The right of peoples to self-determination in the post soviet area: the case of Abkhazia

At the core of the Abkhazian case is the question of its legal status, that involves relevant international law issues such as the right to self-determination and the criteria for boundary delimitation between new States in the post-Soviet area. On the one hand, Georgia advances territorial claims on the Abkhazian territories affirming that Abkhazia is its integral part. On the other hand, the Abkhazian Republic states to be an independent and sovereign entity, which exercised sovereign rights on the mentioned territory. I analysed the general aspects the Soviet Union’s dissolution in order to determine which international law rules would apply to the boundary delimitation of the new States emerged from the USSR. I also examined in detail the status of both Abkhazia and Georgia at the moment of each one’s access to the Russian Empire and under its domain, and after its collapse; as well their statuses under the Soviet Union and during its de facto dissolution. The analysis of the Abkhazian case is very useful for the study of international law issues related to State-building and secession. At the same time, it raises many issues concerning the right to self-determination and the right to secession outside the colonial context. It also reaffirms the dominant theory about the declarative effect of recognition in line with Professor Arangio-Ruiz’s doctrine on factual nature of the international personality of the States.