By Reza Nasri
The referendum on Crimea’s secession from Ukraine and on the subsequently planned accession to the Russian Federation quickly prompted American and European officials to take positions. As expected, they all rejected the Crimean decision to join Russia; and, as has become customary in international relations in the past few decades, they mainly invoked legal arguments to justify their stance.
One of the central arguments is one based on the notion that a referendum conducted under coercive foreign military presence is not legitimate. In fact, the first White House communiqué on the Crimean situation contained a passage to that effect, affirming that the United States “would not recognize the results of a poll administered under threats of violence and intimidation from a Russian military intervention.” European officials used similar terms, mostly claiming that a referendum organized under foreign military occupation could not be acceptable.
If Crimea is indeed under belligerent occupation (a claim that Russia contests), Western officials would have a solid legal point. Their legal argument would be based on a universally recognized principle of law which posits that “coercion nullifies true consent.” The U.N. Charter, the international body of laws governing treaties and the law governing armed conflict and military occupation would also support the Western position. “Transformative occupation”, which is defined as making substantial changes in the legal or political infrastructure of a state under occupation, is in fact prohibited by international law. Yet even with this in mind, there are still serious inconsistencies between Western words and Western practice.
Source: nationalinterest.org
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