...organised to discuss the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and its implications for international law, for Kosovo and for other situations. Participants included representatives of government, embassies, NGOs, academics, and practising lawyers. Opening remarks STEFAN TALMON This is likely to be the only Advisory Opinion known by at least three different names. The case was originally known as Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo, as specified in the ICJ Order of 17 October 2008, the verbatim records of the Public Hearing and all Press Releases up to 14 July 2010. The official name of the Advisory Opinion of 22 July 2010 was Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo. Finally, in his separate opinion, Judge Cançado Trindade used the name Accordance with International Law of Kosovo’s Declaration of Independence. In terms of length, the Kosovo Advisory Opinion is not out of line with other Advisory Opinions. What is remarkable is how little substance it has. Only 14 of the 44 pages deal with substantive legal questions, and only two pages are devoted to the question of whether general international law contains an applicable prohibition of declarations of independence. Conversely, the Advisory Opinion is extremely well referenced, giving the impression the Court is playing for space. It was...
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...on which side of the spectrum one chooses to stand. As a result, when Crimean voters decided to secede from Ukraine and unite with Russia, what role did international law play in the picture? Again, you cannot properly define something that is viewed as more a matter of ‘strong belief’ than that of ‘codified norms’, but the verdicts and opinions of the International Court of Justice are well worth discussing here. The Examples of Kosovo and Northern Cyprus Kosovo had unilaterally declared its independence in 2008. Two years later, in 2010, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stated that unilateral declarations of independence were not prohibited under international law and as a result, Kosovo had every right to declare its independence. However, citing the example of Northern Cyprus, the ICJ further added that such unilateral claims of sovereignty should not, by any means, be accompanied by unlawful use of force and/or violation of peace pacts. Therefore, the ICJ did not appreciate the Turkish Cypriots’ unilateral declaration of independence. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was formed in 1983 after Turkey’s armed intervention in Cyprus. Turkey justified its military actions by claiming that Turkish...
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...understand the budgeting process in the Republic of Kosova by investigating which are the pros and cons in their process. To compile the report, only secondary data have been used such as literature and publications taken on official websites. Public budgeting, involves in itself some other tasks that sometimes could be incompatible and may erode the ability to perform the other task. These tasks includes: setting goals and priorities, linking goals to actions, managing the economy, promoting accountability, controlling the use of public resources, promoting efficiency and effectiveness, social planning and reform, keeping the process manageable. The Kosovo budget is prepared by The Ministry of Finance in coordination with organizations, and has to be approved in the end by the Assembly of Kosova. The budget process in Kosovo is regulated by the Law on Public...
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...How Many Countries in the World? There are 196 countries in the world today. Unless you don't count Taiwan… Taiwan is not considered an official country by many, which would bring the countdown to 195 countries. Although Taiwan operates as an independent country, many countries (including the U.S.) do not officially recognize it as one. Because the People's Republic of China considers Taiwan a breakaway province of China, countries who wish to maintain diplomatic relations with China have had to sever their formal relations with Taiwan (more than 100 countries, however, have unofficial relations with Taiwan). | | | Republic of China Geography: The Republic of China today consists of the island of Taiwan, an island 100 mi (161 km) off the Asian mainland in the Pacific; two off-shore islands, Kinmen (Quemoy) and Matsu; and the nearby islets of the Pescadores chain. It is slightly larger than the combined areas of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Government: Multiparty democracy. History: Taiwan was inhabited by aborigines of Malayan descent when Chinese from the areas now designated as Fukien and Kwangtung began settling it in the 7th century, becoming the majority. The Portuguese explored the area in 1590, naming it “the Beautiful” (Formosa). In 1624 the Dutch set up forts in the south, the Spanish in the north. The Dutch forced out the Spanish in 1641 and controlled the island until 1661, when Chinese general Koxinga took it over and established an independent kingdom...
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...Palestinian Authority has announced its intentions to ask the United Nations to recognize the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state. What is the significance of such recognition? Can the United Nations establish a Palestinian state? In order to address this question appropriately, it is first necessary to correct the common misconception that the United Nations established the State of Israel. On November 29, 1947, the U.N. General Assembly only approved the partition plan that would replace the British Mandate over the land of Israel. The decision of the U.N. General Assembly was binding in that case because of the special status of Palestine as a territory under British Mandate, a system which was intended to prepare nations for independence. This regime no longer applies to...
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...The Main Reasons of the War in August 2008 Literature Review Course: Academic Writing December 22, 2014 Introduction There are lots of unsolved conflicts in contemporary world, among which is the issue of so called South Ossetia Region. As new government of Georgia came in to the power in 2004, territorial integrity became one of the major concerns to be solved. At that time the majority of Georgian society thought that integrity issue would be solved in the peaceful manner. However, since then, events developed in such way that in August 2008 military conflict launched in South Ossetia. The nature of this conflict had significant implications for regional and international power politics. According to the American scientist Kenneth Waltz “peace is the one among a number of ends simultaneously entertained… To explain how peace can be more readily achieved requires an understanding of the causes of the war”. After the war between Russia and Georgia the whole world was concerned about what was the reason of the August war? This paper attempts to review some literature about this topic trying to answer this main question and create even a little understanding of the views that were expressed during or after the war. According the literature reviewed, views about causes of the war can be divided in two parts. First part is about interests’ contradiction between Russia and the USA and the second – about “Matter” of Saakashvili. Interests’ contradiction – Russia...
