The legal status of territories subject tot administration by international organisations

The international community's practice of administering territories in post-conflict environments has raised important legal questions. Using Kosovo as a case study, Bernhard Knoll analyses the identity of the administrating UN organ, the ways in which the territories under consideration have acquired partial subjectivity in international law and the nature of legal obligations in the fiduciary exercise of transitional administration developed within the League of Nations' Mandate and the UN Trusteeship systems. Knoll discusses Kosovo's internal political and constitutional order and notes the absence of some of the characteristics normally found in liberal democracies, before proposing that the UN consolidates accountability guidelines related to the protection of human rights and the development of democratic standards should it engage in the transitional administration of territory. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Illustrations......Page 13 Foreward......Page 15 Acknowledgements......Page 18 3 International Court of Justice......Page 21 5 European Commission/Court of Human Rights......Page 23 7.2 Bosnia and Herzegovina......Page 24 7.5 Germany......Page 25 7.10 United States......Page 26 ABBREVIATIONS......Page 28 Introduction......Page 37 I.1 International administrations and the discourse of empire......Page 38 I.2 Methodological frames and structure......Page 45 1 Creation of internationalised territories......Page 54 1.1 Horizontal transfer of effective control and the bare title to territory......Page 55 1.1.1 Doctrine and jurisprudence......Page 56 1.1.2 Dynamics of state practice......Page 61 (i) Panama Canal and Guant ́anamo Bay (both 1903)......Page 62 (ii) Bosnia-Herzegovina (1878) and the Saar Territory (1920)......Page 64 (iii) Contrasting the nudum ius with state servitudes......Page 66 1.1.3 Mixed methodology: Chapter VII and the incorporation of a horizontal agreement......Page 68 (i) Eastern Slavonia (1995)......Page 69 1.2 UN territorial administration and the vertical imposition of imperium......Page 72 (i) Jerusalem and Trieste (both 1947)......Page 73 (ii) Western Irian (1962) and Namibia (1967)......Page 76 1.2.2 Imposing the divorce: Chapter VII and the appropriation of effective control by the UN......Page 78 (i) Kosovo and East Timor (both 1999)......Page 80 (ii) Disjunction between sovereign title and effective control in state practice: selected examples since 1878......Page 86 Resume: towards an in rem characterisation of internationalised territories......Page 87 Introduction: the challenge to patrimonial conceptions of sovereignty......Page 89 2.1 Mandates and the displacement of the sovereign......Page 92 (i) Trust and the transposition of municipal legal instruments......Page 95 (i) Formal categorisation of legal instruments utilised......Page 99 (ii) Suprema potestas within the Mandate system?......Page 102 (iii) Application of a ‘matrix of modernism’......Page 105 2.2 ‘Le roi est mort, vive le roi!’: the Trusteeship system and the return of the sovereign......Page 108 2.2.1 Self-determination and the reversion to the sovereignty narrative......Page 110 (i) ‘Silent alchemy’: Namibia and the triumph of the teleologists......Page 111 2.2.2 Ever-closer supervision and obligations under the Trusteeship system......Page 116 (i) Normative framework of the Trusteeship mechanism......Page 117 (ii) Institutional framework......Page 120 (iii) Mandates and Trusteeship territories......Page 127 (i) Background......Page 128 (ii) Legal basis for terminating the Mandate......Page 132 (iii) Virtual governance: the United Nations Council for Namibia......Page 138 Resume: heightened international authority and the ‘peoples’ as a new actor......Page 144 3 Self-determination and the personality of internationalised territories......Page 147 Introduction: international law’s agnosticism......Page 148 3.1 Subjectivity as entitlement......Page 152 3.1.1 The dynamic principle of self-determination......Page 153 (i) Norms of self-determination as a latent international entitlement......Page 158 3.1.2 Other sources of entitlement: the inductive approach to personality......Page 160 (i) The Free City of Danzig, the Westbank/Gaza and Kosovo......Page 162 3.2 Agency and the construction of international legal personality......Page 167 (i) Two points of clarification regarding agency ex lege......Page 169 3.2.1 Representation-in-trust......Page 171 3.2.2 Agency and ‘performativity’......Page 175 Resume: functional approaches to legal personality......Page 179 4 ‘The King’s two bodies’: the dual functions of international administrations......Page 185 Introduction: the elusive ‘international community interest’......Page 187 4.1 Of international agents and organs......Page 194 4.1.1 A custodian’s parallel set of duties......Page 198 4.2.1 The ‘dual mandate’......Page 200 4.2.2 The Allied Control Authority and its bona fide representation function......Page 202 4.2.3 The United Nations Council for Namibia......Page 207 (i) Normative content of the Council’s Decree No. 1 . . . within the UN legal order . . .......Page 209 (ii) . . . within the domestic legal order of states......Page 212 (iii) . . . within the Namibian legal order......Page 213 Postscript: temporary identity of domestic and foreign policy......Page 215 Introduction: the UN imperium over the territory......Page 220 5.1 Kosovo’s status and Serbia’s bare title to the territory......Page 222 5.1.1 ‘Paramount law of the land’: Resolution 1244 and its first implementing Regulations......Page 223 (i) UNMIK’s deployment strategy and ‘pillar’ structure......Page 226 (ii) Sovereignty v. imperium: applying the in rem framework......Page 232 (iii) A case study......Page 235 5.1.2 From benchmarking to status?......Page 239 (i) Governance challenge wrapped in a sovereignty enigma......Page 240 (ii) Of roadmaps and roadblocks: the ‘earned sovereignty’ approach......Page 243 5.2.1 Territorial agency......Page 249 (i) UNTAET and the Timor Gap Treaty......Page 250 (ii) UNMIK’s performance of agency......Page 253 (iii) Towards