual situations and endowing them with legal significance, but this relationship is a complicated one." Indeed, the relationship between factual situations and the creation of legal rights by the act of recognition remains a controversial issue in international law, because the act has legal ...