It was absolutely within the law for the highest tribunal of the United Nations – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – to conclude on the 22^nd of July, 2010, that “the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo does not violate international law”. It was within the law first of all because the right to direct one’s own political affairs, through the establishment of self-determination, is included in the UN Charter [Article 1(2)] as one of the main goals of the organisation. It is also within the law as there is no limitation set on declaring independence in international law. That is to say, international law does not consist of any criterion by which the right to independence is reserved for, say, Serbs, Georgians or Caucasian Tatars, but that very right is denied to Albanians, Megrelians or the Talysh.

Naturally, declarations of independence are always unilateral. When, for example, the United States and the Russian Federation declared their independence from the British Empire and the USSR respectively, they did so without, as it were, approval by “the central authorities”. It is another matter whether “the central authorities” calmly come to terms with the fact, without unnecessary military frustrations, or whether they try to drown the will of others in blood.

This decision by the International Court of Justice of the UN is encouraging in terms of the developments of democratisation of international law. The decision demonstrated that the segregation of peoples as accepted and rejected is inconsistent with the thinking of the twenty first century.

The decision is encouraging when it comes to a democratic solution to the Artsakh conflict as well (the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh). That is, just as no one has the right to make decisions in place of an individual in a democratic society, similarly in current international relations, no one has the right to make decisions in place of the organised public of such individuals.

International law is not up for auction in the twenty first century. International law is not for sale as an oil derrick.

Ara Papian. Head, “Modus Vivendi” Centre

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