Does the UN Security Council Have Authority to Create New States?
The Law of Nationbuilding
- Does the UN Security Council have Authority to create new States? –
- by Alexander-Georg Rackow –
I. Introduction
A. Situation in Kosovo and Iraq
“Kosovo, an explosive region that once was a province of Serbia, has been on a long road to a kind of independence with international supervision. During the negotiations, the United Nations Security Council faced the challenge of finding a formula to protect about 114,000 ethnic Serbs while giving the majority ethnic Albanians enough autonomy to gain their support. Serbia has insisted that Kosovo remain its province, and Russia, Serbia's ally, has been cool to early plans for autonomy.
Kosovo's two main groups were at war until 1999. Since then, NATO troops have kept the peace in Kosovo and will stay put after independence, although the United Nations office will most likely be replaced by another international organization with power to reject laws that conflict with United Nations agreements. The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia formed a group to work out the details of the plan to be put forward to the governments of Serbia and Kosovo. Among the thorny issues was the fate of former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters and protection of Serbian religious institutions. The European Union set up a police force to monitor the work of the police, judges, prosecutors and even prison guards in a multiethnic Kosovo, where 90 percent of the two million people are ethnic Albanian Muslims.” [1]
Even though it seems unlikely that the United Nations Security Council (Security Council or UN Security Council) will take action to create a new and independent state named Kosovo. In view of the fact that Russia probably will not give up its opposition to an independent Kosovo and could easily block such effort by the Security Council by veto [2], the question arises whether the UN Security Council has the authority to create states, assuming that there were a unanimous
- Does the UN Security Council have Authority to create new States? –
- by Alexander-Georg Rackow –
I. Introduction
A. Situation in Kosovo and Iraq
“Kosovo, an explosive region that once was a province of Serbia, has been on a long road to a kind of independence with international supervision. During the negotiations, the United Nations Security Council faced the challenge of finding a formula to protect about 114,000 ethnic Serbs while giving the majority ethnic Albanians enough autonomy to gain their support. Serbia has insisted that Kosovo remain its province, and Russia, Serbia's ally, has been cool to early plans for autonomy.
Kosovo's two main groups were at war until 1999. Since then, NATO troops have kept the peace in Kosovo and will stay put after independence, although the United Nations office will most likely be replaced by another international organization with power to reject laws that conflict with United Nations agreements. The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia formed a group to work out the details of the plan to be put forward to the governments of Serbia and Kosovo. Among the thorny issues was the fate of former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters and protection of Serbian religious institutions. The European Union set up a police force to monitor the work of the police, judges, prosecutors and even prison guards in a multiethnic Kosovo, where 90 percent of the two million people are ethnic Albanian Muslims.” [1]
Even though it seems unlikely that the United Nations Security Council (Security Council or UN Security Council) will take action to create a new and independent state named Kosovo. In view of the fact that Russia probably will not give up its opposition to an independent Kosovo and could easily block such effort by the Security Council by veto [2], the question arises whether the UN Security Council has the authority to create states, assuming that there were a unanimous