Evaluating Remedial Secession as a Legitimate Territorial Acquisition: Lessons from Eastern Ukraine 2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14421/34gzhh23Keywords:
Eastern Ukraine, Referendum, Remedial Secession, Territorial AcquisitionAbstract
This study examines whether corrective secession can be considered a legitimate means of acquiring territory under contemporary international law, focusing on the secession referendum in Eastern Ukraine in 2022. Although the right to self-determination has evolved from a colonial context to broader applications, the legality of corrective secession in non-colonial situations remains controversial and under-explored. Previous research has largely focused on post-colonial cases such as Bangladesh and South Sudan, leaving a gap in understanding externally influenced secession movements. This article aims to address this gap through normative legal analysis, drawing on international legal instruments, state practice, and jurisprudence from the International Court of Justice and national courts. The findings of the study indicate that secession as a corrective measure can only be justified in exceptional cases where an ethnic group experiences ongoing and systematic discrimination, and where the parent state fails to provide an effective solution. When applied to Eastern Ukraine, this study finds no evidence of systematic human rights violations by the Ukrainian government that would justify secession. Instead, the conflict and referendum were largely triggered by external intervention, rendering such claims contrary to international law. This analysis reaffirms that the doctrine of secession as a remedy remains limited and exceptional, reinforcing the priority of territorial integrity in accordance with the UN Charter. This study contributes to the ongoing debate by clarifying the legal and moral thresholds for secession as a remedy, and provides a nuanced legal framework for assessing future claims of secession.
References
Aleksanian, Satenik R. “On Theory of Remedial Secession in Contemporary International Law.” Moscow Journal of International Law, no. 4 (2017): 141–50. https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2017-4-141-150.
Amnesty International. “The State of the World’s Human Rights: 2024.” London, UK, 2025.
Aslund, Anders, and Michael McFaul. “Revolution in Orange: The Origins of Ukraine’s Democratic Breakthrough.” Washington DC, 2006.
Blay, S. K. “Self-Determination: Its Evolution in International Law and Prescriptions for Its Application Post-Colony Context.” University of Tasmania, 1984.
Busquets, Pau Bossacoma. “The Regulation of Secession.” In Constitutional Law and Politics of Secession, 315–34. London: Routledge, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003311461-19.
Cappucci, M, and L Zarrilli. “Armed Secessionism in the Post-Soviet Space. The Case of South Ossetia.” Documenti Geografici, no. 2 (2022): 277–88. https://doi.org/10.19246/DOCUGEO2281-7549/202202_14.
Cassese, Antonio. Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Reappraisal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Christiastuti, Novi. “Rusia Gelar Referendum Di 4 Wilayah, Ukraina Sebut Warga Dipaksa.” dw.com, 2022.
Crawford, James R. “The Creation of States in International Law,” 390. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199228423.001.0001.
Dersso, Solomon. “International Law and the Self-Determination of South Sudan.” Institute for Security Studies Papers, no. 231 (2012).
Dodonov, R, and O Aleksandrova. “Discourse Techniques For Constructing Secessions: The Experience Of Donbass And Latgale.” Ideology and Politics Journal 1, no. 12 (2020): 99–115. https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85096943884&partnerID=40&md5=86bb10829c337452f8ce36108577003f.
Driest, Simone F. van den. “Crimea’s Separation from Ukraine: An Analysis of the Right to Self-Determination and (Remedial) Secession in International Law.” Netherlands International Law Review 62, no. 3 (December 30, 2015): 329–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40802-015-0043-9.
Dwi Saputra, Yogi, and Ramlan Ramlan. “Penerapan Prinsip Self Determination Terhadap Pembentukan Negara Kosovo Ditinjau Dari Perspektif Hukum Internasional.” Uti Possidetis: Journal of International Law 1, no. 2 (2020): 193–223. https://doi.org/10.22437/up.v1i2.9867.
Esterhuysen, Pieter. Africa at a Glance: Facts and Figures. Africa Institute of South Africa, 2008.
Gamarra, Yolanda. “Secesión, Derecho de Libre Determinación y Referéndums En Los Territorios Ocupados de Ucrania.” Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional 40 (April 24, 2024): 537–78. https://doi.org/10.15581/010.40.537-578.
