Liberland’s Claim To Independence

Liberland is situated at an unclaimed parcel of land on the western bank of the Danube river between Croatia and Serbia.

Liberland’s claim to independence is an interesting one. Such allegations of border irregularities that leave territory free from ownership by nearby states are not new. The most significant hurdle for the claimant is becoming strong enough to retain the territory from their much larger neighbours. 

Sealand’s claim to independence comes from when the UK built the island fortress in international waters illegally. However, because this took place during a time of war, other nearby states failed to object to it. The fort was abandoned a few years after the war; in reality, the UK had a duty to remove it, which they failed to do. It was left as Terra Nullius or no man’s land according to Jus Gentium (Roman international law which modern states still refer to on such matters). After our Declaration of Independence in 1967, the British government blew up the ‘Sunk Head’ fort which was the last remaining fortress they had built during the war in international waters. They tried to regain possession of our fort by purchasing it from us and also a considerable amount of skullduggery. 

Fortunately, on the whole, the UK is probably the most law-abiding nation in the world, and we managed to retain possession. Since then, the UK has extended its territorial waters to twelve miles (UNCLOS 1982). We also extended ours and contended that there should be a median line between the two as it is between the Channel Islands and France.

We also have over the years obtained De Facto recognition from other states, the most memorable of which was a visit by the German ambassador during an international incident in 1978.

We wish Liberland every success in their very interesting endeavour and will be watching closely.