Pristina cannot sue Serbia for alleged genocide against Albanians in 1999, because Kosovo is not a member of the United Nations.
As a professor of international law Tibor Varadi explained, in order to initiate the case there must be consent of the opposite party, or an international treaty, or convention signed by both parties: “Without it, the jurisdiction of the Court cannot be determined. That is why this whole story is dubious, as well it is very unrealistic that ICJ would be in charge of the case”.
As a conclusion Belgrade should very carefully analyse the contracts it signed, or will sign with Pristina. If in one of them would be found a clause that any dispute between the two sides should be resolved through the ICJ, Pristina would be already one step closer to initiating a process on genocide and on the other side it would mean indirect recognition of Kosovo.
“If the case would even reach The Hague, it is unlikely that the crimes committed in Kosovo and Metohija could be qualified as genocide. If in the coming years, Kosovo will became a member of the UN and sign the Genocide Convention even that would not be enough for the initiation of the case, since Convention applies only to the events that occurred after its adoption,” indicated Varadi.
