INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
ACCORDANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW
OF THE UN/LATERAL DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE BY THE PROVJSIONAL INSTITUTIONS
OF SELF-GOVERNMENT OF KOSOVO
(REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION)
ANSWERS GIVEN BY THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN
TO THE QUESTIONS POSED BY JUDGES KOROMA,
BENNOUNA AND CANÇADO TRINDADE
DECEMBER 2009 1.- As a continuation of its spirit of full cooperation with the International Comi of
Justice as the mainjudicial body of the United Nations, the Kingdom of Spain considers ·
it ~ppropriateto answer the questions posed by Judges Koroma, Bennouna and Cançado
Tnndade at the end of the public hearings related to the advisory proceedings on the
accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence by the
Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo.
Spain will give a separate answer to each of the questions asked by the judges, and in
the same order as the questions were posed. However, given that the three questions
have elements in common and are inter-related, the three answers given by Spain must
be understood as forming a unity. ·
A) QUESTION POSED BY JUDGE KOROMA
2.- Judge Koroma's question has been posed in the following terms: "Jt has been
contended that international law does not prohibit the secession of a territory from a
sovereign State. Could participants in these proceedings address the Court on the
principles and rules of international law, if any, which, outside the colonial context,
permit the secession of a territory from a sovereign State without the latter 's consent?"
3.- In these proceedings, the Kingdom of Spain has contended that, apart from cases of
colonial rule or foreign occupation, international law does not authorize the exercise of
a right to extemal self-determination. Therefore, it neither authorizes unilateral
secession, which cannot be considered as an existing institution or right in
contemporary international law. Consequently, Spain considers that it is not possible ..to.__..
answer in positive terms to the question posed by Judge Koroma.
Nevertheless, with regard to the exercise by the International Court of Justice of
its advisory jurisdiction, Spain considers it useful to answer the said question in
negative terms, reiterating the inexistence, outside the colonial context, of any rule
whatsoever authorizing the unilateral secession of part of a territory from a sovereign
pre-existing State without the consent of the latter.
4.- Such an assertion is based, first, on respect for the principle of sovereignty and
territorial integrity of the State, a principle that, as Spain highlighted in its Written
Statement, "is inscribed in the essential, non-derogable core of the basic principles of
international law as set out in the United Nations Charter and in Resolution 2625
(XXV)", as well as in other international instruments, among which sta~d out the
Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe or the Declaratlon on the
Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations (Resolution 50/6 of the
General Assembly of the United Nations) 1•
Moreover it cannot be forgotten that, as Spain has had the opportunity to prove
in its Written 'statement , territorial integrity has been equally sanctioned by
international practice, in particular by the established practice of the Uni~edNatio~s and
its Security Council. In this respect, suffice it to recall that the Security Council has
been constant and uniform in adopting a position of unequivocal support and respect for
1
2Written Statement of the Kingdom of Spain, par. 25
Written Statement of the Kingdom of Spain, par. 20-34.
2sovereig~tyand territorial integ_ri~y ~f States, be it in cases of flagrant use of force by a
~tate a~ams~anothe: State, be 1tm mternal armed conflicts which, in its opinion, have
~eopard1z:d~nternat1?nal_peaceand security, thereby compelling it to intervene and get
mvolved m Its solution, m the fulfilment of its responsibility to maintain international
peace and security. This practice has stood regardless of the gravity of the conflicts in
question and of the international law violations committed therein, which have bred
seriousthreats to international peace and security and, in certain cases, even failed-State
situations. In this respect, secessionist tensions, the ethnie and religious dimension of
part of the serious human rights violations committed against civilians in those
conflicts, or the intervention of the International Criminal Court and other international
criminal tribunals, have not altered the firm, well-established practice of the Security
Council, which was meant to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the
Statesravaged by those conflicts.
The same has taken place in the case of Kosovo.
5.- Itcan neither be affirmed that unilateral secession of part of the territory of a State
may result from the application of the principle of self-determination of peoples, which
would only warrant independence, in an undisputed manner, within the context of
colonial situations or cases of occupation.
Such a conclusion can be inferred from international practice, which has been
subject to thorough, specialized doctrinal analysis yielding the conclusion that a right to
secessionbased on self-determination does not exist.
