Advisory opinion on Kosovo's declaration of independence

Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo
Court	International Court of Justice
Full case name	Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo (Request for Advisory Opinion)
Decided	22 July 2010
Citation	Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo (Request for Advisory Opinion)
Court membership
Judges sitting	Hisashi Owada (President), Peter Tomka (Vice-President), Abdul G. Koroma, Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, Thomas Buergenthal, Bruno Simma, Ronny Abraham, Kenneth Keith, Bernardo Sepúlveda Amor, Mohamed Bennouna, Leonid Skotnikov, Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, Christopher Greenwood[1]
Case opinions
Kosovo declaration was not in violation of international law (10–4)

Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo was a request in 2008 for an advisory opinion referred to the International Court of Justice by the United Nations General Assembly regarding the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. The territory of Kosovo is the subject of a dispute between Serbia and the Republic of Kosovo established by the declaration. This was the first case regarding a unilateral declaration of independence to be brought before the court.

The court delivered its advisory opinion on 22 July 2010; by a vote of 10 to 4, it declared that "the adoption of the declaration of independence of 17 February 2008 did not violate general international law because international law contains no 'prohibition on declarations of independence', nor did the adoption of the declaration of independence violate UN Security Council Resolution 1244, since this did not describe Kosovo's final status, nor had the Security Council reserved for itself the decision on final status."^[2][3][4] Reactions to the decision were mixed, with most countries which already recognised Kosovo hailing the decision and saying it was "unique" and does not set a precedent; while many countries which do not recognise Kosovo said they would not be doing so as such recognition could set a precedent of endorsing secession in other places.