The beginning of the international process for defining Kosovo's final status

AuthorRreze Xhemajli
PositionUniversity of Pristina
Pages77-84
Vo
l. 4 N
o
. 2
Jul
y
, 201
8
ISS
N 2410-391
8
A
cces online at www.ii
p
ccl.or
g
7
7
A
cademic Journal o
f
Business,
A
dministration, Law and Social Sciences
II
PCCL Publishin
g
, Graz-
A
ustria
The beginning of the international process for de ning Kosovo’s nal status
R
reze X
h
ema
jl
i
niversity o
Pristina
Abs
tr
ac
t
T
he trajectory that has followed the process of de ning Kosovo’s political-legal status has been
a
s complex and di
cult as it is unclear both in terms o
f
time and content. While
U
N Security
C
ouncil Resolution 1244 maintained (suspended) sovereignty over
Y
ugoslavia over Kosovo
a
nd
U
N international administration (
U
NM
I
K), it was envisaged as a transitional phase. Both
s
tates, Kosovo and Serbia had completely di erent expectations. The former expected that
a
er the abolition of international administration, Kosovo will declare its independence and
b
egin its life as a pre-eminent entity, while the second, ie the Serb side, expects the rese lement
of sovereignty there, allowing substantial autonomy.
I
n these circumstances during 2004,
e
specially a er the events of March 2004, the status quo was preserved, and so the international
community began to move slowly towards the de nition of the future status of Kosovo.
Ke
y
words
:
status,
K
osovo, quint countries,
U
NM
IK
, negotiations.
I
ntr
o
d
uc
t
io
n
Reso
l
ution 1244
h
a
d
create
d
a status
q
uo in Kosovo. T
h
e internationa
l
a
d
ministration
w
as in the midst o
f
two
p
ressures: on the one hand it would have to maintain the
sovereignt
y
o
f
the Federal Re
p
ublic o
f
Y
ugoslavia (FR
Y
) over Kosovo while on the
o
ther hand , the
p
eo
p
le o
f
Kosovo did not want an
y
thing less than inde
p
endence.
T
his resolution le
the issue o
f
o
p
en-ended status, thus making it a legal issue in
a
p
olitical a
air
f
or the international communit
y
. The issue o
f
resolving Kosovo’s
nal status as being sidelined b
y
international actors, who considered that the
status issue should be sidelined as
f
ar as
p
ossible. There was a high ske
p
ticism o
f
i
nternational actors regarding Kosovo’s inde
p
endence, because it would have bad
c
onse
q
uences
f
or Bosnia-Herzegovina, where its Srebrenica re
p
ublic would also seek
i
ts inde
p
endence. The same could ha
pp
en in the cases o
f
A
bkhazia and South
O
ssetia,
the two Georgian regions that were being sel
f
-administered, under the
p
rotection o
f
Russian-led “
p
eacekee
p
ers”. The
y
would also be declared inde
p
endent or would join
Russia
(
Weller and Marck, 2009
)
:
H
owever
,
a solution had to be reached
,
the issue o
f
Kosovo’s
nal status should
h
ave been de
ned as it was
f
oreseen
f
rom Rambouillet to hold talks on
nding a
mechanism in order to review the status in 2002.
I
n
Ap
ril o
f
that
y
ear, the Secretar
y-
G
eneral the
U
N re
p
orted to the Securit
y
Council that it had instructed its S
p
ecial
Re
p
resentative (SRSG) to
d
eve
l
o
p
t
h
e
b
enc
h
mar
k
s an
d
b
enc
h
mar
k
s t
h
at wou
ld
measure
p
rogress in Kosovo.
1
B
y
submi ing the re
p
ort to the Council, then s
p
ecial
representative Micheal Steiner had said that signi cant progress had been made in
p
1
R e
p
ort of the Secretar
y
– General on the
U
nited Nations
I
nterim
A
dministration Mission in Kosovo,
(
2002
)
, UN Doc. S/2002/436, h p://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2002/436
(
Ap
ril 22, 2002)
.

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