QUINT CONFERS ON KOSOVO ICJ REFERRAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000810 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2018 TAGS: PREL UNGA ZL SUBJECT: QUINT CONFERS ON KOSOVO ICJ REFERRAL REF: USUN 741 Classified By: Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 1.(C) Summary. At a September 4 meeting in NY, Quint Deputy PermReps assessed that the Serbian request for an advisory opinion (AO) from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence would pass an UNGA vote. The French PermRep made clear France plans to seek an EU common position to abstain. Germany and Italy indicated they would support efforts to seek an EU common position. The Quint will continue to discreetly encourage countries to abstain at a minimum in an effort to reduce the support for the resolution. Looking ahead to a likely referral by the General Assembly, the Quint agreed to look at ways to frame the context of the question before before it is sent to the ICJ. Additional recognitions for Kosovo and membership in international organizations would also add credibility to Kosovo's status as an independent country. End Summary. 2.(C) Ambassador DiCarlo chaired a meeting of Deputy PermReps (DPRs) from the U.S., U.K., Italy, Germany, France on September 4 to take stock of efforts to ward off an UNGA referral of the question of Kosovo's declaration of independence to the ICJ. The European members agreed that their discussions in capitals and in New York indicated little support for rejecting a referral, and that the best outcome we could hope to achieve in the General Assembly would be enough abstentions to diminish the legitimacy of an eventual referral request. The French DPR said France had decided to abstain on a vote, and that it would seek to achieve a EU common position on abstention at the Gymnich in early September. The Italian and German DPRs also indicated support for a common EU position of abstention. 3.(C) Likewise, the Quint agreed that there were not enough votes on the General Committee (GC) to successfully prevent the Serbian agenda item from being passed to the plenary. Only 6 of the 28 members of the GC had recognized Kosovo's independence. Even if the General Committee did determine that the new agenda item requested by Serbia should not be sent to the plenary, Serbia would likely find a way to raise the issue under an existing agenda item. Quint Members also reaffirmed earlier recommendations not to direct the agenda item to the Sixth (Legal) Committee, since Serbia could revisit it in the plenary even if it were defeated in committee. Setting a Context -------------- 4.(C) Quint members agreed to begin looking beyond the General Assembly vote to how the Quint could frame the question in the proper context for the Court. Quint members thought it important to make sure that the Office of the Legal Advisor (OLA),which is responsible for preparing documents for submission to the ICJ, give the case the proper context. U.K DPR Karen Pierce expressed concern that OLA had been unhelpful in the past on Kosovo issues. She suggested that the Quint might want to consider attempting to amend the question proposed in the draft resolution, so as to give it a narrower focus. German DPR Ney, supported by the Italian DPR, said there should be no attempts from Quint members to adjust the question, because some others migh be tempted to give it it broader scope than the one currently proposed by Serbia. 5.(C) French DPR LaCroix said France had briefly considered floating a parallel resolution about the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as a way to dissuade members who had not yet decided on how they would vote. France had ultimately decided that such a tactic would undermine the argument that the Kosovo case is sui generis. Pierce suggusted the possible UNGA debate on Georgia that the Georgian PermRep is considering should be used to challenge Serbia's actions in Kosovo and to make a clear case for recognizing Kosovo's independence. All Quint members agreed that the case in favor of recognition of Kosovo-- and against Russia's recognition of Georgia --would need to be laid out clearly to create the proper context for the Court's deliberations. 6.(C) The Quint DPRs believed that additional recognitions from Macedonia and Montenegro, neighbors of both Serbia and Kosovo, would have a strong impact on the perception of legitimacy of Kosovo's independence. Kosovo's inclusion in International Financial Institutions and other international organizations would also add credibility to Kosovo's standing as an independent country. Khalilzad