Secession revisited: general framework and lessons from the referenda in Catalonia and Kurdistan

The recent referenda held in Catalonia and Kurdish Iraq have reignited the debate over referenda, self-determination and unilateral secession and over the role of international law as a legal framework capable of governing and channelling those dramatic changes towards desired ends. The debate has been ever present in the Post Cold War period, considering that the number of states has increased from just over 150 to 196, with many of the new states emerging from non-consensual processes of separation. The present article assesses the general international legal framework applicable to secession, including the scope and content of principles such as territorial integrity, self-determination and uti possidetis and tests whether and to what extent the two recent separatist claims in Catalonia and Kurdistan fit into that framework. The lessons drawn are that international law is increasingly relevant to the regulation of secession and yet the practice related to the referendum in Catalonia highlights international law’s subsidiary regulatory function and the fact that, indeed, even in the twenty-first century, international law may, in some cases, remain neutral in secession attempts.