ICJ's judgment on Kosovo's Independence (my initial thought)
International Court of Justice (ICJ) declares its judgment (advisory opinion) on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. It stated that "Kosovo's UDI did not violate general International law". The judgment goes against the conclusion which i made in my recently submitted dissertation (entitled "External Self-determination ... See Morein International law with special reference to Kosovo).
Prima facie, it seems that the Court did not go into the depth of the related international legal issues (external self-determination, secession, territorial integrity, etc) and took a very narrow view based upon the Kosovo's declaration of independence itself. So it concluded that the declaration per se did not violate any international law, but failed to deal with the prime question whether Kosovars have right to declare independence in the first place itself. It failed to touch one of the founding principles of general international law which is "Territorial Integrity".
- (I shall have to read the entire judgment to know exactly what ICJ said in this decision)
* my mind says that the judgment is wrong (prima facie), but my heart says it's correct and just.
