Catalan Separatism from the Viewpoint of the Right of Self-Determination in International Law

This article analyzes the crisis of secession in the Catalan region of Spsin in terms of  the right to self-determination in international law. The focus of this paper is on the application of this rule to non-colonial situations. While applying the right to self-determination in colonial situation is well-established and the people of these lands can create their own government under this rule, serious doubts have been raised about the right of self-determination outside the colonial situations. There is no consensus about the right to remedial secession under international law. This article tries to examine the customary law and the most important international instruments dealing with the right to self-determination, in particular the right of Catalan ethnic minority in Spain to form a new state. It is concluded that the Catalan authorities’ reliance on this right for declaring independence faces serious legal difficulties.