In this regard, one could quote Professor Crawford's authoritative opinion
affirming that "by comparison with the acceptance of self-deterrnination leading to the
independence of colonial territories covered by Chapters XI and XII of the Charter
('external self-determination'), the practice regarding unilateral secession of non
colonial territories is very different. Since1945 the international community has been
extremely reluctant to accept unilateral secession of parts of independent States if the
secession is opposed by the govemment of that State. In such cases the principle of
territorial integrity has been a significant limitation. Sinc1945 no State which has been
created by unilateral secession has been admitted to the United Nations against the
declared wishes of the government of the pre ecessor tate. . ,,3 '
This opinion is supported by Professor Tancredi, who concludes that "[i]l
panorama relativo ai conflitti seccesionisti sviluppatisi all'indomani, e corne
conseguenza, di un processo di decolonizzazione svoltosi nel rispetto dei con~ni
coloniali preesisteenti, mostra una inequivocabile avversione della comurnta
internazionale all'accoglimento di ogni quasivoglia diritto di autodeterminazione
secessionista" (The history of secessionist conjl.ictserupted after, and as a result of, a
decolonization process that had respected pre-existing colonial borders is proof of an_
unequivocal aversion on the part of the international comm4nity to the acceptance of
any right whatsoever to secessionist selfdetermination) •
3J. Crawford, The Creation of States in International Law, 2• ed., Clarendon Press, Oxford, 20~6, p. 3~0.
4 A.Tancredi La secessione nef diritto internazionale, Cedam, Milan, 2001, p. 373. (The Enghsh vers10n
of this quote is an unofficial translation of Professor Tancredi's original text).
3 6.- The search for a foundation of a so-called right to unilateral secession within the
context of the exercise of the right to self-determination cannot even be made through
the so-called "secession as remedy", which would be based on the so-called safeguard
clause contained in the Declaration of Princip/es of International Law concerning
Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of
the UnitedNations, according to which "[n]othing in the foregoing paragraphs shall be
construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair,
totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent
States conducting themselves in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self
determination of peoples as described above and thus possessed of a govemment
representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race,
creed or colour".
In fact, as Spain pointed out in its Written Statement, "upon analysis of the
above clause, in view of the "travaux préparatoires" carried out regarding Resolution
2625 (XXV) and of the contextual interpretation to be made of the latter in relation to
the other provisions within the Declaration, including those concerning the specific
principle referred to, it cannot be concluded that respect for sovereignty and territorial
integrity of States is subservient to the exercise of an alleged right to self-determination
exercised via a unilateral act, and which is of5great significance as regards the existence
of personality under international law" . This interpretation is reinforced by the
authoritative opinion of Professor Antonio Cassese, who affirms that "[w]hatever the
intentions of the draftsmen and the result of their negotiations, and whatever the proper
interpretation of the clause under discussion, it cannot be denied that state practice and
··--·--l1eoverw ehm1g v1ewo states remam oppose to secess1on. . . "6 . . .. ... .. . .....
In a similar sense one could invoke General Recommendation XXI of the
Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in which this body, unlikely to
incur in ignorance of, or contempt for, hurnan rights, affirmed that although « ethnie or
religious groups or minorities frequently refer to the right to self-determination as a
basis for an alleged right to secession», «[i]nternational law has not recognized a
7
general right of peoples unilaterally to declare secession from a State » .
The lndependent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conjlict in Georgia,
for its part, has also declared that "international law does not recognize a right to
uoilaterally create a new state based on the principle of self-determination outside the
colonial context. and apartheid. An extraordinary acceptance to secede under extreme
8
conditions such as genocide has so far not found general acceptance" .
At any rate, as Spain has already indicated, invoking the "secession remedy" has
no significance at all in the case of Kosovo, because "with regard to the massive and
systematic human rights violations and minority rights violations in Kosovo, and to ~be
suspension of Kosovo' sself-governn1ent regime dictated by S_erbiain 1?89, the_react1on
of the international community has materialized, already m 1999, m prec1sely the
5 WrittenStatementof the Kingdom of Spain,par. 24.
6 AntonioCassese,Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legat Reappraisal, Cambridge, CUP 1995, p. l2l
7 CERD GeneralRecommendation XXI, par..1 and 6 (HRI/GEN/I/Rev. 9 (vol.Il)p. 29).
8 /ndep;ndent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia, 1,p. 17,par.l l.
