Introduction

Secession attempts sometimes provoke external interventions. Such interventions can take various forms. They can take place by armed force, by economic coercion, or by political means, such as by means of recognition. Interventions can also originate from different actors. They can be undertaken by the United Nations, by another international organization, by a State or a group of States, or by Non-State actors. This article does not cover all possible forms of external intervention within secession processes, rather it concentrates on describing some general rules of international law that are applicable in such situations and on providing a few pertinent examples from international practice. The focus will be on the role of the United Nations (section II) and on armed intervention by third States, both at the invitation of the government concerned and without (section III).

Secession, as a legal term, means the – not necessarily forceful – breaking away of an integral part of the territory of a State and its subsequent establishment as a new State. This chapter, however, only deals with the rules that apply to a narrower concept of secession. Thus, we are not concerned with conflicts about internationally disputed territories, e.g. the cases of the Baltic States, Kashmir, Palestine, East-Timor, or the divided States such as China, Germany, Korea, Yemen. Cases of domestic conflict which merely contain a remote possibility that they will turn into a serious secession attempt such as the Basque country, Corsica and Scotland are also beyond the scope of the present work.