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The Kosovo Crisis in an International Law Perspective: Self-Determination, Territorial Integrity and the Nato Intervention

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The Kosovo Crisis in an International Law Perspective: Self-Determination, Territorial Integrity and the Nato Intervention FOR: NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION Office of Information and Press FINAL REPORT THE KOSOVO CRISIS IN AN INTERNATIONAL LAW PERSPECTIVE: SELF-DETERMINATION, TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY AND THE NATO INTERVENTION . Prepared by: Dajena Kumbaro DATE: 16 JUNE 2001 2 . Title of the project: The Kosovo Crisis in an International Law Perspective: Self-Determination, Territorial Integrity and the NATO Intervention Name of Fellow: DAJENA KUMBARO Grant Term: June 3, 1999- June 30, 2001 Deadline for the Final Report: 30 June 2001 Contact Information: Rr. Pjeter Bogdani, No.7. Kati 8. Tirana, Albania, Tel/Fax 00355 4 258215; 250206 E-mail:[email protected] In compliance with Article 2(b) of the Fellowship Agreement made June 3, 1999 between the NATO Office of Information and Press (“NATIP”) and Ms. Dajena Kumbaro (“The Fellow”), the final Report on the project titled, The Kosovo Crisis in an International Law Perspective: Self-Determination, Territorial Integrity and the NATO Intervention, is hereby submitted. Signature: _________________________ Date: 16 June 2001 3 . List of Abbreviations. AEL Collective Courses of the Academy of European Law AF Annuaire Francais de Droit International AFDI Annuaire Francais de Droit International AJICL African Journal of International and Comparative Law AM.J.INT.L.L American Journal of International Law ASDI Annuaire Suisse de Droit International AVR Archiv des Völkerrechts AYIL Australian Yearbook of International Law BYIL British Yearbook of International Law Case WRJIL Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law CSCE Conference on security and Co-operation in Europe CYIL Canadian Yearbook of International Law Dept. St. Bul. Department of State Bulletin EC European Community EU European Union EG Enciclopedia Giuridica EJIL European Journal of International Law Encyclopedia R. Bernhard (ed.), Encyclopedia of Public International Law Epc Bul. European Political Co-operation Bulletin FA Foreign Affairs GA General Assembly GAOR General Assembly Official Records GYIL German Yearbook of International Law HILJ Harvard International Law Journal HR Hague Recueil ICJ International Court of Justice ICLQ International and Comparative Law Quarterly IJIL Indian Journal of International Law ILC International Law Commission ILM International Legal Materials ILR International Law Reports Israel L. Rev. Israel Law Review IYHR Israel Yearbook of Human Rights Keesing’s Keesing’s Contemporary Archives, later Keesing’s Record of World Events NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NILR Netherlands International Law Review NYIL Netherlands Yearbook of International Law NYUJILP New York University Journal of International Law and Politics PASIL Proceedings of the American Society of International Law PYIL Palestinian Yearbook of International Law RBID Revue Belge de Droit International RDI Rivista di Diritto Internazionale RDILC Revue de droit international et de législation comparé RDP Revue de droit public Res. Resolution RGDIP Revue Générale de Droit International Public 4 . SAJIL . South African Journal of International Law SC Security Council SCOR Security Council Official Records Stanford JIL Stanford Journal of International Law UN United Nations UNCIO United Nations Conference on International Organisations UNTS United Nations Treaty Series UN Ybk Yearbook of United Nations US Digest Digest of US Practice in International Law VJIL Virginia Journal of International Law 5 . TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................7 I. THE DEVELOPMENT AND NATURE OF THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION ..8 1.1. SELF-DETERMINATION IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS........................................................9 1.1.1. The United Nations Charter .............................................................................................9 1.1.2. The United Nations Covenants on Human Rights ..........................................................12 1.1.2.2. An Interpretation of the Article on Self-Determination ........................................................ 12 1.1.3. Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples .......16 1.1.4. The Declaration on Friendly Relations ..........................................................................17 1.1.5. The Helsinki Final Act....................................................................................................20 1.1.6. Charter of Paris and Document of Copenhagen ............................................................20 1.1.7. The Vienna Declaration..................................................................................................21 1.3. THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION IN THE JURISPRUDENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ..........................................................................................................................................21 1.4. THE CONTENT AND NATURE OF SELF-DETERMINATION............................................................22 1.5. THE HOLDERS OF SELF-DETERMINATION .................................................................................24 II. THE RIGHT TO SECEDE (EXTERNAL SELF-DETERMINATION) AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY............................................................................................................27 1. THE LAW ON SECESSION AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY .............................................................27 2. EMERGING STATE PRACTICE IN CASES OF SECESSIONIST MOVEMENT ........................................30 2.1. The Case of Eritrea.............................................................................................................30 2.2. The case of East Timor .......................................................................................................32 2.3. Self-determination and dissolution in the USSR.................................................................33 2.4. The Case of Yugoslavia ......................................................................................................35 3. THE PLIGHT OF KOSOVO IN LIGHT OF THE INTERNATIONAL LAW ON SELF-DETERMINATION AND SECESSION ..........................................................................................................................................39 3.1. Kosovo Albanians as Holders of Self-determination ..........................................................39 3.2. The right to external self-determination of Kosovo Albanians ................................................41 3.2.1. Complete Denial of the Kosovo Albanians’ right to internal self-determination ...................... 41 3.2.1.1. Kosovo Albanian people subject to systematic Serbian discrimination and manifest oppression .............................................................................................................................................. 42 3.2.1.1.1. Denial of the political, economic, social and cultural development......................... 42 3.2.1.1.2. Gross and massive human rights violations.............................................................. 45 3.2.1.1.3. The Kosovo Albanians as victims of attacks on their physical existence or integrity ...................................................................................................................................... 46 3.3. SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION OF KOSOVAR ALBANIANS .........................................................................................................................................47 III. NATO AIR ATTACKS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA: A QUESTION OF INTERVENTION ....................................................................................................................................................49 A BRIEF OUTLOOK OF THE EVENTS THAT PRECEDED AND FOLLOWED THE NATO INTERVENTION.......50 1. THE STATUS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: SOVEREIGNTY VIS-À-VIS HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS ..............................................................................................51 2. THE LEGALITY OF THE NATO INTERVENTION IN KOSOVO ..........................................................53 2.1. The Collective System of the UN Charter: the Role of the Security Council ......................56 3. LAW AND MORALITY: ETHICAL BASIS OF HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION...................................59 4. THE 'JUST WAR' THEORY.............................................................................................................62 5. IS NATO INTERVENTION IN KOSOVO JUSTIFIED?............................................................................63 5.1. Some proposals on the legal framework of humanitarian intervention...................................65 IV. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................66 ANNEX I: SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................69 6 . INTRODUCTION. For more than a decade ethnic conflicts and wars of secession have dominated politics and domestic life in the Western Balkans. The break out in fighting by the end of June 1991, with Yugoslav army troops moving in to prevent the secession in Slovenia, only foreshadowed what was to come – the bloody war in Bosnia & Herzegovina, the onslaught of policies of ethnic cleansing, the Serbian rampage through Albanian-inhabited Kosovo, the
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