THE LEGALITY AND LEGAL EFFECT OF KOSOVO’S PURPORTED SECESSION AND ENSUING ACTS OF RECOGNITION
THE LEGALITY AND LEGAL EFFECT OF KOSOVO’S PURPORTED SECESSION AND ENSUING ACTS OF RECOGNITION

Summary/Abstract: International law has very little to say about the legality of secession. This neutrality derives largely from the principle of non-intervention. Thus, in general, the legally significant issue is the effect of the attempted secession; i.e. whether a new state has come into existence. The principle of territorial integrity operates only to impose a duty on states to refrain from acts that encroach upon another state’s territorial sovereignty, which of course would include an obligation to refrain from assisting separatist movements in their pursuit of secession. It does not bind these movements as such. The legality of recognition is analytically distinct from the question of the legality of secession, though the two are interrelated. Recognition of newly independent states is generally lawful, so long as that new state has effectively established its independence in fact. However, it is increasingly accepted that it is unlawful to recognize territorial sovereignty acquired through a violation of the prohibition on the use of force, or violation of another peremptory norm of international law. It would also be unlawful to recognize a state where the Security Council has decided, with reference to a particular situation, that states must refrain from recognizing that state.

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