Declaration of independence

A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood is an assertion by a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state. In 2010, the UN's International Court of Justice ruled in an advisory opinion in Kosovo that "International law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence",^[1] though the state from which the territory wishes to secede may regard the declaration as rebellion, which may lead to a war of independence or a constitutional settlement to resolve the crisis. Not all declarations of independence succeed in the formation of an independent state.

List of declarations of independence

Region	Declaration	Date	Year	Association	Signatories	First recognising state
Albania	Albanian Declaration of Independence	November 28	1912	Ottoman Empire	Assembly of Vlorë
United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata (present day  Argentina  Uruguay and  Bolivia)	Argentine Declaration of Independence	July 9	1816	Spain	Congress of Tucumán	Kingdom of Hawaii
Armenia	First Republic of Armenia	May 28	1918	Russian Empire	Armenian National Congress (1917) Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF Dashnak)	Russia
Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan Democratic Republic	May 28	1918	Russian Empire	Azerbaijani National Council (Hasan bey Aghayev, Fatali Khan Khoyski, Nasib Yusifbeyli, Jamo bey Hajinski, Şefi bey Rustambeyli, Nariman bey Narimanbeyov, Javad Malik-Yeganov, Mustafa Mahmudov)	Ottoman Empire
Azawad	Azawadi declaration of independence	April 6	2012	Mali	National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad
Bangladesh	Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence	March 26	1971	Pakistan		Bhutan
Belarus	Declaration of Independence	March 25	1918	Russia	Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic
Belarus	Belavezha Accords	December 8	1991	Soviet Union	Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Turkey
Belgium	Belgian Declaration of Independence	October 4	1830	Netherlands	Provisional Government of Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnian Declaration of Independence	March 1	1992	Yugoslavia		Bulgaria
Empire of Brazil	Independence of Brazil	September 7	1822	Portugal	Pedro I of Brazil	United States
Bougainville	Bougainville Declaration of Independence	May	1990	Papua New Guinea	Bougainville Interim Government	unknown
Bulgaria	Bulgarian Declaration of Independence	September 22	1908	Ottoman Empire	Ferdinand of Bulgaria and the Government of Bulgaria	Russian Empire (5 February 1909)
Catalonia	Declaration of the Catalan Republic as a state of the Iberian Federation	April 14	1931	Spain	Francesc Macià, Generalitat Government of Catalonia
Catalonia	Declaration of the Catalan state within the Federal Republic of Spain	October 6	1934	Spain	Lluís Companys, Generalitat Government of Catalonia
Central America	Act of Independence of Central America	September 15	1821	Spain
Chile	Chilean Declaration of Independence	February 12	1818	Spain	National Congress	Portugal
Colombia	Colombian Declaration of Independence	July 20	1810	Spain
Croatia	Independence of Croatia	June 25	1991	Yugoslavia		Iceland
Republic of Crimea	Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Crimea	March 11	2014	Ukraine	Supreme Council of Crimea	Russia
Dominican Republic	Dominican Declaration of Independence	February 27	1844	Haiti		United Kingdom
East Timor	East Timorese declaration of independence	November 28	1975	Portugal		Morocco
Egypt	Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence	February 28	1922	United Kingdom	Unilateral grant of independence by the British government	United Kingdom
Estonia	Estonian Declaration of Independence	February 24	1918	Russia	Salvation Committee	Russian SFSR
Estonia	Estonian Reconfirmation of Independence	August 20	1991	Soviet Union	Congress of Estonia	Iceland (reconfirmed earlier recognition)
Finland	Finnish Declaration of Independence	December 6	1917	Russia	Parliament of Finland	Russian SFSR
Florida	Florida's Constitution of 1861	January 10	1861	United States	Florida State Legislature
Galicia	Declaration of the Republic of Galicia	June 27	1931	Spain
Georgia	Democratic Republic of Georgia	May 26	1918	Russian Empire		Germany
Georgia (U.S. state)	Georgia's secession declaration	January 29	1861	United States
Greece	Greek Declaration of Independence	January 1 OS	1822	Ottoman Empire	First National Assembly	Haiti (1822)
Guinea-Bissau	Guinea-Bissau Declaration of Independence	September 24	1973	Portugal
Haiti	Haitian Declaration of Independence	January 1	1804	France	Jean-Jacques Dessalines
Hungary	Hungarian Declaration of Independence	April 14	1849	Austrian Empire
Iceland	Icelandic Declaration of Independence	June 17	1944	Denmark		United States
Iraq	Iraq Declaration of Independence	October 3	1932	United Kingdom		United Kingdom
India	Declaration of the Independence of India	January 26	1930	United Kingdom
Indonesia	Proclamation of Indonesian Independence	August 17	1945	Netherlands	Sukarno & Mohammad Hatta	Egypt
Ireland	Proclamation of the Irish Republic	April 24 (Easter Monday)	1916	United Kingdom	Irish Volunteers Irish Citizen Army
Irish Republic	Irish Declaration of Independence	January 21	1919	United Kingdom	Dáil Éireann	Russian SFSR
Israel	Israeli Declaration of Independence	May 14	1948	United Kingdom	Jewish People's Council	United States
Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus	Northern Epirote Declaration of Independence	February 28	1914	Principality of Albania	Provisional Government of Northern Epirus
Katanga	Katangan Declaration of Independence		1960	Congo (Léopoldville)
Korea	Korean Declaration of Independence	March 1	1919	Japan
