Page |1

Gezim Koshi

International Law and Organization

Section 51

Date: 30.01.2011

Can International Law be effectively implemented into national law? If so, how? If not,

why not? (Choosing Kosovo as an example)

Law is a system of rules that society sets to maintain order and protect people and

property that they posses. However we have national laws and international laws where both of

them are laws, but they differ on the targets they tend to rule. National law is law within a state

and it tries to rule people and property within that state while international law is law that tends

to rule worldwide states, their sovereignty, territorial integrity etc. International law is promoted,

possessed and enforced by different organizations such as European Union, United Nations,

Europol, Interpol, NATO etc. Such organizations have specific criteria’s and standards in order

that a state can be member of them. Most of the time criteria’s are implementing international

laws into national law. There are different ways for effectively implementing international law

on national law but after they are implemented and approved by national law the main faze is

enforcing it. Enforcing the law is one of the hardest parts of ruling with a law after the law is

selected and approved, but institutions such as police make sure that such a law will be accepted

by citizens or otherwise depending on law it fine’s the ones that doesn’t stick to it or arrests

them. When it comes to protection of the international law there are international courts such as
 Page |2

International Court of Justice (ICJ) or Court of Hague which deals with judging states or

governor due to violation of international law. There are many differences between

international and national law however, there are many ways that international law can be

effectively implemented into national law, ways such as: by special national institution, by

treaties and by conventions. The efficiency of the ruling with the particular law that is

implemented has to do with different national institutions which deal with ruling with it and

enforcing it. In my opinion a major step is a start which in this case is selection of the laws and

defining how to implement and approve those laws, after approval there are easier steps to take

in order to rule with the particular law.

Implementation of International Law into National Laws by Special National Institution

Most of democratic states that are on transaction faze and like to be part of EU or any

other international organization have a special institution that deals with integration of the

international law. Such an example could be Ministry for European Integration on Kosovo which

is a special institution of the state and their main goal is to integrate international laws and

standards in order to be part of international organization such as European Union. Such

institutions are government institution and they deal with preparing and creating the laws on

workgroups, which laws would need to be approved on national assembly by vote. In Kosovo

after a workgroup finish writing a law they send it on Ministry of European Integration in order

to check or harmonize it with regards to international law and then the laws goes for voting on

Assembly. In Kosovo’s case pri-minister Thaqi stated on public television that all the Kosovo

laws should be harmonized with international law. All the workgroups that write the laws on
 Page |3

Republic of Kosovo considered international laws as a base in order that on future Kosovo laws

will be matched with international organizations standards and laws. In near future Kosovo will

have a easy way to be integrated in international organization by enforcing those laws through its

institution such as state Police. According to Kosovo Ministry of European Integration

“Harmonizing the law is a joint obligation for European Union membership. This means that

countries aspiring to join the European Union must harmonize their national laws, regulations

and procedures making effective the entire EU legal structure, within the acquis communautaire.

Since the obligation of harmonization continues after entry, the harmonization process before

joining transforms into an opportunity for these states to organize better their institutions and

procedures and to train their staff in daily processes and responsibilities of drafting laws

according to the EU model, as well as implementing them.” (Harmonizing Domestic Legislation

with Acquis, par. 1) Even though implementing a law and approving it as a national law is half

of the job the heaviest part of it is ruling with it and make citizens stick to that law. In this case

there are many laws such as law that forbids smoking on closed objects which is approved in

Kosovo but still the process of ruling with it is on progress. Such law is implemented by all the

EU member states and it is a standard to be part of EU. I think that institutions like Kosovo

Ministry of European Integration have a key importance when it comes to implementing

international law into national but there is also a part of it that should be done by police and other

state institutions. In example of Kosovo it is a good thing that Ministry of European Integration

stated that institutions should secure a budget in order to implement international laws and

regulations due to their goal being EU membership.( Harmonizing Domestic Legislation with

Acquis ,par. 5) In my opinion, not just special institutions (ex. Ministry of European Integration)
 Page |4

are the only that implement the international law there are also other national institution, but

special institutions are specified to do just that.

Implementation of International Law in National Law by Treaties

Treaties are special agreements of two or more states for special need or interest which

are signed by the states of need or interest and only those states stick to that treaty. Treaties can

also be build on bases of time period, economical purposes etc. An example is treaty of Kosovo

with Albania and Montenegro where citizens of Kosovo are allowed to travel with an ID card to

Albania without a need of passport. This treaty is build on base of interest of Albanian for

Kosovar tourists who go in this neighbour country for summer vacations and beach. The

agreement states as follow “The citizens of either Contracting Party shall enter, transit through,

temporarily stay in and leave the territory of the other Contracting Party through all border

crossing points open to international and interstate traffic, subject to the possession of a valid

travel document from among those listed In the Addendum to this Agreement.” (Agreement

Between the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and the Council of Ministers of the

Republic of Albania on Mutual Travel of Citizens, art. 1, sec. 2) On Addendum to this

Agreement is stated that a travel document could be an ID Card. Approximately the same

agreement exists with Montenegro and Kosovo but it has just a detail where citizens of both

countries can move to another county with an ID card during specific period of time which is

summer season. I think that treaties are one of the best parts of Foreign Affairs politics because

they simply are a relief for the citizens of contracted states, thus state don’t have to work hard on

enforcement of a treaty like it needs to work on other laws that are implemented through special
 Page |5

national institutions. Depending on states that are involved to a treaty, they can break the

agreement simply by announcements according to the broken conditions that are always included

on a treaty agreement. An example of broke conditions of the treaty could be “Each of the

Contracting Parties may terminate the effect of this Agreement or part of it by giving written

notice to the other Contracting party through diplomatic channels. In such case, the Agreement

or part of it shall cease to be in force after 60 (sixty) days from the day of receipt of such notice.”

(Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and the Council of Ministers of

the Republic of Albania on Mutual Travel of Citizens, art. 14, sec. 2) If three or more states have

a treaty and one of them likes to break it, it is possible and other states will still continue to have

same agreement. In case of two states treaties when one of them decides to disagree the treaty or

agreement would no longer exists.

Implementing International Law into National Law by Conventions

As a important part of international law are also conventions which are set of agreed,

stipulation or generally accepted standards, norms , social norms or criteria, often taking the

form of a custom. Conventions are norms or laws that all democratic states need to accept. Most

of the world states agreed for conventions such as Convention of Human rights. A specific

implementation of a convention could be direct applicability of international agreements and

instruments in Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. According to Article 22 in Constitution

of the Republic of Kosovo “Human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the

following international agreements and instruments are guaranteed by this Constitution, are
 Page |6

directly applicable in the Republic of Kosovo and, in the case of conflict, have priority over

provisions of laws and other acts of public institutions:

(1) Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

(2) European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its

Protocols;

(3) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Protocols;

(4) Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities;

(5) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;

(6) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women;

(7) Convention on the Rights of the Child;

(8) Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or

Punishment;” This are the conventions that Kosovo implemented in their Constitution just for the

Human Rights but they are not the only ones it has even more on different articles. Based on

those conventions Kosovo or any state that implements convention on constitution is possible to

punish or fine those that works against those conventions. In order one of those conventions will

be broken by the state institution they will be judged by the International Court of Justice and

other international judicial organizations. There is efficiency on implementing the conventions

on national law because based on that a state agrees with a whole variety of rules with simple

implementation. International organizations that rules with international law have a special role

when it come to breaking those agreements they can interfere on that state and either help it

administratively to fix it by different mechanisms or by military force. Both forms of

international interference did happen on Kosovo.

 Page |7

A military assistance was send from NATO on Kosovo in order to stop genocide that

Serbian police where doing to innocent Albanian civilians just because. Serbians as a ruler of the

territory did brake on Convention of Human Rights by killing and massacre innocent Albanian

civilians. Based on brake of Convention of Human Rights NATO released its military troops on

Kosovo War which troops are still operating in Republic of Kosovo but with the reduced

number.

Kosovo still have an administrative assistance by international organization such as “The

European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) [which] is the largest civilian

mission ever launched under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).” (“What is

EULEX?”,par.1 ) Were they are helping Kosovo based on different conventions in order to

reduce corruption by enforcing rule of law, to regulate justice system, customs and police.

Republic of Kosovo as a good example of implementing international law, states on its

Constitution that “[r]atified international agreements and legally binding norms of international law

have superiority over the laws of the Republic of Kosovo.” ( Constitution of the Republic of

Kosovo, art. 19, sec. 2) Such an example of the state Constitution shows that all the International

law is implemented on legal form at a higher rate, in a rate that when it comes to international

law matters the national law switch’s off were all the judgements and rights would be given to

international law.

Conclusion

In my opinion most effective way to implement international law depends on the

standards and the state standards or laws determine whether the state should use special national
 Page |8

institutions or other forms of implementing the international law on to national law. I think that if

a state have good economical standard, regulated law, strong and uncorrupted institution and it is

a part of EU or UN it wont have problems such as transaction states have implementing

international standards, they will work on special mechanisms that regulate and innovate way of

the living in their country by international standards. Regarding transactional states such as

Republic of Kosovo, I assume that the best way to implement international law is by using it as a

base of the states law, which is a model that Republic of Kosovo used. Effectiveness of

implementation is the way how the international laws, whether they are treaties or conventions,

are included on the state constitution, its institutions, and its regulations. Depending the way

they are include state will have efficiency on implementing international law and being part of

international organizations.

In conclusion, international law can effectively be implemented into national law by

special national institutions that regulates and harmonize domestic law with international law, by

treaties or agreements and by convention. All those ways are ways to benefit from international

law whereas country as Kosovo can benefit by being a member of European Union, North

Atlantic Treaty Organization etc. With the membership on those international organizations a

state can benefit by arranging special conditions for its citizens. At the end International law

means benefit and the aim is implement international laws in order that citizens can benefit.
 Page |9

Works Cited

Republic of Kosovo. Ministry of European Integration. "Harmonizing Domestic Legislation with

Acquis." Ministry of European Integration. Ministry of European Integration. Web. 31

Jan. 2011. <http://www.mei-ks.net/?page=2,85>.

Republic of Kosovo. Assembly. Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. Republic of Kosovo

Assembly. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. <http://www.assembly-

kosova.org/common/docs/Kushtetuta_sh.pdf>.

Republic of Kosovo. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Agreement Between the Government of the

Republic of Kosovo and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania on Mutual

Travel of Citizens. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. <http://www.mfa-

ks.net/repository/docs/Marrveshja_Ks-Shq_(anglisht)_(013).pdf>.

"What Is EULEX?" EULEX Kosovo Official Website. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. <http://www.eulex-

kosovo.eu/en/info/whatisEulex.php>