The Contested Notion of Remedial Secession: Aspirations and Reality

The concept of remedial secession critically challenges the traditional thinking on territorial integrity and sovereignty arguing that an entity has the right to secede from the state it belongs, if it had suffered longstanding grave human rights violations. The notion has been supported by scholars, international lawyers and policy makers, who by interpreting the United Nations' Declaration of Friendly Relations (1970) claim that the territorial integrity of the state is protected, for as long as the latter functions under the principles of the UN, i.e., for as long as the state respects human rights, fundamental freedoms and provides equal opportunities, with no discrimination of race, gender, language or religion. Should the state fail to comply with the above, the affected group or entity has the right to establish an independent state or join another state. Reality on the ground, nevertheless, indicates that practical applicability of the right to remedial secession remains limited, turning it into a contested concept with ambiguous validity. Only a handful of separatist entities have succeeded in acquiring a self-administered status, resulting, nonetheless, in most cases in de facto states; unrecognised entities that although they exert authority over their territory and people, have failed to achieve uncontested statehood. Kosovo was supposed to be an exception to that after declaring independence in 2008 without the consent of Serbia and achieving widespread international recognition. Even Kosovo, however, the alleged success story of remedial secession, has failed to create a fully-fledged state. This study argues that the contested concept of remedial secession creates aspirations to separatist entities, which however cannot be fulfilled, due to conflicting local, regional and international interest dynamics. This paper examines various cases of movements seeking to secede putting forward arguments of remedial secession. The analysis will demonstrate, though, that this pursuit leads to unfulfilled hopes and grievances that exacerbate tensions between central state and separatist entity perpetuating conflict in the affected regions.