(http://www.ceiig.ch/Report.html).
4 establishment of an international administration regime of Kosovo which includes a
self-g?vernment system of this Serbian province. In addition to such a regime, which
suffic1ently guarantees self-government under international control, the UN Security
·Council has set in motion a political process for the determination of the future status of
Kosovo. This process is, in the case at issue; the valid procedure for the final exercise
by Kosovo -in a form yet to be defined- of a possible right to self-determination.
Bearing in mind this remedy fashioned by the international cornmunity in 1999,
Spain considers that no other form of reaction or remedy is legally defensible, much less
so through the secession-as-sanction or secession-as-remedy formulas, which, as
pointed out above, have no proper legal basis in international law, this being of
particular bearing on the case of Kosovo" 9.
7.- Finally, although some of the participants in the present proceedings have affirmed
that the inexistence of an explicit prohibiting rule must be interpreted as an acceptance .
of secession in contexts other than colonial situations,·this line of argument cannot be
shared by Spain. lt is on the contrary necessary to emphasize that, in this context, the
absence of a prohibiting rule cannot be understood as the implicit authorization of an
alleged "right to secession". The exercise of such a "right" would immediately result in
a limitation of the rights and powers of a sovereign State, in utter disregard of the will
thereof. We would thus be faced with a rule restricting rights, which could only be
adopted in an express manner. Since a rule adopted in this manner is lacking, unilateral
secession is not permitted by contemporary international law outside the colonial
context.
Likewise, -it is neither legally acceptable to affirm that the unilateral declaration
of independence and unilateral secession are purely factual realities that are not ruled by
international law. Far from it, as the Jndependent International Fact-Finding Mission on
the Conflict in Georgia has declared, "this argument is not fully persuasive, especially
as international law increasingly addresses situ10ions within the territory of states.
International law is not silent in that regard" •
8.- In conclusion, on the basis of the preceding arguments, it is not possible to accept
the existence of principles or rules of international law which, outside the colonial
context, permit the secession of a territory from a sovereign State without the latter's
consent. Or, as the Jndependent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conjlict in
Georgia has affirmed: "To sum up, outside the colonial context, self-determination is
basically limited to internai self-determination. A right to extemal self-determinati?n in
form of secession is not accepted in state practice. A limited, conditional extraordmary
allowance to secede as a last resort in extreme cases is debated in international legal
scholarship. However, most authors opine that such a remedial "right" or allowance
9Written Cornments of the Kingdorn of Spain, July 2009, pp. 5-6. Exposé oral du Royaume d'Espagne,
CR2009/30, pp. 18-19, par. 40-42.
ioJndependent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conjlict in Georgia, vol. 11,Cap- 3, p. 137
(http://www.ceiig.ch/Report.html).
5does not fo11 part of international law as it stands. The case of Kosovo has not changed
the rules."
B)QUESTIONPOSEDBYJUDGEBENNOUNA
9.- Judge Bennouna's question has been posed in the following terms: Did the authors
of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self
Government of Kosovo previously campaign, in the elections of November 2007for the
Ass_emb!y_oftheProvisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo, on the basis of
thezrwzllzngness, once elected, to declare Kosovo independent unilaterally, or did they
at leastpresent the unilateral declaration of Kosovo 'sindependence to their electors as
one of the alternatives for theirfuture actors?
The question refers to a purely factual element that, in Spain's view, is irrelevant
for the present proceedings. Nevertheless, in case the International Court of Justice
deems it appropriate to assess this fact, it is the wish of Spain to make the following
observations.
10.- Itis no surprising fact that, in the electoral process culminatîng in the election of
the Assembly of Kosovo in November 2007, the pro-independence Kosovar parties
should include the proposai for the independence of Kosovo in their political agendas
and their respective electoral campaigns. From this perspective, the expression of the
wish for independence in political programs or electoral campaigns is nothing but an
expression of freedom of speech by the above- mentioned political parties that is part of
the principles that must inform a democratic election. This freedom finds no other limit
than the prohibition to declare oneself in favour of acts that are in violation of the legal
order under whose rule and caver the election takes place.