George Jain, Abhimanyu. “Bangladesh and the Right of Remedial Secession.” In Research Handbook on Secession, 312–28. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788971751.00031.
Germann, Micha, and Nicholas Sambanis. “Political Exclusion, Lost Autonomy, and Escalating Conflict over Self-Determination.” International Organization 75, no. 1 (2021): 178–203. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818320000557.
Gourgey, Percy S. “The Middle East and the India-Pakistan Conflict.” The Scribe: Journal of the Descendants of Babylonian Jewry 1, no. 3 (1972): 13.
Hasani, Enver. “Self-Determination, Territorial Integrity, and International Stability: The Case of Yugoslavia,” 111. Vienna: Gjon Buzuku, 2013.
Home Office UK Border Agency. “Republic of Sudan: Country of Origin Information (COI).” London, UK, 2012.
Human Rights Watch. “Ukraine: Conflict Violations on Both Sides.” New York, 2016.
———. “Ukraine: Events of 2014. World Report,” 2015.
———. “World Report 2023: Ukraine — Events of 2022.” New York, 2023.
International Court of Justice. Advisory Opinion on the Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo (2010).
Jok, Jok Madut. Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2007.
Kakehamad, Karwan Karimkhan, and Mohammed Ehsan. “Evaluation of Theory of Remedial Secession in International Law and Its Corresponds to the Demand for Independence of the Kurdistan Region.” Twejer 7, no. 1 (July 2024): 623–48. https://doi.org/10.31918/twejer.2471.22.
Kohen, Marcelo G. “Secession: International Law Perspectives,” 104. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Korotkyi, Tymur, and Nataliia Hendel. “The Legal Status of the Donetsk and Luhansk ‘Peoples’’ Republics",’” 145–70. The Hague: TMC Asser Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-222-4_7.
Kuzio, Taras. “Russian Stereotypes and Myths of Ukraine and Ukrainians and Why Novorossiya Failed.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 52, no. 4 (2019): 297–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2019.10.007.
Laruelle, Marlene. “Introduction to the Special Issue: The Donbas Conflict.” Nationalities Papers 47, no. 5 (2019): 715–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2019.42.
Lefkowitz, David. “A Critical Introduction.” In Philosophy and International Law, 207, 2020.
Levinskas, Rokas. “Whether There Is a Right to Remedial Secession under International Law?” Law Review 20 (2019): 44–67. https://doi.org/10.7220/2029-4239.20.3.
Lu, Jing. “Exploring the Legal Color of Secession.” In On State Secession from International Law Perspectives, 33–94. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97448-4_2.
Marples, David R. The War in Ukraine’s Donbas: Origins, Contexts, and the Future. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2021.
McKay, Alasdair. “Introductory Notes.” In Year One of a Nation: South Sudan’s Independence, 5. London: E-International Relations, 2012.
Mehmood, Fatima. “Demystifying External Self-Determination and Remedial Secession in International Law.” Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law 23, no. 1 (February 16, 2022): 1–46. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718158-23010001.
Miklasová, Júlia. “Russian Approaches to Post-Soviet Secession: Bad Faith Argumentation and Its Limits.” Baltic Yearbook of International Law Online 22, no. 1 (December 9, 2024): 64–87. https://doi.org/10.1163/22115897_02201_005.
Minority Rights Group International. “World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples–Sudan: Nuba,” 2018.
Nanda, Ved P. “Self–Determination in International Law: The Tragic Tale of Two Cities–Islamabad (West Pakistan) and Dacca (East Pakistan).” American Journal of International Law 66, no. 2 (1972): 321–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/2199032.
Nankobe, Vitalis Mbah. “The Secession of Crimea from Ukraine: An International Law Perspective.” Journal of Global Social Sciences 2, no. 6 (June 1, 2021): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.31039/jgss.v2i6.29.
Nwankwo, Arthur Agwuncha. Nigeria: The Challenge of Biafra. 3rd ed. Fourth Dimension, 1980.
Oktorino, Nino. Ukraina: The Road to Armageddon. Jakarta: PT Elex Media Komputindo, 2022.
Omidi, Ali. “Analyzing the Compatibility of the Remedial Right of Secession with Regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict.” Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia 11, no. 2 (July 2022): 167–91. https://doi.org/10.1353/reg.2022.0011.
