Introduction. Expert report for UN Security Council

Expert report for UN Security Council

Issues of the International Recognition of New States: the Case of Northern Ireland

Gleb Toropchin,

PhD student, School of History and International Relations, Department of Modern and Contemporary History and International Relations,

Kemerovo State University

Novosibirsk – 2014

CONTENTS

Introduction 3

I. Historical retrospective 5

II. Legal framework and key documents 8

III. Recent developments 9

IV. Main players and their positions 11

Conclusion 12

Links for further research 13

Appendix 15

Introduction

Formation of the new states is one of the global political trends in the modern era. The beginning of the 21^st century was marked by several cases of the creation of new countries. As such, in the late 1990s and early 2000s Democratic Republic of Timor Leste was formed on the island of Timor, gaining independence from Indonesia with the support of the UN.

However, probably, the most controversial (and important for contemporary international law) example in this regard was the following: in February 2008, Kosovo proclaimed itself an independent state. Interestingly enough, declaration of Kosovo independence and its backing by certain UN states (U.S. in the first place) became a precedent in the international relations system. This fact was recognized both by experts in this field (for instance, Otto Luchterhandt, Professor of Law at the University of Hamburg[1]) and by politicians (e.g. Igor Smirnov, former leader of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic[2] and Czech Republic President Vá clav Klaus[3]).

Thus, after the military conflict in 2008, independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia was recognized by the Russian Federation (and several other countries as well). In March 2014, the Republic of Crimea made a decision to proclaim itself an independent entity and subsequently initiate the process of accession to the Russian Federation (again, Kosovo precedent was cited in this case).

At the same time, declaration of independence of the Republic of South Sudan that was held in July 2011, after the referendum in January 2011, was relatively peaceful. Regardless of that, tensions that even lead to armed clashes on the border between Sudan and South Sudan took place afterwards[4].

Even in Europe, which is considered to be a relatively stable region for that matter, there are some provinces in several countries that are likely to separate from the states. It is political movement for independence of Catalonia from Spain and France, claims to form an independent Basque state (which are not only supported politically but are also connected with terrorist attacks by ETA), Corsican nationalism, Scottish independence movement and some other phenomena. This paper deals with the case of Northern Ireland, another part of the United Kingdom that can potentially claim independence and reunification with Ireland.