To this it must be added, on the other hand, that, according to comparative law,
electoral programs and promises do not legally bind their authors, that is, the political
parties that make them; nor do they give rise to any kind of legal obligation between
such political parties and the electorate allowing voters to claim their fulfilment through
legal means. In short, political programs and promises operate in the realm of political
will and policy considerations, and not in the realm of law, bearing consequences only
as moral and political obligations binding a party with respect to its voters.
This is also generally applicable to all the elections held in Kosovo, which
means that the inclusion of the claîm for independence in electoral programs and
campaigns must be understood as the mere expression of a political "wish" that,
moreover, is not in itself contrary to the international regime for Kosovo established by
Resolution 1244(1999). In this respect, it must be reiterated that, as has been explicitly
1
pointed out by Spain in its Written Statement as well as in its Oral Statement 2. t?e s~id
resolution does not pre-determîne the final outcome of the process for the determmation
of Kosovo's future status, nor does it prevent the parties taking part in the political
process from advocating different or opposite positions. It only guarantees that no party
can unilaterally impose its own position, given that the settlement on the final status of
11Jndependent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Gevol.TlCap- 3, p.141.
12 Written Statement of the Kingdom of Spain, par. 76; Exposé oral du Royaume d'Espagne, CR
2009/30,p. 16,par.33.
6Kosovo requires an agreement of both parties reached within the framework of a
political process established to that end.
11.-However, the previous considerations do not warrant the conclusion that including
an option in favour of independence in electoral programs and campaigns run in Kosovo
in November 2007, which resulted in the election of the new Assembly, should have
enough legal binding force so as to change the very nature of the provisional institutions
of self-government of Kosovo, or to alter the process for the determination of Kosovo's
future status established by the United Nations Security Council. On the contrary, this
is a factual and political element, completely alien to law in general, and to the
international regime for Kosovo derived from Resolution 1244(1999) in particular.
In this respect the following must be recalled:
i) The election was called to elect the representatives of the population of Kosovo
in the provisional institutions of self-government established according to
Resolution 1244(1999) and to the rest of rules that apply to the provisional
regime of international administration of Kosovo. The election was not called to
elect the members of a constituent assembly that would create a new State,
whether or not that was the project of the parties running in those elections, and
regardless of the fact that such a project gathered the support of part of the
Kosovar population 1. Therefore, the mere political wish of certain parties and of
a sector of the Kosovar population (irrespective of any issues of political
legitimacy) does not suffice to transform the legal nature of the institutions
established on the foundation of a Security Council Resolution adopted within
-the-framew0rk-0fGhapter VII of the UN Charter.
ii) The subject-matter of the electoral process was not, and could not be, Kosovo's
declaration of independence, because such independence could only be attained,
if at all, in the final phase of the political process for the determination of
Kosovo's future status set in motion by the Security Council through Resolution
1244(1999), a process which, therefore, cannot be unilaterally altered. The wish
for independence unilaterally expressed by the pro-independence political
parties, and supported by part of the population of Kosovo, can by no means
replace the will of the UN Security Council, which has initiated a political
process based on negotiation and agreement and which, by definition, provides
the ultimate guarantee to the said process.
12.- To sum up, any electoral promise made within the framework of the interna!ional
administration regime of Kosovo still in force, must give way before the authonty of
Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999), adopted according to Chapter VII of the UN
Charter.
And consequently, Spain considers that the electoral promises referred to in his
question b; Judge Bennouna are of no relevance_fo~ the o~inion to be given _bythe
International Court of Justice on the accordance w1th mternational law of the umlateral
13Participation in the 2007 election reached 40.10% of the electorate. It reached 53.57% in2004 and
64.30% in2001 (http://www.osce.org/kosovo/13208.html).
7 declaration of independence by the provisional institutions of self-government of
Kosovo.
