The ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo and the International Protection of Minorities

Very seldom has a judgment or advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) received so much media coverage as the recent Advisory Opinion on the Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo rendered on 22 July 2010 in response to a question posed by the General Assembly. The question had been forwarded on behalf of a request by Serbia and was phrased in the following way: “Is the unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self‐Government of Kosovo in accordance with international law?” Although this question entails a number of very relevant issues of contemporary international law, the ICJ's Advisory Opinion might not enter into the judicial history of the Court for its answer to this question, but rather for what it did not say. In particular, the Court avoided the issue of the protection of national minorities. This article sheds light on this omission and the implications this may have on the practice of territories that strive to declare their independence.