Juridical Sovereignty and the International Human Rights Norm

Serbia's juridical sovereignty was bolstered by the West's disinterest in supporting Kosovo's claims for independence. As was true for the Sandžak and Vojvodina, the Western rationale was that only Yugoslav republics, not regions, were entitled to secede.^[17] Shortly after its 1992 recognition of Bosnian independence, a U.S. representative declared that "Serbian actions in Kosovo represent one of the worst human rights problems in Europe,"^[18] signaling her government's intent to apply the human rights norm to the region, not sovereignty. In subsequent years, international officials of various stripes all insisted that Kosovo must remain within Serbia, albeit with its autonomy restored and its residents'

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human rights guaranteed. In December 1992, the United States strengthened its human rights commitments by warning Serbia of a military strike if it initiated Kosovo hostilities.^[19] The American threat was not aimed at securing Kosovo's sovereignty, but at preserving a modicum of ethnic Albanians' human rights. Throughout the 1990s, Western diplomats applauded the Democratic League's restraint while avoiding any discussion of independence. The ethnic Albanian leadership was not invited to the 1995 Dayton peace negotiations on Bosnia, and Kosovo's self-declared state remained virtually unrecognized.^[20] Western insistence on human rights for Kosovo, however, propelled nongovernmental bodies to organize myriad Kosovo activities around the human rights norm, and international agencies remained heavily engaged with the province through monitoring, information gathering, and transnational lobbying. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, later known as the OSCE, sent human rights monitors to Kosovo in 1992, where they stayed until ejected by Serbia in July 1993.^[21] Private groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International regularly visited Kosovo to gather information and write reports, pushing Western governments to confront Serbian abuses. "Since human rights violations are the one subject on which the international community is unanimous and vocal," one leading nongovernmental group noted, "human rights monitoring is given extremely high priority and attention in Kosovo."^[22]

Ethnic Albanian politicians in Kosovo cheerfully cooperated with the human rights monitors, hoping their interest would eventually trigger international support for Kosovo's sovereignty. Many ethnic Albanians in Kosovo mistook Western human rights interest as tacit support for independence, a misunderstanding that continued at least until the 1995 Dayton conference.^[23] Hopeful that the notion of an independent Kosovo might eventually gain broad global backing, the Democratic League resolved to continue with nonviolent resistance and appeals to international human rights monitors. Thus while Kosovo resisted incorporation into Serbia and lobbied vigorously for international recognition, it did not physically challenge Serbian military supremacy on the ground.