C)QUESTIONPOSED BY JUDGECANCADOTRINDADE
13.- Judge Cançado Trindade's question has been posed in the following terms:
"United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) refers, in ifs paragraph 11
(a) to "substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo", taking full account of
the Rambouillet Accords. In your understanding, what is the meaning of this renvoi to
the Rambouillet Accords? Does it have a bearing on the issues of self-determination
and/or secession? Ifso, what would be the prerequisites of a people 's eligibility into
statehood, in theframework of the legal regime set up by Security Council resolution
1244 (1999)? And what are the factual preconditions for the configuration of a
"people", and of its eligibility into statehood, under general international law?"
In reality, this complex question can be broken clowninto three sub-questions,
namely:
i) What is the meaning of the renvoi made by Resolution 1244 (1999) to the
Rambouillet Accords? Does it have a bearing on self-determination and/or
secession?
ii) If at all, what conditions should a people meet in order to be eligible for
statehood, in the framework of the legal regime established by Security Council
Resolution 1244 (1999)?
iii) What are the factual preconditions for the configuration of a "people" and for its
. .t;Jigi_l;,nto stateh()odund~Ege:nera}i11ter1?-.8:!0 }rYi.?-
Spain will give a separate answer to each of these questions, even though such
answers are inter-related and must be understood as forming a unity.
i) What is the meaning of the renvoi made by Resolution 1244 (1999) to the
Rambouillet Accords? Does it have a bearing on self-deterrnination and/or
secession?
14.- Resolution 1244 (1999) refers to the Rambouillet Accords in article 11, paragraph
a), in order to define one of the main responsibilities of the International civil presence
in Kosovo, namely: "promoting the establishment, pending a final settlement, of
substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo, taking full account of annex 2
and of the Rambouillet accords". The aforementioned "substantial autonomy" will
unfold "within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" 14,at least until the future status of
Kosovo deriving from the political process set in motion and sponsored by the Security
Council is determined.
From this perspective, the reference to the Rambouillet Accords must be
understood as having a twofold meaning: firstly, it is a reference to respect for the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Y;1~oslavia,which has
been explicitly proclaimed in the Rambouillet Accords; secondly, 1t1sa reference t~ tl:e
principles that must rule the provisional regime of self-government of Kosovo w1thm
the FRY, which had already been defined in those Accords.
14Res. 1244 (1999), par 10.
8 ln particular, as Spain underlined in its Written Statement the reference to the
Ra1:1bo~ill~tAc_cor~sstrengthens the presence of the principl~ of sovereignty and
temtonal mtegnty m the case of Kosovo, because in such Accords "respect for the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia constitutes
the basis for the system of self-government of Kosovo and inspires the Draft
Constitut~onfo~Kosovo; it is present when defining the regime for implementing the
accords, mcludmg the deployment of NATO, and it is expressed in many spheres
which, such as border control or customs control, are part of the core content of State
sovereignty" 15•
Therefore, the reference to the Rambouillet Accords in paragraph 11.a) of
Resolution 1244 must be understood as a manifestation of the balance struck among the
different relevant interests by the Security Council in this resolution, which, as Spain
has pointed out in its Oral Statement, creates a «équilibre entre les deux principes
fondamentaux applicables». Such a balance guarantees respect for the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of the FRY (present-day Serbia) without prejudice to the exercise of
the right to self-determination of Kosovo, understood as "une forme d'exercice du droit
à l'autodétermination, cette fois-ci de nature interne, dans le cadre du régime
internationalintérimaire établi par le Conseil de sécurité.» 16.
15.-From this perspective, the renvoi to the Rambouillet Accords has a direct bearing
on the two fondamental principles of international law that apply directly to the
internationalregime for Kosovo established by the Security Council through Resolution
1244 (1999), namely: i) the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity whose
respect it assures ; ii) the right to self-government of Kosovo which, through the
.reference-.tothe ..Rambouillet Accords and.through the explicit mention of Resolution.......·.. ·w •
1244(1999), is guaranteed in its dimension of internai self-government.
16.- Contrariwise, the reference to the Rambouillet Accords in paragraph 11.a) of
Resolution 1244 (1999) can have no bearing whatsoever on the principle of external
self-determination or on a possible secession, since the Rambouillet Accords contain no
specificprovisions in this respect.
