EU report finds Kosovo's secession to be illegal

The report by the International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia, commissionned by the EU Council of Ministers, argues that "international law does not recognise a right to unilaterally create a new state based on the principle of self-determination outside the colonial context and apartheid".

Here is an excerpt of the report (full version to be found in the Analysis pages):

"It is true that a number of contentious legal issues resulting from the break-up of the Soviet Union also played their part in setting the stage for the armed conflict that was to follow in August 2008. The issue of self-determination of South Ossetians and Abkhaz as well as their right to unilateral secession from Georgia are two legal issues related to the conflict.

Both South Ossetians and Abkhaz consider their right to self-determination as the legal basis for their quest for sovereignty and independence of the respective territories.

However, international law does not recognise a right to unilaterally create a new state based on the principle of self-determination outside the colonial context and apartheid.

An extraordinary acceptance to secede under extreme conditions such as genocide has so far not found general acceptance. As will be shown later, in the case of the conflict in August 2008 and the ensuing recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Mission has found that genocide did not take place. Furthermore, much of international state practice and the explicit views of major powers such as Russia in the Kosovo case stand against it.

This applies also to a process of dismemberment of a state, as might be discussed with regard to Georgia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. According to the overwhelmingly accepted uti possidetis principle, only former constituent republics such as Georgia but not territorial sub-units such as South Ossetia or Abkhazia are granted independence in case of dismemberment of a larger entity such as the former Soviet Union. Hence, South Ossetia did not have a right to secede from Georgia, and the same holds true for Abkhazia for much of the same reasons. Recognition of breakaway entities such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia by a third country is consequently contrary to international law in terms of an unlawful interference in the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the affected country, which is Georgia. It runs against Principle I of the Helsinki Final Act which states "the participating States will respect each other's sovereign equality and individuality as well as all the rights inherent in and encompassed by its sovereignty, including in particular the right of every State to juridical equality, to territorial integrity and to freedom and political independence."