What the ICJ ruling on Kosovo could mean for Palestine

The year 2009 saw a renewed push, albeit a stunted one, for Palestinian statehood. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad gained considerable attention in the West for his plan to oversee construction of state infrastructure from the ground up, and for his announcement that this would lead to a declaration of independence within two years. There has been notable progress, with significant growth both in the Palestinian economy and its governmental and security infrastructure. Given the current political climate in Israel, however, it seems unlikely that a bilateral peace agreement will be reached by Fayyad’s deadline. If negotiations don’t yield the results the Palestinian Authority (PA) is seeking, will it take the bold move of declaring statehood unilaterally? The Palestinians tried this gambit before, unsuccessfully, in the pre-PA days.

The success or failure of such a move largely hinges on the international community’s (and in particular, a few key players’) willingness to recognize Palestinian sovereignty against Israel’s wishes. To gain recognition as a member of the United Nations, it would require the support of at least 96 countries including all permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC).

A number of analysts have already noted similarities between the case of Palestine and that of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia two years ago next week. Though remaining nominally under UN administration under the terms of UNSC Resolution 1244, to date Kosovo’s independence…

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Last Week in International Law

1. Prosecutor v. Karadzic

Proceedings against Radovan Karadzic began on October 28, 2009, despite the accused’s refusal to attend court. The case was supposed to start on October 26 but Karadzic, who is representing himself, asked for at least eight more months to prepare his case. The court gave him 24 hours to change his mind. After he failed to appear on Tuesday, judges ordered the Prosecution to open its case and warned Karadzic to appear in court or risk having counsel assigned to him and being tried in absentia.

For more information, see the Reuters article or our own Lee Rovinescu’s analysis of the situation.

2. R. v. Munyaneza

On October 29, 2009, Justice André Denis of the Quebec Superior Court handed down a life sentence to Désiré Munyaneza, the Rwandan genocidaire who helped organize and perpetrate the mass-murder of Tutsis in the Butare area. On May 22, 2009, Justice Denis found Munyaneza guilty of two counts of genocide, two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes. Having concluded that the killings were premeditated, Justice Denis held that Munyaneza would not be eligible for parole for 25 years.

Munyaneza was the first person to be charged under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. The Act incorporates universal jurisdiction, allowing Canada to prosecute any individual present in Canada for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

3. United States of America v.…

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