In fact, Resolution 1244 (1999) also refers to the Rambouillet Accords in
paragraph 11.e), according to which it is also a main responsibility of the international
civil presence to facilitate« a political process designed to determine Kosovo' s future
status, taking into account the Rambouillet accords». This makes it necessary to_reflect
upon the meaning of this reference which is no longer related to the .regnn~ ?f
international administration of Kosovo (including the self-government reg1me w1thm
Serbia) but to the political process meant to determine Kosovo's future stat~s. ~his
reference, moreover, is worded in different terms to paragraph 11.a) («takmg mto
account » in paragraphe),« taking full account » in paragraph a)).
15Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the FRY~lialong the _tex~of the
Rambouillet Accords. From the Preamble and the articles related to the prov1s10nalst1tut1on for
Kosovo, to the provisions on the Policy and Civil Public Security, as well asm1c_Issues an~ the
provisions on the international military presence in Kosovo. For a more deta1led analys1s, see Wntten
Statement of the Kingdom of Spain, par. 37 and footnote 54.
16Exposé oral du Rouyaume d'Espagne, CR 2009/30, p. 18, par. 39. See also p. 13, par. 23.
9 However, the sole explicit reference to the process to determine the future status
of Kosovo contained in the Rambouilet Accords appears in Chapter 8, Article I,
paragraph 3, according to which « [t]hree years after the entry into force of the
Agreement, an international meeting shall be convened to determine a mechanism for a
final settlement for Kosovo, on the basis of the will of the people, opinions of relevant
authorities, each Party's efforts regarding the implementation of this Agreement, and
the Helsinki Final Act, and to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the
implementation of this Agreement and to consider proposais by any Party for additional
measures ».
It is, as can be seen, a merely procedural decision which, apart from having
never entered into force, does not warrant the conclusion that Kosovo is entitled to a
right to independence. In this respect, the reference to the Rambouillet Accords at this
level is to be considered as a reference to the principles that must inspire, along with
those mentioned in Resolution 1244 (1999), the political process for the determination
of the future status of Kosovo set in motion by the Security Council. Among such
principles there is absolutely no mention to the right to exercise external self
determination and the reference to the «will of the people » is neither the sole nor the
prevailing criterion (although a necessary one) to define the « final settlement for
Kosovo». This criterion must be seen in connection with the rest of the criteria
mentioned in the cited article.
Consequently, also from this perspective, it is to be concluded that therenvoi to
the Rambouillet Accords has no bearing whatsoever on the recognition of an alleged
right to secessionin favour of Kosovo.
17.- Thus interpretation of the meaning of the reference to the Rambouillet Accords i1
confirrned in the light of the European Council Conclusions of 24/25 March 1999 7,
held in Berlin which, referring to the Rambouillet negotiations, stated the following:
"The draft agreement, which was signed by the Kosovo Albanians in Paris,
meets these requirements: on the basis of the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of Yugoslavia it assures Kosovo a high degree of self-government, guarantees
the individual human rights of all citizens in Kosovo according to the highest
European standards, envisages extensive rights for all national communities
living in Kosovo and creates the basis for the necessary reconstruction of the
war-torn region."
Insisting that there was one single objective:
"The international community's only objective is to find a political future for
Kosovo on the basis of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal
Republi~ of Yugoslavia, which does justice to the concerns and aspirations of all
the people in Kosovo."
Therefore, a balance between respect for territorial integrity and the people's ~ill. of
self-government were the defining parameters of the Rambouillet Accords, an objective
assumed by Resolution 1244.
11PresidencyConclusions, Cologne European Council, 24 and 25 March 1999, Part 1HStatements
on Kosovo, http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocsData/docs/pressData/en/ec/ACFB2.ht…
10 ii) If at ail, w_hatconditions should a people meet in order to be eligible for
statehood, in the framework o[the legal regime established bv Securitv Council
Resolution 1244 (1999)?
