Resolving Claims When Countries Disintegrate: The Challenge of Kosovo

Final status for Kosovo must include a mechanism for resolving claims incident to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the secession of Kosovo from Serbia. Models and theory drawn from other experiences with the dissolution of states provide only partial guidance for Kosovo because the earlier efforts tended to neglect private claims and tended to concern successor states where sovereignty was clearer than it has been during the period of international administration of Kosovo. The most attractive possibility for Kosovo is to establish an international tribunal modeled in part on the Iran and Iraqi claims tribunals, with some decision makers appointed by the local government in Kosovo and some by Serbia, and others appointed by the U.N., the International Court of Justice, and the International Chamber of Commerce. Any acceptable claims dispute resolution machinery for Kosovo must allow private standing to present private claims, and be reinforced by clear rules for freezing assets and for recognition and enforcement by national courts around the world. The machinery must build upon, rather than undermine, existing mechanisms for privatization in Kosovo