Los Estados fracasados y el Derecho internacional: el caso de Somalia

Abstract

The unusual increasing levels of organized criminal acts off the Somali coast, namely in sovereign waters, in waters under Somalia’s jurisdiction and also in the high seas, raised the international interest in this country which was long time ago characterized as a failed State. This phenomenon is only one of the multiple consequences that a failed State may face. The case of Somalia, in the context of two other noteworthy cases, i. e. Afghanistan and DR Congo, provides the possibility to enrich the debate on the notion of failed States and its consequences vis a vis international law. The notion of «failed State» reached a general consensus with respect to its central element, that is to say, the disappearance of the political organization in charge of the implementation of the State functions, in the domestic area as well as in the international field. We must point out those elements belonging to the international order, such as the incapacity of a failed State to comply with its international obligations, not only in relation to the protection of human rights and to the international humanitarian law, as is commonly
stressed, but in general terms. However, so far, the international law has not provided for some mechanisms to change the status of a failed State. Furthermore, the institutional legal framework has reacted in a conservative way in the sense that it put the focus on the stabilization of those States without changing the praxis relating to the following fundamental principles: sovereignty, territorial integrity, non intervention or the prohibition of the use of force. Otherwise, the international status of the State is shielded from its own failure.