By considering effectiveness beyond formal normative sources and titles of the subjects implicated in the territorial situation, international human rights law is interpreted and applied in a manner that renders human rights practical and effective in matters of the applicability and scope of international human rights obligations, international responsibility for their breaches and international monitoring mechanisms. This normalising role of international human rights law has an important limit, the rights of States under general international law, and three hidden consequences: the effective use of the residual powers by the territorial State; the consolidation of the subject de facto controlling the area; and an activism required from multiple actors.