a limited legal personality? A memo to the Kosovo Premier......Page 264 5.2.2 UNMIK as administrator of an international trust......Page 273 (i) Privatisation, or: to be or not to be immune?......Page 274 Postscript: view from international humanitarian law......Page 279 6 The status process: Kosovo’s endgame......Page 284 Introduction: UNMIK as facilitator?......Page 286 6.1 Statehood or stasis? UNOSEK and the Contact Group......Page 288 6.1.1 Miscalculations and flawed premises......Page 294 (i) Spoiling the party......Page 298 (ii) The Troika......Page 300 6.1.2 UNOSEK’s settlement proposal......Page 302 (i) The question of international powers......Page 304 (ii) Building legitimacy: a new constitution......Page 306 6.2 Wider implications for public international law......Page 308 6.2.1 The option of ‘status imposition’......Page 309 6.2.2 The future of self-determination claims......Page 312 6.2.3 Challenges to Serbia’s position......Page 316 Resume: status resolution as contrapunctus......Page 318 7 An anomalous legitimacy cycle......Page 324 Introduction: premises and challenges......Page 326 7.1 A transitional administration in transition......Page 328 7.1.1 Two dimensions of the legitimacy discourse......Page 330 7.2 Pursuit of domestic legitimacy: two promises......Page 334 7.2.1 Foundational promise......Page 335 (i) The Border Agreement between FRY and Macedonia......Page 336 (ii) Vouching for the ward: the Haradinaj case......Page 338 7.2.2 Devolution of power and the democratic moment......Page 339 7.3 Legitimacy through defiance......Page 341 7.3.1 SRSG v. the Kosovo Assembly......Page 342 7.3.2 ‘You’re fired’: OHR v. The Bosnian Constitutional Court......Page 345 7.3.3 Two fronts of the struggle over domestic legitimacy......Page 354 Resume: negative externalities......Page 356 8 Properties of a transitory legal order......Page 362 Introduction: the transitionality frame......Page 364 8.1 Unmediated import of international law......Page 365 8.1.1 Policing the border between past and future government authority......Page 368 8.1.2 Collapse of dualism and the promise of a liberal future......Page 371 8.2.1 Uniform promulgation......Page 375 8.2.2 The problem of review......Page 380 (i) Palestine: competence to review an Ordinance......Page 385 (ii) Bosnia: incidental norm control......Page 386 8.2.3 ‘Sed quis custodiet?’: norm control and legality......Page 392 8.3.1 Rights without remedies......Page 396 (i) Extraterritorial applicability of human rights instruments......Page 398 (ii) The Shell Game: the Court’s failure to close the gap in Behrami and Saramati......Page 403 8.3.2 Too little, too late: Kosovo’s Human Rights Advisory Panel......Page 417 (i) Options......Page 419 (ii) The long march of UNMIK Regulation 2006/12......Page 420 8.3.3 Will the International Civilian Representative in Kosovo do better?......Page 430 (i) A new Mandate......Page 431 Resume: the ‘stickiness’ of an interim legal order......Page 435 Concluding appraisal......Page 440 (ii) As to the nature of powers assumed by an international administration......Page 444 (iv) As to their limitation by international human rights law......Page 445 (v) As to the fiduciary bond established between the international community and the population under its tutelage......Page 446 (vii) As to the legal status of the territory......Page 447 (viii) Five themes for Accountability Guidelines for plenary UN Administration Missions......Page 464 A Treaties, conventions and constitutions (of international organisations)......Page 470 United Nations General Assembly......Page 472 United Nations Security Council......Page 474 International Law Commission......Page 475 UN: peacekeeping/peace-building, governance and accountability......Page 476 Bosnia and Herzegovina......Page 478 1999......Page 479 2002......Page 480 2004......Page 481 2005......Page 482 2006......Page 483 2007......Page 484 D UNMIK and UNTAET legal sources (‘mediate UN law’, in chronological order)......Page 485 UNMIK......Page 487 F Pronouncements of local Kosovo institutions......Page 489 G Contact Group statements and unpublished documents (letters, Code Cables, etc.)......Page 490 A Books......Page 493 B Book chapters......Page 504 C Articles......Page 511 D Speeches, theses, working papers and think tank/NGO studies......Page 531 Index......Page 538 "The international community's practice of administering territories in post-conflict environments has raised important legal questions. Using Namibia and Kosovo as case studies, Bernhard Knoll analyses the identity of the administering UN organ, the ways in which the territories under consideration have acquired partial subjectivity in international law, and the nature of legal obligations in the fiduciary exercise of transitional administration developed within the League of Nations' Mandate and the UN Trusteeship systems. Knoll discusses Kosovo's internal political and constitutional order until its declaration of independence in February 2008, and notes the absence of some of the characteristics normally found in liberal democracies, before proposing that the UN consolidates accountabilty guidelines related to the protection of human rights and the development of democratic standards should it engage in the transitional administration of territory."--Jacket This book was first published in 2008. The international community's practice of administering territories in post-conflict environments has raised important legal questions. Using Kosovo as a case study, Bernhard Knoll analyses the identity of the administrating UN organ, the ways in which the territories under consideration have acquired partial subjectivity in international law and the nature of legal obligations in the fiduciary exercise of transitional administration developed within the League of Nations' Mandate and the UN .. Using Kosovo as a case study, in this book Bernhard Knoll analyses the identity of the administrating UN organ, the ways in which territories under consideration have acquired partial subjectivity in international law and the nature of legal obligations in the fiduciary exercise of transitional administrations.