Countries which declared independence

Serbia said this was invalid and took the issue to the court of the United Nations that settles international legal disputes - the International Court of Justice. But the crux of the matter was less a question of law and more whether Kosovan statehood was likely to be recognised. So what does it take to get the great powers to back you? East Timor was a Portuguese colony until the s, when it was invaded by Indonesia. It wasn't until after the Cold War, in the s, when international attention turned to East Timor again and the western great powers no longer needed Indonesia as an ally because communism had fallen.

In the Timorese voted for independence, which they got in But the process was marred by violence, and needed political support from the UN and the intervention of international peace-keepers. Under current principles of international law, the Catalans have a right to self-determination, but many jurists would argue that all they can hope for is autonomy, not independence, because of Spain's right to maintain its territorial integrity.

And although the situation of the Kurds is very different, ultimately they will run up against the same problem - a lack of great power support. The Inquiry: Who gets to have their own country? Islamic State and the idea of statehood. Image source, Getty Images. Could Catalonia make a success of independence? The four characteristics. So how do would-be states become true states? Recognition as a sovereign state by the United Nations is the ultimate prize.

People in Somaliland celebrate the anniversary of the country's declaration of independence. In January , the Austrian province of Flanders expressed a desire to become a free and independent state in a document whose concluding lines drew directly on a French translation of the American Declaration.

The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen would have greater global impact as a charter of individual rights. The sovereignty of states, as laid out in the opening and closing paragraphs of the American Declaration, was the main message other peoples beyond America heard in the document after More than half of the countries now represented at the United Nations have a founding document that can be called a declaration of independence.

Most of those countries came into being from the wreckage of empires or confederations, from Spanish America in the s and s to the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia in the s. Their declarations of independence, like the American Declaration, informed the world that one people or state was now asserting—or, in many cases in the second half of the twentieth century re-asserting—its sovereignty and independence.

Many looked back directly to the American Declaration for inspiration. In the twentieth century, nationalists in Central Europe and Korea after the First World War staked their claims to sovereignty by going to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Among the few are those of Liberia and Vietnam They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. If Scotland does becomes independent this week, it will join a long list of nations that have freed themselves from the Empire's chokehold.

The map below shows you all the countries that used to be part of the British Empire. A thumping 99 per cent people voted for independence in the referendum and the new country was swiftly recognised by the international community. However, despite gaining independence, the country is plagued by poverty and ethnic clashes.

Image: AFP. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17, The country had been administered by the United Nations since , when NATO bombed Serbia and forced then-president Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his troops from the ethnically divided province. In , following the United Nationssponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory.

East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, and joined the UN and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. However, things seem to be normalising now with a stable government in place and renewed trade talks.