Limits to human rights obligations of secessionist entities: protection gap uncertainty and legitimation of illegality

Júlia Miklasová

Chapter 5 in Human Rights Accountability of Non-Universally Recognised States and State-Like Entities, 2026, pp 86-109 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Recent international legal scholarship and human rights practice increasingly recognise that non-State actors exercising stable territorial control and government-like functions bear independent human rights obligations, often to close perceived protection and accountability gaps. Focusing on unrecognised State-like entities claiming statehood (‘secessionist entities’), this chapter questions the coherence of this approach. First, it challenges the protection-gap rationale by showing that where a third State exercises effective control in the ECHR context or complete dependence under general international law, human rights responsibility is already secured within a State-centred framework. Second, it examines the situations in which secessionist entities emerge from violations of jus cogens norms. It argues that the effects of such violations, especially the duty of non-recognition and the invalidity of acts, complicate the compatibility of separate obligations, particularly regarding the implementation of positive duties. The chapter rejects a blanket application of the Namibia exception and proposes a more nuanced framework integrating control, illegality and systemic coherence.

Keywords: Secessionist entity; Effective control; Accountability gap; Jus cogens norms; Namibia exception; European Convention on Human Rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035365128
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