Today.Az » Politics » Azerbaijan as an author of a new initiative in the context of a crisis of the institute of recognition of states
29 August 2008 [13:52] - Today.Az
After Russia's recognition of independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the world has witnessed one more crisis, connected with the problem of recognition of the so-called separatist regions.
One of the reasons of the said crisis is mainly the failure of the states to develop single principles regarding the institute of recognition. The thing is that the approved international agreements, regulating the sphere of diplomatic relations, which to a certain degree is connected with the recognition, as a legal institute, are observed by the countries as well as international organizations, while the absence of a single international document today allows to the leading world countries to do whatever they want and recognize any separatist regions. It should be noted that in 1949, the UN Commission of International Law, has included the issue of recognition of states and governments to the list of those, doomed to unification (that is development of single standards in the framework of one document), yet the said problem has not been settled.
The second reason of the crisis in this sphere is a clash of the principles of territorial integrity and national self-determination. In this case, recognition of Kosovo by majority of the countries of East and West and South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Russia showed that such concepts as separatism, unrecognized formations can be interpreted by the leading countries of the world depending on their geopolitical interests. The principle of non-violation of the rights of other peoples while applying the right for self-determination of one nation in the framework of a multinational sovereign state is absolutely ignored today.
Both Kosovo and the separatist formations of Georgia, recently recognized by Russia, have obtained the legal personality (Kosovo has obtained this status due to its being recognized by 46 states). The separatist formations can now join other international organizations, thus, getting a relatively complete international legal personality. For example, Kosovo's way to NATO or EU will be of technical rather than of political nature (I do not think that Greece or Spain, which did not recognize independence of Kosovo, would block this process for long). As is reported, the CSTO is also ready to admit South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Recognition offers other rights to separatists too (though in a bilateral format), such as a right for security, diplomatic (restricted, especially for the South Caucasus separatist formation), socioeconomic (in the framework of the aforementioned regional organizations) and other rights.
NATO has recently called on Russia to review and annul its decision regarding recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, while it was NATO which prepared a ground for Kosovo's separation from Serbia, officially supporting the Akhtisaari plan, speaking for the independent status for this Serbian region.
Most cases of the recognition of states were preceded by the collapse of a colonial system in the 20th century when the newly established states became members of universal organizations (League of Nations, UN). As a rule, the process of recognition of new countries between the leading states included a hidden consensus: formation of a new state was perceived as an inevitable process, though the way to independence was bloody for some nations.
In other words, the institute of recognition of states is in a deep crisis due to the absence of a single criteria of international law.
Such state of affairs may lead to permanent crisis between different world states (for example, if the case promotes their accession to the United Nations and other universal organizations) in the worst case and further to direct military clashes.
Therefore, we think that world needs a new coalition of countries, which could settle this problem through preparing a single document, regulating the principles of recognition of states. By the way, Azerbaijan could be the initiator of this process. Certainly, it is not so easy and requires great efforts (choice of partners in the framework of a special coalition and long-lasting talks) but this struggle meets the national interests of our country and the game is worth the candle.
Alpay Ahmedov
Cand. Sc. (History)
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