Dautovic: Kosovo Lacks the "Depth" that the Palestinian Case Has in the United Nations

Foreign policy analyst Mirko Dautovic told Kosovo Online that the UN General Assembly resolution regarding Palestine, adopted on May 10, states in its third article that this decision is made on an extraordinary basis without setting a precedent. He notes that this echoes what was said in 2008 when many countries recognized Kosovo's independence—that Kosovo is a sui generis case, meaning unique in its own right.

"Precisely through this, we see that sui generis means nothing. All cases are sui generis—Kosovo, Palestine, Somaliland, East Timor, Northern Abkhazia, or Crimea. You can say that each is unique and should be an exception. Ultimately, it is decided which exceptions are acceptable and which are not. Therefore, this certainly opens up the possibility, not just for Kosovo, but for a whole series of unresolved cases, that at some point, based on certain circumstances, their uniqueness will be enough for them to be recognized as a state," says Dautovic.

He emphasizes that the Palestinian case has much more solid grounds compared to Kosovo’s case and reminds us that documents concerning Palestine date back to before the establishment of the United Nations, with Palestine being recognized as a mandate during the founding of the League of Nations after the end of World War I.

"The idea that the people living there should gain independence was embedded in the League of Nations' concept in the early 1920s. Since the very beginning of the UN, there have been resolution after resolution, decision after decision, whether by the Security Council or the General Assembly, concerning Palestine, whereas for Kosovo there are no similar documents. There were two General Assembly resolutions concerning Kosovo: the first acknowledged the International Court of Justice's decision that Kosovo's independence did not violate general international law, and the second welcomed the EU's mediation in resolving the issue between Belgrade and Pristina. Kosovo lacks the depth that the Palestinian case has in the UN, and there are no documents within the UN suggesting that we might have some solution for the Kosovo case within the UN. I would say that the Palestinian case is far stronger than Kosovo's," notes Dautovic.

Regarding Kosovo's aspirations to become a UN member, he says that this issue can appear on the UN General Assembly agenda but cannot secure enough votes because, according to the UN Charter, any General Assembly decision requires a two-thirds majority of the 193 members, a majority that existed in the case of Palestine on May 10.

"Kosovo cannot obtain such a number of votes in the current constellation within the General Assembly, based on which states recognize it and which do not. It must also be said that the authority over which state will be recognized by the UN lies with the Security Council, where China and Russia have veto power. What Kosovo is currently aiming for is membership in the Council of Europe, which is not recognition of Kosovo in international relations but is a small step. There are different degrees of sovereignty and different degrees of recognition. For Pristina, any possible step that could confirm their legitimacy as an independent and recognized state is important, whether it is membership in the Postal Union, the Council of Europe, or observer status in the UN General Assembly," concludes Dautovic.