"Nyet"

Remember Georgia?

Russia does.

The dispute in the former Soviet Socialist Republic now known as the Republic of Georgia has disappeared from the global news page that today tells of election protests in Iran and an anti-sanctions rally in North Korea. Yet the dispute about which IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Mary Ellen O'Connell has posted -- a dispute fueled by the desire of the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to break away from Georgia and ally with welcoming neighbor Russia -- remains.
And so yesterday Russia wielded its veto clout as 1 of the 5 permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to say nyet to a 16-year-old peacekeeping operation in Abkhazia.

Because the "Council failed ... to extend the presence of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia," a U.N. press release stated, "Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will instruct his Special Representative to take all measures required to cease UNOMIG’s operations, effective 16 June, and consult with his advisors on the immediate next steps ...."

As for another P-5 member: U.S. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo (below right), Alternate Representative to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs, decried the veto with these words:

'It is the civilian population that suffers by facing a tenuous security environment without an international presence in Abkhazia, Georgia.'

On September 27

On this day in ...
... 1998 (10 years ago today), Google was born; that is, the California-based enterprise -- the websearch engine that IntLawGrrls (among many others) cannot do without -- incorporated as a privately held corporation.
... 1993 (15 years ago today), following a bloody 11-day siege, "separatist rebels in the northwestern region of Abkhazia," Georgia, "captured the Abkhazian capital Sukhumi." An October 1993 Time article recapping events contained passages whose prescience is apparent now that violence between Russian and Georgian troops has flared not only in Abkazia, but also in another would-be breakaway region of Georgia, South Ossetia -- and now that Russia's declared its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as states:

The revolt in Abkhazia, where a small minority of ethnic separatists want an independent state, has put the fate of Georgia on the line.

and

Ironically, the principal architects of Georgia's predicament may be the same Russian military commanders who are supposed to be enforcing the U.N.-sanctioned cease-fire.

and

What is happening to Georgia today could be repeated all along the fringes of the old Soviet empire tomorrow.

Meanwhile, an article published in Thursday's LeMonde indicates that the tension caused by the Georgia-Russia standoff may be spilling over into other areas -- such as the Russian cancellation of a planned interstate meeting this week, and, "notably, the question of Iran's nuclear program?" (credit for map showing Abkhazia in yellow, the rest of Georgia in pink, and Russia in brown)

Reportorial valor

We've posted before on IntJournGrrls, women honored for reporting news critical of those in power. Some risk much to do so; some, like Anna Politkovskaya and Veronica Guerin, have lost their lives in the line of journalistic duty.
Add to this list of women journalists Tamara Urushadze, shot by a sniper while reporting live from Gori, the Georgian city just south of South Ossetia to which Russian troops have advanced. As depicted in the video below, Thursday's grazing proved only a momentary deterrent: while others cared for her wound, Urushadze, a Georgian public television journalist, continued her live report.

Guest Blogger: Mary Ellen O'Connell

It's IntLawGrrls' great pleasure to feature a guest post today from our colleague Mary Ellen O'Connell (right).
The Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law at Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, Mary Ellen's a noted expert on the use of force, armed conflict, and international law, issues on which her scholarship concentrates. Her most recent book is The Power and Purpose of International Law (Oxford University Press, 2008), which she describes as "a renewed and updated theory of international law for the post-torture era" that responds to Jack L. Goldsmith and Eric A. Posner, The Limits of International Law (2005).
Mary Ellen's guest post below begins by observing that the world's collective attention may have been too closely trained on saber-rattling in Iran (on which she'd written earlier, as IntLawGrrls noted here and here) and, this week, on the Beijing Olympic Games (prior IntLawGrrls posts here). She then redirects attention, to international law issues underlying the struggle between Russia and Georgia for control of the troubled regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Mary Ellen earned a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, then studied as a Marshall Scholar, earning her master's degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and an LL.B. from Cambridge. Thereafter she earned a J.D. from Columbia University, where she was a Stone Scholar and book review editor for the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law; she practiced at Covington & Burling. Since entering academia, Mary Ellen has taught law at institutions in the United States, Italy, and Germany.
Mary Ellen dedicates her post to Jane Addams (below) whom she describes as a "peace campaigner extraordinaire." Indeed: as IntLawGrrls detailed here, Addams (1860-1935) was renowned as a pacifist, feminist, suffragist, settlement-house founder, and social worker; she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Today Addams joins IntLawGrrls' other foremothers in the honor list just below the "visiting from ..." map at right. (photo credit)
Heartfelt welcome!

Kosovo's independence: Does legality matter?

Serbia, Spain, and other states opposed to the independence of Kosovo argue that its unilateral declaration of statehood is illegal under international law. (Prior posts here, here, and here; map credit.)
Those supporting Kosovo’s independence, including the United States, don’t seem to disagree. Rather than arguing that Kosovo’s declaration can be reconciled with principles of territorial integrity, they contend that Kosovo is “sui generis” and therefore “does not set a precedent.” In other words, no, it isn’t legal, but not to worry, it won’t happen again.
Certainly Kosovo is in some ways unique. Those making the sui generis argument point to the break-up of Yugoslavia, Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999), and the long period of UN administration as distinguishing features. Basing a claim to independence on UN intervention is in some ways reassuring, as any nascent polity receiving such intervention must have considerable international support. It is in other ways disturbing, suggesting that the decisive factor in determining the legitimacy of claims to sovereignty is not the freely expressed will of the people but the will of the international community -- not self-determination but UN-determination.
In any event, there are a lot of independence-seekers in the world who are hoping that they too are sui generis, and it won’t be long before they begin to put the question to the test. The New York Times reports that South Ossetia and Abkhazia, independence-seeking regions in Georgia, have indicated that they will ask for recognition from Russia, which has long supported them, based on the Kosovo (non-)precedent. (map credit)