18.- As already underlined in the preceding paragraphs Resolution 1244 (1999) strikes
an ad~qu~te balance betwe~n t~e principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity and
the prmc1ple of self-determmat10n of peoples. It cannot be maintained therefore that
Resolution 1244 (1999) does not deal at all with the exercise of self-d~terminati~n by
Kosovo. Nevertheless, it deals with it at two levels that must be distinguished. Firstly
within the prO"~'isionarlegime of international administration of Kosovo the right t;
self-determmat1on can only be understood in its internai dimension (self-government of
Kosovo within Serbia). Secondly, in the framework of the political process for the
determination of Kosovo' s future status, self-determination in the broad sense is not
excluded, but the way the right to self-determination is to be exercised (self
government within Serbia/creation of a new State) is not defined. Resolution 1244
merely sets as a condition that the future status of Kosovo must be the fruit of a
common agreement between the parties concerned which -in reality- prevents the
application of the self-determination of peoples in the classical sense.
At any rate, it is within these parameters that the question posed by Judge
Cançado Trindade must be answered.
19.- Regarding the exercise of the right to self-determination in the :framework of the
provisional regime of international administration of Kosovo, it must be concluded that
___,.__ïtÎ-!fhotpossible t· answer the question that has-been ·asked-.-Suffi.ceit to-recall. that
under that regime "the self-government of Kosovo" is exercised as internal self
determination and that, it is logically not in the purview of Resolution 1244 (1999) the
idea of a possible people eligible for statehood, since that administration regime does
not intend to constitute a new State but to establish a self-government regime within a
pre-existing State.
With regard to the process to determine Kosovo's future status, Resolution 1244
(1999) contains no direct or indirect position on the creation of a new State, since that
result -or any other- must be the product of the political process and the agreement
between the parties concerned. Therefore, neither is it possible, in this context, to
identify the requirements that an alleged people of Kosovo should meet to have access
to statehood. Access to statehood must be the result, in any case, of the political process
set by the Security Council, and not of the specific conditions that this people in
question may possess, because it should be recalled that we are not faced with a
classical case of exercise of the right to self-determination but with the determination of
the future statute of a territory with a view to solving an international crisis. This
determination must be made in accordance with the procedure established by the
Security Council acting on the basis of Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
20.- At any rate, if a basis must be found in Resolution 1244 (~99~) to define t~e
concept of people in the case of Kosovo, the fact must be. ~1ghhghted that. th1s
resolution seems to embrace an open concept, although one condit1oned by the terntory
to which the resolution applies. It is thus remarkable that the Council refers without
11 distinction to the "Kosovo population" 18,to "the people of Kosovo" 19, to "all people in
20 21
Kosovo" ,or to "all in.habitantsin Kosovo" ,in the context of the self-government
regime and of the political process to determine Kosovo's future status. And mention is
not being made of the multiple general references to the "self-government for Kosovo",
the "self-administration for Kosovo" or to "Kosovo's future status".
Therefore, the concept of a people entitled to a right to self-determination, or
evenpossibly acceding to statehood does not seem to have been within the concerns of
the Security Council when setting up the international regirne for Kosovo built upon
Resolution 1244(1999). The Council, on the contrary, seems to have been content to
identify a territory in which there is a population benefiting from the aforementioned
international regime. In conclusion, Spain considers that the concept of people in the
framework of the international regime established by Resolution 1244(1999) is not
relevant to answer the question posed by the General Assembly.
iii) What are the factual preconditions for the configuration of a "people" and for
its eligibility into statehood under general international law?
21.- Bearing in mind the preceding arguments, Spain considers that it is not necessary to
answer this question in the present advisory proceedings. Far from that, it has been
proven that the legal framework related to the question asked to the Court is
circumscribed by the special regime created by Resolution 1244 (1999), which takes
sufficiently into account the fundamental principles of international law that apply to
the case of Kosovo. In this regard, the debate over the factual preconditions that must be
met in advance to constitute a "people" and be eligible for statehood under general
--irifefüationarlâ.wyields no tëlevant ëlëment to that legal framework; ··--
Madrid, 21 December 2009
Concepci6n Escobar Hernandez
Representative of the Kingdom of Spain
18Res. 1244 (1999), Preamble, par. 5.
19
20Ibid, operative par. 10;Annex 2, par. 5.
Ibid Annex 2, par. 4.
21Ibid'.operative par. 10;Annex 1,fourth principle; Annex 2, par. 5.
12
Reply of the Kingdom of Spain to questions posed by Judges Koroma, Bennouna and
Cançado Trindade at the close of the oral proceedings