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...© 2009 Institute of International and European Affairs. All rights reserved. This Publication may be reproduced in full or in part if accompanied with the following citation: Keatinge, Patrick & Tonra, Ben, European Security and Defence Policy and the Lisbon Treaty, Institute of International and European Affairs, Dublin, Ireland, July 2009. As an independent forum, the Institute does not express opinions of its own. The views expressed in its publications are solely the responsibility of the authors. ISBN: 978-1-907079-04-7 EAN: 9781907079047 About the authors Patrick Keatinge is Emeritus Associate Professor of Political Science at Trinity College Dublin and Chairperson of the IIEA working group on ESDP. Ben Tonra is Jean Monnet Professor of European Foreign, Security and Defence Policy at the UCD College of Human Sciences and Project Leader of the IIEA working group on ESDP. Cover photograph © Aidan Crawley, Defence Forces, May 2008 Graphic design, type and layout by Brian Martin European Security and Defence Policy and The Lisbon Treaty © Institute of International and European Affairs 2009 Foreword This briefing paper is another brilliant contribution to the Institute’s background work on issues arising out of the Lisbon Treaty by Professors Ben Tonra and Patrick Keatinge. It describes the reality of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), as it has developed over the past six years and explains each of the relevant provisions in the Lisbon Treaty. It puts...
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...------------------------------------------------- Albanian cuisine The cuisine of Albania is influenced by Turkish, Greek, and Italian cuisines, as well as ancient Greek, ancient Roman and Byzantine cooking. Every region in Albania and Kosovo has its own unique dishes. Albanian cuisine is characterized by the use of various mediterranean herbs such as Oregano, Black Pepper, Mint, Basil, Rosemary and more in cooking meat and fish. Olive oiland butter is also a main ingredient in different dishes. In Albania, meat (lamb, cow, rabbit and chicken) is used heavily in various dishes in most of the country. Seafood specialties are also common in the coastal areas such as Durrës, Vlorë,Shkoder, Lezhe and Sarandë. Vegetables are used in almost every dish. Usually, Albanian farmers grow every vegetable present in the Mediterranean region and sell them at the local Farmers Market. Vegetables are brought fresh at the Farmers Market early in the morning and this market is opened everyday. The main meal of the Albanians is lunch, which usually consists of gjellë, the main dish of slowly cooked meat, and a salad of fresh vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, greenpeppers, and olives. The salad is dressed with olive oil, vinegar, and salt. ------------------------------------------------- Appetizers * Bread (Bukë) or Corn Bread (Bukë misri) are ever present on the Albanian table. Hence the expression for "Going to eat a meal" (Albanian:për të ngrënë bukë) can be literally translated...
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...Chapter 13 Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Nations, States, and Nation-States A. Logistics Students’ Time Requirements Activity 1: The Rise of Nationalism and the Fall of Yugoslavia Readings 60-90 minutes Fill in the blanks 75-90 minutes Activity 2: Iraqaphobia Readings 60-90 minutes Fill in the blanks 75-90 minutes The fill-in-the-blanks activity works very well as an in-class group project. It helps for students to be able to discuss the questions and readings with other students. If so, it is absolutely essential that students read the assigned articles in advance of the discussion. They will need to consult the readings to find pertinent passages, but if they are reading it for the first time during group work, they will either not finish or not contribute. I remind my students of this fact several times in the days leading up to the project. If students don’t finish during class, they can finish at home. If done in groups in class, you may wish to suggest that a different student act as recorder for each block of questions. Also, assign a different student to be the discussion leader/gatekeeper to keep the discussion on track and prevent any single individual from dominating the discussion. A third student could function as timekeeper. See Chapter 11 and 14 role-playing activities for further discussion of these tasks. Remind students that Balkan and Middle East politics are always changing and can get...
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...The Ethnic Cleansing Of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the International Community’s Failure to Prevent Genocide Brendan McElhaney November 2012 African American Studies 412 War Crimes And Genocide The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was an intricate and bloody conflict that resulted in the death of as many as 200,000 people.[1] The international response to the war was delayed; the actions of the Serbians against the Bosnians and Muslims were tacitly accepted by the major international players including the United States, Europe, and the United Nations. As U.S. Secretary of State James Baker said regarding the situation in Yugoslavia, “We don’t have a dog in that fight.”[2] This passive view of the situation in the Balkans was also demonstrated by the actions of the European Union, United Nations, and United States early on in the conflict. As the situation in Bosnia deteriorated, the international community took a passive approach to quelling the conflict. This apathy resulted because of involvement in past wars, politics, fear, misinformation, and an overall reluctance to act unilaterally. Only in the face of continued aggression by Serbians did the international community finally intervene and bring an end to one of the worst conflicts since WWII. Yet the ending of this saga actually rewarded Serbian aggression. Through various international mandates, policies, and conventions that were either completely ignored or enforced sporadically...
