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