The Philippine Online Chronicles

Via 10-4 split vote, the Internation Court of Justice (ICJ) affirmed that Kosovo’s declaration of independence in February 2008 was legal. The existence of Kosovo as an independent state has been marred with controversy since the nation that it broke away from – Serbia - still thinks that it has no right to secede.

Due to the verdict, Kosovo’s capital Pristina was said to have celebrations as soon as the decision came out in the news. Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic did not take the news well. While Serbia has felt that Kosovo was doing the illegal thing in trying to remove itself from the Serbia, the country has tried to prove its case diplomatically. Many nations have sided with Serbia on the issue and have shown their support by not recognizing Kosovo as a sovereign state.

The Serbian authorities were informed by US President Joe Biden about the unfavourable verdict of the court before the official announcement was made. The United States is one of the nations that are supportive of Kosovo’s quest to be more accepted in the international community as a sovereign state.

Not legally binding

What needs to be emphasized however is that the decision of the ICJ in the issue is not a legally binding resolution. It is merely an opinion of a big body of various nations who happened to throw in their two cents regarding a contentious issue. The United Nation General Assembly is still free to choose whatever course of action it wants to take – each suggested solution to the problem would still have to be voted upon by the countries that are represented in the assembly.

The court went through 36 UN member states’ legal opinions on the matter. Both Serbia and Kosovo submitted documents that were meant to support their opposing stances on whether or not the UN should affirm the latter’s move to declare independence.

Only a few nations in the immediate vicinity of Kosovo have chosen to recognize the country’s sovereignty. While the US and the United Kingdom have both supported the rise of Kosovo’s nationhood, key European countries such as Spain, Greece, Russia and neighboring Bosnia have chosen to not give Kosovo this benefit.

Slippery slope?

Much of the rhetoric coming from the Kosovo camp is that they have successfully created their own state that is independent of the powers that be from Serbia. Just like the rest of the former Yugoslavia, the identity of Kosovo is heavily slanted towards ethnic lines. Many Serbians have chosen to leave the now claimed Kosovo territory just to escape harm. Kosovo is now a nation that is heavily dominated by the ethnic Albanian population. Yugoslavia broke apart in the 90s and gave rise to a new set of countries. They are now the present day Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. Kosovo is now the newest addition to this list.

What’s stopping Mexicans who can potentially have the numbers in California in just a few decades from seceding from the United States ones they dominate the demographics in the state? The main argument of Serbia for the blocking of the secession was the historical affinity of Kosovo with the rest of Serbia. Technically speaking, that’s almost the same situation with the various states of the United States.