Mr. Rajeev Ranade, Chair
r-ranade@northwestern.edu


Legality of Use of Force
(Serbia and Montenegro vs. Belgium, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom)

*The cases brought by Serbia and Montenegro entail the same material, and therefore one judgment will suffice for all the cases.



Beginning on March 24, 1999, NATO nations began an 11-week bombing campaign against the then Republic of Yugoslavia (now Serbia and Montenegro) in response to oppression against Kosovo and its primarily Albanian population. Serbia and Montenegro have accused these nations as acting in violation of the provisions of the Statute of the International Court of Justice as well as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.



The Balkans region of Eastern Europe is a tumultuous region filled with racial, geographical and political tensions. The strain between Christian Serbians and Muslim Albanians stems from both groups claiming Kosovo as their historical space. With the rise of Slobodan Milosevic in 1989, a harder line was imposed upon these Muslim Albanians by the then Yugoslavia. Kosovo was squeezed politically and economically and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) grew out of this chaos. The KLA was effective enough to induce intervention by NATO nations against Serbian forces who were accused of perpetrating genocide against Albanians. Serbia and Montenegro (often referred to by court documents as Yugoslavia) brings a variety of charges against these NATO nations including: supporting an alleged terrorist organization, the KLA, intervening in the affairs of another state, attacking civilians and civilian institutions and using prohibited weapons. Serbia and Montenegro have cited that these nations have disregarded their obligation to avoid using force as a primary mechanism of intervention lives and have violated principles of national sovereignty. New evidence has shown the homicidal intentions of Slobodan Milosevic; yet, the collateral damage of NATO military actions is indisputable.



The ICJ needs to decide whether or not the NATO nations in question have broken international law by taking military action and whether or not they committed illegal actions during the military campaign. The judgment passed will set a precedent for future unprovoked military action, and moreover, will be a statement on the right to national sovereignty.



http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library/cijwww/icjwww/idocket.htm
ICJ - Latest Developments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_War
http://www.un.org
http://odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
http://www.icj-cij.org/ http://www.nato.int/
http://www.un.int/serbia-montenegro/