RELEVANT PRINCIPLE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
The right of self-determination is really recognized and given top priority
with the UN Charter written in 1945. Since then it has become a cornerstone
legal principle throughout international law.
The right of self-determination is the right of a people to control their
own social and political and cultural destiny, identity, and development.
It is a complement to the principle of respecting human rights because
that tends to apply to respecting the rights of the individual, whereas
the right of self-determination is on the level of a society - of the
cultural group of individuals.
It also reflects the priority of the world community to get rid of racism
and colonialism on the level of entire societies, in addition to that
suffered by individuals.
It also is important because it gives recognition to groups of people
who are not organized in states yet, the traditional legal entity which
international law has been applied to since its creation.
The willingness of the international community to monitor the human
rights practices of nations represents a major departure for international
law from the long-standing principle that states do not interfere in the
internal or external activities of a fellow state unless they directly
affect them.
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RELEVANT QUOTES FROM TEXTS
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- UN Charter (1945),
article 2, para. 4:
Article 1. The Purposes of the United Nations are:
- 1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
- 2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
- 3. To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion...
Article 2. The Organization and its Members,
in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act
in accordance with the following Principles.
- Paragraph 4. All Members shall refrain
in their international relations from the threat or use
of force against the territorial integrity or political
independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent
with the Purposes of the United Nations.
Article 55. With a view to the creation of conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, the United Nations shall promote:
- a. higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development;
- b. solutions of international economic, social, health, and related problems; and international cultural and educational cooperation; and
- c. universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.
Article 56. All Members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55.
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- Declaration
On Principles Of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations
And Co-Operation Among States In Accordance With The Charter Of
The United Nations (1970), Principle 1:
PRINCIPLE 1: The principle that
States shall refrain in their international relations from
the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity
or political independence of any State, or in any other
manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.
PRINCIPLE 5: The principle of
equal rights and self-determination of peoples
By virtue of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, all peoples have the right freely to determine, without external interference, their political status and to pursue their economic, social and cultural development, and every State has the duty to respect this right in accordance with the provisions of the Charter.
Every State has the duty to promote, through joint and separate action, realization of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter, and to render assistance to the United Nations in carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to it by the Charter regarding the implementation of the principle, in order:
- (a) To promote friendly relations and co-operation among States; and
- (b) To bring a speedy end to colonialism, having due regard to the freely expressed will of the peoples concerned;
and bearing in mind that subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a violation of the principle, as well as a denial of fundamental human rights, and is contrary to the Charter.
Every State has the duty to promote through joint and separate action universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Charter.
The establishment of a sovereign and independent State, the free association or integration with an independent State or the emergence into any other political status freely determined by a people constitute modes of implementing the right of self-determination by that people.
Every State has the duty to refrain from any forcible action which deprives peoples referred to above in the elaboration of the present principle of their right to self- determination and freedom and independence. In their actions against, and resistance to, such forcible action in pursuit of the exercise of their right to self-determination, such peoples are entitled to seek and to receive support in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter.
The territory of a colony or other Non-Self-Governing Territory has, under the Charter, a status separate and distinct from the territory of the State administering it; and such separate and distinct status under the Charter shall exist until the people of the colony or Non-Self-Governing Territory have exercised their right of self-determination in accordance with the Charter, and particularly its purposes and principles. |
- International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 1(1) (16 December
1966):
Article 1.
- 1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By
virtue of that right they freely determine their political
status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural
development.
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- International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (16 December 1966),
article 1(1):
Article 1.
- 1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By
virtue of that right they freely determine their political
status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural
development.
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- Geneva
Conventions (Protocol I) (8 June 1977),
article 1(4):
Article 1. General principles and scope
of application:
- 1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for this Protocol in all circumstances.
- 2. In cases not covered by this Protocol or by other international agreements, civilians and combatants remain under the protection and authority of the principles of international law derived from established custom, from the principles of humanity and from dictates of public conscience.
- 3. This Protocol, which supplements the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 for the protection of war victims, shall apply in the situations referred to in Article 2 common to those Conventions.
- 4. The situations referred to in the preceding paragraph include armed conflicts which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
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- International
Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction
of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (9 July 2004),
paragraph 88:
| 88. The Court also notes that the principle
of self determination of peoples has been enshrined in the
United Nations Charter and reaffirmed by the General Assembly
in resolution 2625 (XXV) cited above, pursuant to which "Every
State has the duty to refrain from any forcible action which
deprives peoples referred to [in that resolution] . . . of
their right to self determination." Article 1 common to the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
reaffirms the right of all peoples to self determination,
and lays upon the States parties the obligation to promote
the realization of that right and to respect it, in conformity
with the provisions of the United Nations Charter.
The Court would recall that in 1971 it emphasized that current developments in "international law in regard to non self governing territories, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, made the principle of self determination applicable to all [such territories]". The Court went on to state that "These developments leave little doubt that the ultimate objective of the sacred trust" referred to in Article 22, paragraph 1, of the Covenant of the League of Nations "was the self determination . . . of the peoples concerned" (Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 31, paras. 52 53). The Court has referred to this principle on a number of occasions in its jurisprudence (ibid.; see also Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1975, p. 68, para. 162). The Court indeed made it clear that the right of peoples to self determination is today a right erga omnes (see East Timor (Portugal v. Australia), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1995, p. 102, para. 29).
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