El discreto ejercicio de la función consultiva de la Corte Internacional de Justicia en el asunto Kosovo

Abstract

The article examines the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, as well as its discretionary power to refuse to answer a request, in the Court’s Advisory Opinion on the Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo (2010). After considering general and specific aspects of the jurisdiction and discretion of the Court, the author upholds a limited but important space for the exercise of discretion by the Court in the sphere of its advisory jurisdiction as an instrument to safeguard its integrity and independence, and favours public deliberation on the character and functions of the advisory jurisdiction as applied to the actual requests by the organs authorized to seek judicial guidance for their activities from the Court.