The following is the opinion of a Cambridge professor of international law that seems to support the Serbian and Russian interpretation...
The audio original is here: http://www.yugofile.co.uk/mp3s/ 20080218_today_kosmet_legality.mp3 and below is the transcript I made: Broadcast BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme 07:30 Monday 18-Feb-2008 Edward Stourton [BBC Anchor]: The Kosovars may have been celebrating their declaration of independence over the weekend but their international legal status remains somewhat uncertain this morning. We are joined by James Crawford professor of international law at Cambridge. Professor, the Serbians and the Russians say they can't do it, that there is no foundation in the act of the United Nations to do something of this kind. Are they right? Professor James Crawford: Well the United Nations has only ever conferred independence on territories which it had the right to administer such as "trust territories". It's never done this within an independent state before. On the other hand, of course, Quebec can declare it's independence and, if it succeeds, it succeeds. The international policy has been against secession. We don't recognise Somaliland, we don't recognise a hundred other entities round the world which would like to be independent, why do we recognise Kosovo? That's what the Russians and Serbs are saying. ES: So, it really comes down to politics as much as law because, well, the law's not really settled on the matter? JC: Well, in due course if there is general recognition of Kosovo as an independent state then it will become an independent state. But there is a legal policy about trying to maintain territorial independence. The United States is opposed to the independence of Taiwan. We seem to be opposed, for no reason I can see, to the independence of Somaliland despite the complete breakdown of the state of Somalia. So we seem to have it someways on some occasions and some ways on others and that's part of the point. ES: Which presumably sets a precedent which some consider dangerous? JC: Absolutely. There are, as I said, a hundred secession movements around the world looking at this sort of situation. They may not be as it were so lucky, if that's the right word, to have a Milosevic to get the rest of the world's back up. ES: How difficult is it for a nascent state of the kind that I suppose Kosovo now is because it says it is, how difficult is it to function if it doesn't have universal recognition? JC: It depends on the situation, it depends on who the supporters of the state are. Obviously this state will have substantially EU support, and that will help. In the long run there is going to have to be an accommodation with Serbia and that will take quite some time to come out. Kosovo is not a large entity it doesn't have its own sea coast so it's going to be reliant on others for a considerable length of time, it's going to be very weak, and the proliferation of weak states formed out of the dissolution of existing states is also something which in general has been seen to be a bad thing. ES: Professor Crawford thank you very much for talking to us. Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
