Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

In The Hague, exchanges are taking place in a legal battle between Georgia and Russia which threatens to become something of a saga.  Two years ago Tbilisi charged Moscow with a derogation of its duty to eliminate ‘all forms of racial discrimination‘, under the UN’s 1965 International Convention . The allegation is that Russia’s armed forces engaged in violent discrimination, alongside ’separatist militia and foreign mercenaries’ in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, through at least three separate phases, between 1990 and 2008. When these proceedings  (PDF) were instigated, in August 2008, Tbilisi effectively asked the UN’s judicial organ to endorse its casus belli, at the same time as its invasion of South Ossetia was met with resistance and Russian tanks pushed its forces back into Georgia proper. A provisional ruling, delivered in the aftermath of the conflict, called on both sides to do all they could to eliminate racial discrimination and urged restraint.   These ...

Confounding expectations, the ICJ (whose website is creaking a bit under the strain) produced a  clear determination on Kosovo’s declaration of independence.  Sort of. Rather than consider the matter of the province’s statehood in  the round, it ruled merely on the narrow question which Serbia put to it.  ‘Is the unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo in accordance with international law?’.  The court’s answer was ‘yes’.  There was nothing unlawful about the declaration of independence, as it was issued. Considering the scope of the question, the ICJ noted ‘[it] is narrow and specific; it asks for the Court’s opinion on whether or not the declaration of independence is in accordance with international law … it does not ask about the legal consequences of that declaration’. In other words no guidance was asked for, and none was given, on the legality of Kosovo’s statehood, its right to put i...

Tomorrow the International Court of Justice will rule on Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia.  Sponsored by Nato, the province is already recognised as an independent state by 69 countries, but many more are sceptical of its claims. In theory the ICJ could offer the best guidance for governments who are unpersuaded, either way, by the Kosovo Albanian case, even though its verdict will not be binding.  However it is much more likely that the court's guidance will not lean clearly toward either party. Certainly Serbia expects status negotiations to follow tomorrow’s determination, while Kosovo Albanians are talking down its significance.  Independence, they argue, does not depend on the court’s endorsement. Belgrade demonstrated peaceful intent and respect for the international community by referring Kosovo to the ICJ, but the court has neither the authority, nor the will, to clear this issue up for good.  International law exists in the...

I must, at some point, have signed up to a Foreign and Commonwealth Office mailing list, because I receive regular e-mails featuring, disproportionately, assorted inconsistent and condescending musings dispensed by David Miliband, in which he variously condenses, simplifies and misrepresents a series of geopolitical circumstances throughout the globe. His latest offering extols the success of one year of Kosovo Albanian independence , wilfully ignoring the baleful sequence of events which recognising theuniversal declaration put in train, and oblivious to the fact that Pristina is not even close to becoming capital of a functioning, healthy or democratic state. Most conspicuously, recognition of the Kosovo Albanian claim by the US, UK and other western powers established a trend for unilateral, sparsely recognised declarations of independence. South Ossetia and Abkhazia, similarly semi-independent, quasi states predictably followed the Balkan example. Although the full implications...