Kosovo Wins International Court Of Justice Decision
The international court within the UN, the International Court of Justice, has ruled that Kosovo has the legal right to declare freedom from Serbia. This decision has been hotly discussed and long-awaited by both sides of the debate. Countries around the world are looking at this ruling very closely, as it has effects that widely surpass just Kosovo and Serbia. Post resource – International Court of Justice rules in favor of Kosovo by Newystype.com.
Freedom announced by Kosovo
In February of 2008, Kosovo made a unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia. Serbian forces cracked down seriously on separatists from Kosovo for a number of months between 1998 and 1999. The United Nations estimates that 10,000 individuals died during this conflict. Retaliatory attacks killed a number of thousand more. Since 1999, a specialty mission of the United Nations has governed the Kosovo region within Serbia. The Serbian government claims that Kosovo is a very significant part of its national identity, and therefore must remain a part of their country.
UN has yet to recognize independence
The freedom of Kosovo as a nation has been recognized by only 69 other countries. One hundred nations must recognize a declaration of independence before the country is allowed to join the United Nations. Serbia requested that the International Court of Justice review Kosovo’s independence declaration.
Kosovo did have the right to declare independence, as outlined by the 2010 ruling of the international court of justice. Specifically, ICJ president Hisashi Owada said that international law “contains no prohibition on declarations of independence.” International precedent is thin on the issue, and also the ICJ is said to have consulted situations such as the administrative breakup of the USSR to make the decision.
How the decision will reverberate
The International Court of Justice ruling that Kosovo’s declaration of freedom is within international law will most likely have wide-ranging effects. The ruling is being celebrated by separatist movements around the world. Many nations are declaring that they’ll fight these declarations of independence. It is likely that the ICJ ruling will help Kosovo build the 100 supporting countries necessary for UN recognition, though the region will be in dispute long to the future.
