Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo. (International Cour of Justice Advisory Opinion‪)‬

Introduction On 22 July 2010, the International Court of Justice ('ICJ') gave its Advisory Opinion on the question of the Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in respect of Kosovo. The advisory opinion had been requested by the UN General Assembly on 8 October 2008 following Kosovo's Declaration of Independence on 17 February' 2008. The judgment was narrow in scope, focusing principally on whether the Declaration was prohibited by either general international law, or the lex specialis of the UN Security Council ('UNSC') Resolution 1244. The Opinion did not address the issue of sovereignty, territorial integrity or declarations of independence in any further detail; in particular the Court remained silent on whether there exists an entitlement to independence when certain conditions are met. In a somewhat controversial move, the Court provided an opinion as to whether the authors of the Declaration were acting in the capacity of members of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo, as was assumed by the General Assembly, or in some alternative capacity as the representatives of the people of Kosovo.