Locus standi and de facto entities The right to justice in the “self-proclaimed” authorities of the post-soviet area

Abstract

The present dissertation aims at understanding how the de facto states of the post-soviet area, and the people living there, can have access to international justice. In the first chapter, it will be analysed the notion of locus standi, namely the right or ability to appear in a court. It will be demonstrated how this concept has developed during the years and how individuals have become subjects of international law, especially under the European Convention of Human Rights that grants the right to individual petition and the standing of individuals before the ECtHR. The second part will focus on the concepts of statehood, recognition, and self-determination and on their relevance under international law. Then it will be examined the concept of de facto authority with the help of five emblematic historical case studies: Somaliland, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Taiwan, Kosovo and the one concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the last chapter, the five “self-proclaimed” regions of the post-soviet area chosen for this study - namely Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Crimea – will be studied from a historical and legal perspective. The jurisprudence of the ECtHR related to these territories will be examined to show the degree of international legal personality they own and the importance of their relations with their “patron” and “mother” states. To conclude, the main outcomes of this work will be presented.