ITEM 5: The Right of peoples to self-determination
The Right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation.
Mr Chairperson,
Two days ago, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan addressed this august body. Echoing the Vienna Declaration that interrelates self-determination with democracy and representative government[1] he stated that the during the Bonn talks on Afghanistan "various Afghan factions clearly manifested their desire and determination to embark on a new road toward the formation of a representative government, promote reconciliation, lasting peace, stability, the right to self-determination and respect for human rights in Afghanistan" [2]. This clearly demonstrates that the right to self-determination should be seem as "an ongoing process of choice for the achievement of human security and fulfilment of human needs with a broad scope of possible outcomes and expressions suited to different specific situations"[3]
Human Security and Self-determination
This principle and fundamental right to self-determination of all peoples is firmly established in international law, including human rights law, and must be applied equally and universally. Logically this means the equality of all peoples before the law. Its arbitrary denial is among the root causes of human insecurity and institutionalises structural discrimination[4] of peoples at all levels of (inter)national society. Since "the key to enhancing human security is the pursuit of a comprehensive human rights agenda" [5], the realization of the right to self-determination obliges the UN to hear, examine, denounce and remedy its violations. This should be seen as a fundamental strategy to redress situations of discrimination of peoples and to prevent future conflicts. Their empowerment via the regulated exercise of self-determination is a proactive strategy to protect people from the negative consequences of globalisation and an essential contribution to the furtherance of tolerance and promotion of cultural pluralism.
September 11 attacks and its dreadful consequences have driven us even further away from the peaceful resolution of self-determination disputes. UN Security Council members rushed to equate self-determination movements with terrorists. A struggle against terrorism that ignores basic human rights and fundamental freedoms has the same result as terrorism itself, namely the suspension of the universal and common standards of humanity at all time and place, for all actors. The Special Rapporteur on Terrorism and Human Rights, recalling that those States with best human rights records and conducting themselves in conformity with UN Charter standards are least affected by domestic and international terrorism, concluded that "an obvious step to reduce terrorism is the full realisation of human rights( …) in particular in relation to self-determination[6]"
United Nations and the right to self-determination
In recent years the UN has been addressing self-determination disputes but never as a part of its conflict prevention strategy. Only after massacres of genocidal proportions, the UN Security Council decided to intervene by setting up transitional administrations in East Timor and Kosovo. Biassed application of self-determination makes however that many other, and equally urgent, self-determination disputes on the five continents are in sufficiently addressed or not at all. These cases include, but are not limited to, Palestine, Western Sahara, Kashmir, Tibet, East Turkestan, Chechenya, Zanzibar, Cabinda, West-Papua, Aceh, Puerto Rico. In this context, the recent Union of States between Serbia and Montenegro reminds of the wide range of forms of self-government as possible outcomes of exercising self-determination.
Special reference should be made to the role of treaty monitoring bodies. In several of its Concluding Observations the Human Right Committee gave a new dimension to the sovereignty of indigenous peoples over their natural ressources, as an intrinsic part of their right to self-determination[7]. The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people are key instruments in addressing the violation of the indigenous peoples right to self-determination.
The full realisation of self-determination as a part of a culture of prevention
The reconceptualisation of self-determination in the context of globalisation, its realisation as an integral part of the full realisation of all human rights, as well as addressing its violation as a root cause of threats to international peace and security, good governance and sustainable development should lead the UN to device a framework capable to peacefully resolve victims' claims in a regulated manner on the basis of the rule of law. Such a rights-based framework would allow to balance the exercise of self-determination with the observance of other human rights, UN Charter principles and general interest of (inter)national society. In offering in that way its ear to the claimants, the UN prevents unilateral exercise of the right to self-determination, strengthens the concern of all actors for the full realization of all human rights, encourages States' effort to achieve real representative governance, increases the UN' s credibility and legitimacy in defending and promoting human rights, and makes substantial contribution to UN structural conflict prevention policy.
Recommendations
Pax Romana, therefore, recommends the Commission on Human Rights to request the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights to elaborate a working paper on the implementation of the right to self-determination as a contribution to international peace and security. This working paper should examine whether available UN procedures and mechanisms sufficiently address claims by victims stemming from violations of their right to self-determination.
[1] Viena Declaration and Programme of Action, Preamble, parra 2
[2] Address to the third meeting of the 58thsession Commission by Dr. J. Abdullah Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan
[3] Final Report of the UNESCO/Centre UNESCO de Catalunya Conference "The Implementation of the Right to Self-Determination as a Contribution to Conflict Prevention (Barcelona, 1998)
[4] In the sense of article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life."(ICERD, article 1)
[5] Report of the UN HCHR and follow up to the World Conference on Human Rights, E/CN.4/2002/18, parra 50
[6] Special Rapporteur on Terrorism and Human Rights, Mrs. K. Koufa in E/CN.4/2001/31, parra 129
[7]Cf. Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee, respectively concerning Mexico.(CCPR/C/79/Add.109), Norway CCPR/C/79/Add.112. Canada (CCPR/C/79/Add.105. and Australia. 24/07/2000.A/55/40,paras.498-528