Republic of the North Solomons	Declaration of Independence of the Republic of the North Solomons	September 1	1975	Territory of Papua and New Guinea (Australia)	Unknown	Catholic Church
Kosovo	Kosovo declaration of independence	February 17	2008	Serbia	Assembly of Kosovo	Afghanistan
Republic of Kosova	Proclamation of the Republic of Kosova	September 22	1992	Serbia	Provincial Assembly of Kosovo	Albania
Latvia	Latvian Declaration of Independence	November 18	1918	Germany, Russia	People's Council of Latvia	Russian SFSR
Latvia	On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia	May 4	1990	Soviet Union	Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR	Iceland
Liberia	Liberian Declaration of Independence	July 16	1847	American Colonization Society	Liberian Constitutional Convention	United Kingdom
Lithuania	Act of Independence of Lithuania	February 16	1918	Germany, Russia	Council of Lithuania	Germany
Lithuania	Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania	March 11	1990	Soviet Union	Supreme Council of Lithuania	Iceland
Macedonia	Independence of the Republic of Macedonia	September 8	1991	Yugoslavia		Bulgaria
Federation of Malaya (present day Malaysia)	Federation of Malaya Independence Act 1957	August 31	1957	United Kingdom	Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia	United Kingdom[2]
Mississippi	A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union	January 9	1861	United States
First Mexican Empire (present day Mexico)	Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire (real independence)	September 28	1821	Spain	Supreme Provisional Governmental Board	United Kingdom (January 4, 1825)[3]
Moldova	Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova	August 27	1991	Soviet Union	Parliament of the Republic of Moldova	Romania
Morocco	Moroccan Declaration of Independence	January 11	1944	France	Istiqlal Party
Montenegro	Montenegro declaration of independence	June 3	2006	Serbia and Montenegro	Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro	Iceland
Netherlands	Act of Abjuration	July 26	1581	Spanish Empire	Union of Utrecht
New Zealand	Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand	October 28	1835	—	Māori chiefs	United Kingdom[4]
Northern America (present day Mexico)	Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America	November 6	1813	Spain	Congress of Anáhuac
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	Declaration of Independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	November 15	1983	Cyprus		Turkey
Norway	Constitution of Norway	May 17	1814	Union according to Treaty of Kiel	Constitutional assembly
Padania	Padanian Declaration of Independence	September 15	1996	Italy
Pakistan	Pakistan Resolution	March 24	1940	Indian Empire, United Kingdom	Muslim League (Pakistan)
Palestine	Palestinian Declaration of Independence	November 15	1988	Palestinian territories	Palestinian National Council	Arab League
Peru	Act of the Declaration of Independence of Peru	July 28	1821	Spain	José de San Martín
Philippines	Philippine Declaration of Independence	June 12	1898	Spain	Malolos Congress
Rhodesia	Rhodesian Unilateral Declaration of Independence	November 11	1965	United Kingdom	Ian Smith and the rest of the Cabinet	none
Romania	Romanian Declaration of Independence	May 22	1877	Ottoman Empire	King Carol I
Russia	Belavezha Accords (de facto) Officially never declared "independence", to become successor to the Soviet Union.	December 8	1991	Soviet Union	Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic	Bir Lehlou declaration	February 27	1976	Spanish Sahara	Polisario Front	Madagascar
Kingdom of Scotland	Declaration of Arbroath	April 6	1320	Kingdom of England	Scottish leaders
Serbia	The Proclamation (Proglašenije/Проглашеније)	February	1809	Ottoman Empire	Karađorđe Petrović and Serbian MPs
Singapore	Proclamation of Singapore[5]	August 9	1965	Malaysia[6][7]	Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore	United Kingdom (confirmed earlier recognition)[8]
Slovakia	Slovak National Council's Declaration of Independence of the Slovak Nation	July 17	1992	Czechoslovakia	Slovak National Council
Slovenia	Slovenian Declaration of Independence	June 25	1991	Yugoslavia		Croatia
Somaliland	Somaliland Declaration of Independence	May 18	1991	Somalia		none
South Carolina	Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union	December 24	1860	United States	South Carolinians in Charleston
Sri Lanka	Declaration of Independence of Sri Lanka (Then known as "Ceylon")	February 4	1948	United Kingdom		none
Texas, Republic of	Texas Declaration of Independence	March 2	1836	Mexico		France
Texas	A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union	February 1	1861	United States	Texas Legislature
Tibet	Tibet's Declaration of Independence	February 13	1913	China	13th Dalai Lama	none
Turkmenistan	Declaration of independence		1991	Soviet Union	none	Turkey
Ukraine	IV Universal	January 22	1918	Russia	Central Council of Ukraine
Ukraine	Declaration of Independence of Ukraine	August 24	1991	Soviet Union	Verkhovna Rada	Poland/Canada[9]
United States	United States Declaration of Independence	July 4	1776	Kingdom of Great Britain	Second Continental Congress	Morocco
Uzbekistan	Declaration of Independence	August 31	1991	Soviet Union	Supreme Council of Uzbekistan	Turkey
Venezuela	Venezuelan Declaration of Independence	July 5	1811	Kingdom of Spain	Representatives of the States of Venezuela
Vermont Republic	Vermont Declaration of Independence	January 15	1777	New York and New Hampshire		United States
Vietnam	Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam	September 2	1945	France	Hồ Chí Minh	Soviet Union
Lower Canada	Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada	February 22	1838	United Kingdom	Robert Nelson	none

