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16 German L.J. 365 (2015)
The Annexation of Crimea and the Boundaries of the Will of the People

handle is hein.journals/germlajo16 and id is 374 raw text is: The Annexation of Crimea and the Boundaries of the Will of the People By Jure Vidnar* Abstract The secession of Crimea and-more broadly-the conflict in Ukraine reopened questions concerning the limits of a democratic expression of the will of the people and the use of force in order to procure annexation of a territory belonging to another State. This article seeks to clarify the law governing the change of the legal status of a territory through secession and merger with another state. It argues not only that the right of self- determination does not grant an entitlement to alter the legal status of a territory, but also that general international law does not prohibit such an alteration. The rules of international law favor the stability of the existing international borders and thus the territorial status quo, but this does not mean that a unilateral attempt at altering an existing territorial arrangement automatically constitutes an internationally wrongful act. Any change of the legal status of a territory becomes illegal, however, upon an outside use of force. Such an illegality cannot be cured by a democratically expressed will of the people. A. Introduction On 16 March 2014, Crimea held a referendum on its future legal status as a territory. Reports indicated that the choice to join Russia was supported by an overwhelming ninety- five-point-five percent of all votes cast, with a turnout percentage of eighty-three percent.2 A day earlier, Russia vetoed a draft Security Council Resolution that sought to declare the referendum as having no legal validity and to urge the international community not to recognize its results? Thirteen members of the Security Council, with China abstaining, I Professor of Public International Law, Maastricht University, The Netherlands; Extraordinary Lecturer, Faculty of Law, UnIversIty of Pretoria, South Africa; Research Fellow, St John's College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. I See Crimea Referendum: Voters 'Back Russia Union,' BBC NEWS (Mar. 16, 2014), rttp://www.bbc.com/news /world-eu rope-26606097. 2 Id. See UN Security Council Resolution on Ukraine (C-Span broadcast Mar. 15, 2014), available at http://www.c- span.org/video/?318324-1/un-security-councl-meeting-ukraine.

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