The Legal Effect of Effective Control over Territory

The chapter answers the question of whether international human rights treaties apply to the conduct of States in an area outside the effective control of the territorial State. In international human rights law, ‘jurisdiction’ is the principal criterion of the scope of application ratione loci of conventions. States and monitoring bodies have interpreted the notion of jurisdiction ratione loci first in cases related to the conduct of States beyond their borders (outside State), and later with regard to the territorial State in a part of its own territory outside its effective control. The chapter explains that the two States’ jurisdictions are concurrent and complementary.