See also

• Florida and the Declaration of Independence
• List of countries by Independence Day
• List of sovereign states by date of formation
• Separatism
• Independence referendum

References

1. "Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo" (PDF). Icj-cij.org. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
2. Federation of Malaya Independence Act 1957
3. "Inglaterra: primer país que reconoce la Independencia de México" (in Spanish). Memoria Politica de México. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
4. The Lord Glenelg (25 May 1836), "EXTRACT of a DESPATCH from Lord GLENELG to Major-General Sir RICHARD BOURKE, New South Wales", written at London, Documents > Declaration of Independence, Christchurch: Waitangi Associates, retrieved 22 May 2010
5. Singapore was forced out of Malaysia by the Malaysian parliament, and the proclamations were then agreed by the two governments. See the Independence of Singapore Agreement 1965 (1985 Rev. Ed.) and the Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
6. Agreement relating to the separation of Singapore from Malaysia as an independent and sovereign state
7. Agreement relating to the separation of Singapore from Malaysia as an independent and sovereign state/proclamation of singapore
8. Singapore Act 1966
9. Ukraine and Russia: The Post-Soviet Transition by Roman Solchanyk, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000, ISBN 0742510182 (page 100)
   Canadian Yearbook of International Law, Vol 30, 1992, University of British Columbia Press, 1993, ISBN 9780774804387 (page 371)
   Szporluk, Roman. Russia, Ukraine and the Breakup of the Soviet Union. Hoover Press. ISBN 978-0-8179-9543-0., p. 355