Pavlović, Jovica, Aleksandar Pavković, and Miša Đurković. “Nations, Corrective Justice and State Creation: How Normative Are Normative Remedial Theories of Secession?” Nations and Nationalism, December 29, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.13079.
Perea Unceta, José Antonio. “The Absence of Any Basis for Secession in the Right of Self-Determination of Peoples and in the Serious Violations of Human Rights.” In Legal Implications of Territorial Secession in Spain, 1–31. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04609-4_1.
Permana, Deni Yusup. “Russia’s Violation of the Principle of Non-Intervention Against Ukraine in the Perspective of International Law.” HERMENEUTIKA : Jurnal Ilmu Hukum 6, no. 2 (2022): 226–34. https://doi.org/10.33603/hermeneutika.v6i2.7448.
Planck, Max. “Encyclopedia of Public International Law.” Oxford University Press, 2011.
Rahami, R, and M A Bahmaniqajar. “Prohibition of Annexation and Remedial Secession Theory in the Crimean Crisis.” Central Eurasia Studies 13, no. 1 (2020): 47–70. https://doi.org/10.22059/jcep.2019.286616.449862.
Raic, David. “Statehood and the Law of Self-Determination,” 178. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047403388.
Rummel, Rudolph J. Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900. Münster; Piscataway, N.J.: LIT Verlag / Transaction Publishers, 1998.
Salman, Salman M. a. “South Sudan Road to Independence: Broken Promises and Lost Opportunities.” Pacific McGeorge Global Business & Development Law Journal 26, no. 2 (2013): 343.
Secretariat of the International Commission of Jurists. “The Events in East Pakistan, 1971: A Legal Study.” Geneva, 1972.
Seymour, Michel. “Remedial Secession.” In Routledge Handbook of State Recognition, 174–88. Abingdon, Oxon; New York : Routledge, 2020.: Routledge, 2019. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351131759-14.
Sujatmoko, Andrey. “Hukum HAM Dan Hukum Humaniter,” 141. Jakarta: Rajagrafindo Persada, 2015.
Supreme Court of Canada. Reference re Secession of Quebec (1998).
Szpak, Agnieszka. “Ukraine: Remedial Secession and Russian Aggression.” Journal of Contemporary European Studies 31, no. 3 (July 3, 2023): 1012–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2022.2106956.
The Carter Center. “Observing the 2011 Referendum on the Self-Determination of Southern Sudan: Final Report.” Atlanta, GA, 2011.
Thomas, Edward. South Sudan: A Slow Liberation. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
Tomuschat, Christian. “Yugoslavia’s Damaged Sovereignty over the Province of Kosovo,” 344. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Triyana, H J. “Relevance Of The Remedial Secession Theory For Indonesia’s Territorial Integrity.” Indonesian Journal of International Law 21, no. 1 (2023): 107–50. https://doi.org/10.17304/ijil.vol21.1.5.
Tzimas, Themistoklis. “The Impact of the Minsk Agreements on Ukrainian Sovereignty.” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 26, no. 4 (July 3, 2024): 432–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2024.2307808.
UNESCO. Division of Human Rights and Peace. “Final Report and Recommendations: International Meeting of Experts on Further Study of the Concept of the Rights of Peoples.” Paris, 1989.
United Nations. “Charter of the United Nations: Article 1(2) & Article 55,” 1945.
———. Charter of the United Nations, Pub. L. No. Article 2(4) (1945).
———. “So-Called Referenda during Armed Conflict in Ukraine ‘Illegal’, Not Expressing Popular Will, United Nations Political Affairs Chief Tells Security Council,” 2022.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). “International Meeting of Experts for the Elucidation of the Concepts of Rights of Peoples.” Paris, 1990.
United Nations General Assembly. “Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly on 27 March 2014, 68/262 Territorial Integrity of Ukraine, A/RES/68/262.” United Nations Sixty-Eighth Session Agenda Ite, no. April (2014): 1–2.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine: 1 August 2022 – 31 January 2023. 2023. Pg. 12.,” 2022.
Vidmar, Jure. “Remedial Secession in International Law: Theory and (Lack of) Practice.” St Antony’s International Review 6, no. 1 (2010): 37–56. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2060318.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Muhammad Ryan Ramadhani Miano, Irawati Handayani, Diajeng Wulan Cristianti
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
