International Court of Justice Ruling declares Kosovo's Unilateral Secession Legal under International Law

Court's Kosovo ruling could resonate around globe

By Patrick Worsnip, Reuters: United Nations
Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:26pm EDT

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The World Court's opinion that Kosovo's unilateral secession from Serbia was not illegal will send a chill blast through other countries that have restive minorities keen to follow Kosovo's example.

In a 9-5 nonbinding ruling on Thursday on the 2008 secession, the Hague-based court said it considered "that general international law contains no applicable prohibition of declaration of independence."

Diplomats at the United Nations said the ruling underscored the clash between two cardinal principles dear to rank-and-file U.N. member states: self-determination, in this case for Kosovo's majority Albanians, and territorial integrity, in this case, Serbia's.

From the outset, this caused a major split among the 192 U.N. nations over whether to recognize Kosovo. Sixty-nine, including the United States and many of its allies, have so far done so but the rest have not, many waiting to see what the World Court said.

Some, including Serbia and its big-power ally Russia, rejected the independence declaration. Serbia lost control over Kosovo in 1999 when NATO bombed it to halt the killing of ethnic Albanians in a two-year counter-insurgency war.

Even the European Union was divided, with Britain, France, Germany and others recognizing Kosovo but others with minority problems such as Spain and Cyprus holding back.

"It's not only the problem of Kosovo," one senior U.N. envoy said of Thursday's ruling. "It will be read in a lot of capitals on the basis not of the Kosovo case itself but of the general implications for each country."

"It's very difficult to guess what will be the reaction of the General Assembly," he added.

It was the assembly that, at Serbia's initiative, requested the court's opinion. Diplomats have been expecting Serbia to put a motion before the assembly following the court ruling calling on Kosovo's authorities to negotiate with Belgrade over the future of the former Serbian province.

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