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...|HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION | |INTRODUCTION | Humanitarian intervention poses a hard test for any international society built on principles of sovereignty, non-intervention, and the non-use of force. Immediately after the Holocaust, the society of states established laws prohibiting genocide, forbidding the mistreatment of civilians, and recognizing basic human rights. These humanitarian principles often conflict with principles of sovereignty and non-intervention. Sovereign states are expected to act as guardians of their citizens’ security, but what happens if states behave as criminals towards their own people, treating sovereignty as a licence to kill? Should tyrannical states be recognized as legitimate members of international society and accorded the protection afforded by the non-intervention principle? Or, should states forfeit their sovereign rights and be exposed to legitimate intervention if they actively abuse or fail to protect their citizens? Related to this, what responsibilities do other states or institutions have to enforce human rights norms against governments that massively violate them? Armed humanitarian intervention was not a legitimate practice during the cold war because states placed more...
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...Explain International Court Of Justice Ans: The International Court of Justice (French: Cour internationale de justice; commonly referred to as the World Court or ICJ) is the primary judicial branch of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Its main functions are to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to provide advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized international branches, agencies, and the UN General Assembly. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) was established under Chapter XIV of the United Nations Charter. It replaced the Permanent Court of Justice, which existed under the UN’s predecessor, the League of Nations. The ICJ is the only major UN body whose headquarters is not in New York City; the Court sits in The Hague, Netherlands. The Court is the principal judicial organ of the UN, and all members of the UN are ipso facto parties to the Statute of the ICJ. Fifteen independent justices, elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council, each serve on the Court for nine-year terms. The primary purpose of the ICJ is to render opinions on international legal disputes between States. These cases may only be submitted by States that have accepted the jurisdiction of the ICJ. Another purpose of the ICJ is to clarify significant international legal questions brought to it by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. When a UN body brings an issue before the Court,...
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...* * * * * * * * INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS AS AN EXAMPLE; UNITED NATIONS Its goal and efforts * * * * * What are the international Organisations? International organisations ‘represent the apex of a pyramid of multilateral diplomacy. At the base of this pyramid are the issues suitable for negotiation. Above this is the process of negotiation in which states agree norms or rules, and only in certain cases does this process of negotiation create the appropriate organisation or institutions’ (Imber, 1992). One can classify these organisations into various categories concerning of their functions. Such as: a) International financial institutions b) Commodity cartels c) World trade d) Sustainable economic development e) Food security f) Human rights g) The environment h) Regional organisations i) Health j) Emergency/disaster relief k) Security These organisations can be listed as Inter-governmental and non-governmental organisation too. * Theory and International Organizations One tries to establish a theory which aims to explain international organisations. His theory bases on ‘a principal-agent (P-A) model of international organization in which groups of member governments sometimes empower their IO agents with real decision-making authority. …7 Member governments (making up the principal) hire an IO (agent) to perform some functions that will...
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...dream that many still dream today. Even though we are closer now than at any point in history, we have yet to experience the freedom of which Dr. King dreamed. Racism is not a problem only in America, most every nation deals with racial issues on some level. Though none of us could ever forget the tragedy of the Holocaust, we tend to forget that it was racially motivated. Hitler’s goal was to exterminate the Jewish people. “Anne Frank was murdered by the Nazis in Bergen-Belsen [concentration camp] for being a Jew, just one of over one million Jewish children to be killed in the Holocaust” (Melchior). The Holocaust, while the most prominent, is not the only example of ethnic cleansing that the world offers. Darfur, the Sudan, Croatia, and Kosovo, just to name a few, have all dealt with this racial horror. South Africa, as well, deals with racism. As the political power shifts toward black South Africans, white South Africans face continual racial violence (Russell). By taking a broad look, it would appear that even though America is a relatively young nation, we have greatly overcome racism when compared to the majority of the world. Though it has been nearly 150 years since President Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation, a black man is still not free in America. Certainly, no longer bound with the chains of slavery, but he is...
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...UNIT 1 V1. Introduction: The EU in the New World Order (3 Videos) Questions: 1. Who has the power to represent the EU internationally? The president of the European Commission, the high Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the head of delegation of the EU to third countries (e.g. the US),and the president of the European Council. 2. Of which of the following international organisations is the EU a (full) member? The FAO and WTO, two conditions need to be fulfilled: 1) The EU must have the power (as conferred by the Member States in the Treaties) to become a member, 2) the international organization must allow the EU (which is not a state) to become a member. Consult, for instance, Art. 4 of the UN Charter 3. What is the EU in international law? Rights and obligations. It is not a state or is a regional integration organization with a very extensive measeur of international legal personality (at 47 TEU) 4. Who represents Europe in the world, in external affairs and treaty negotiations with 3rd countries or international organizations, High representative of EU for foreign affairs and policy: created by the Lisbon treaty , it is also the vicepresident to the European Comissions. Head of state, Europe is represented by 2 persons: permanent president of European Council and President of the European Commission (more for classical competences of the EUUU). And Rotatic council. World wide diplomatic network of the European Union:...
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