Necessity of “State Succession on International Responsibility” in the perspective of International Law: Conception and Challenges

Consequences of succession of states in respect of international responsibility, or state succession on international responsibility has been dealt with international law doctrines. The issue was postponed by international law commission (ILC) for many years, due to the highly controversial and dubious thoughts. There is a fundamental debate on the concept and existence, not merely the domain, of state succession on international responsibility, despite the other consequences of succession. Clarifying the conceptual framework, following the limitative categorization on the basis of legal deterioration or continuity of original state, the present paper saught to illuminate the conception in question has been in the process of rulemaking and showed that this international legal perception, despite the prima facie contradiction between the said conception and two main principles of international law, the principles of independent responsibility and clean slate, in fact, has been in harmony with its essence. The necessity of reparation and the linkage between population, territory and the successor state, and the objectivity of rights and obligations, requires transferring responsibility to the successor state. The said perception is regarded as the other exception to the mentioned principles, logically.