Tu quoque, Corte? La banalización de los poderes del Consejo de Seguridad en la Opinión consultiva sobre la conformidad con el Derecho internacional de la declaración unilateral de independencia relativa a Kosovo

Abstract

The question raised by the General Assembly regarding the compliance of the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo with International Law highlights the essential issues for the International Court of Justice concerning the powers of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security, already exercised with respect to Kosovo in Resolution 1244 (1999). The Court acknowledges that the Resolution is binding as well as its nature as lex specialis, but also relativizes its content. However, the ICJ distorts the identity of the authors of the declaration and excludes them from the scope of application of the resolution. As a consequence, the Court is in a position to declare that international law has not been breached, but only by using an artificial legal construction and by leaving the main issue of the case unresolved. The result is detrimental to the prestige of the judicial powers and, above all, to the Security Council, whose competences are again challenged by a unilateral action, this time with consent of the ICJ.