Mapping the UNSCR 1244 Legacy in PostIndependence Kosovo: Between Contestation and Recognition 38 pages, pdf  Download Back

Mapping the UNSCR 1244 Legacy in PostIndependence Kosovo: Between Contestation and Recognition

Publisher: Friedrich Ebert Stifung , Prishtina

Volume: 38 pages, pdf

Description

Since 1999, under the internationally governed framework of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), a total of around € 2 billion1 was allocated by European countries2 for the stabilization and development of Kosovo, making Kosovo the biggest recipient of European Union (EU) aid in the world. However, the lack of consensus at the international level over Kosovo’s status severely complicated the statebuilding efforts of the international community, which are effectively divided between the ‘status-positive’ and the ‘status-neutral’. The United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1244 remains in force nearly 13 years later, unrevised due to a lack of consensus among the five permanent UNSC member states - namely France, United Kingdom, China, USA and Russia. Specifically, Kosovo’s unprecedented statehood was specifically pushed for as a result of the two UNSC permanent members rejection, Russia and China, to approve the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement (the “Ahtisaari Plan”) by its UN Special Envoy, Martti Ahtisaari3 in 2007. As a consequence of this, neither Kosovo’s (unilaterally) coordinated actions, supported by the major EU states and the United States of America - which led to the Declaration of Independence on 17 February 2008 along with the adoption of the Constitution of Kosovo - nor the affirmative International Court of Justice’s (ICJ)4 conclusions that the adoption of the Declaration of Independence did not violate general international law, appear to be sufficient movements towards resolving the existing stalemate of Kosovo’s international subjectivity.