Joint Statement of Pax Romana and Saami Council

Item 12: Review of further developments in fields with which the Sub-Commission has been or may be concerned (b) Review of issues not previously the subject of studies but which the Sub-Commission had decided to examine (iii) International peace and security as an essential condition for the enjoyment of human rights, above all the right to life

Joint Statement of Pax Romana and Saami Council

Madam Chairperson,

1. The 1993 World Conference on Human Rights affirmed the crucial connection between international peace and security, and the rule of law and human rights, placing them all within the larger context of democratisation and development. Entering the 21^st century, we witness the change in the global security situation, which was not the case at the beginning of the nineties. Parameters of peace and security are being altered by the transmutation of conflict - from the threat of total and nuclear war to limited wars; from inter-state wars to intra-state conflicts, and regular structured warfare to irregular, low-intensity conflicts. "The requirements of security today have come to embrace the protection of communities and individuals from internal violence." Rather "a more human cantered approach to security" with the emphasis, "security begins with prevention."

2. Under the ever-expanding thrust of globalisation, the historical roles of control exercised by the nation-state are being steadily transformed, in particular when attending to the fault lines appearing with the breakdown of social cohesion. Yet, as Mr. Yokota reminded us under Item 2 of the current Session, "the first duty of states is 'prevention'." He also states that "prevention is just as important and relevant for human rights as for peace," specifically in relation to present-day conflicts.Madame Chairperson,

3. Pax Romana in collaboration with the Saami Council, Unrepresented Nations and People's Organization (UNPO) and the UNESCO Centre, Barcelona convened a follow-up seminar on "Self-Determination and Conflict Transformation" on July 30 to 31, 2000 in Geneva, coinciding with the end of the 18^th Session of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples and the beginning of the current Session of the Sub Commission. Actually, one of the principal reasons for the follow-up was the involved discussion among the experts of the Sub-Commission on the right to self-determination during the 51^st Session, cutting across a number of agenda items, including women, indigenous peoples, minorities and country specific situations, including the intention of "an updating of terms such as the right to self-determination. This is very much in line with the interrupted studies on this question, the last one being presented at the 31^st Session of the Sub-Commission in 1978, when the then Special Rapporteur, Mr. Aurelieu Cristescu concluded that "the right to self-determination had become on of the most important and dynamic concepts," exercising "a profound influence on the political, legal, economic, social and cultural planes, in the matter of fundamental human rights, and on the life and fate of peoples and of individuals as such."

4. In this connection, we are equally encouraged by the Millennium Report of the UN Secretary-General, entitled "We the peoples: the role of the UN in the 21^st Century" that points out the loss of five million lives through conflicts, since the nineties. The report moves from people's perspectives towards priorities for member states, the leitmotif being prevention.

Madame Chairperson,

5. One of the main reasons for state breakdown has been the severity of conflicts between different and contradictory conceptions of a people. It is here we encounter "the problematic relationship between self-determination, democratisation and human rights. Some of the findings of the follow-up Seminar pointed out, within the context mentioned above, that

1. The right to self-determination in the broad sense is seen primarily as being rooted in basic human rights and as being relevant to the fundamental human impulse to be free and to construct alliances and political communities based upon this desire.Therefore, self-determination need to be understood as "an ongoing process of choice for the achievement of human security and fulfillment of human needs with a broad scope of possible outcomes and expressions suited to different specific situations"
2. The right to self-determination encompasses the right to development, right to democracy as well as the right to select its representatives through traditional indigenous mechanisms." The core issues are not restricted to civil and political aspects. Participants stressed that economic, social and cultural developments are often the basis for self-determination claims.
3. Participants emphasised the link between the realization of the right to self-determination and international peace and security, and that the pragmatic, nuances and problem-oriented bottom-up approach may contribute significantly to the universal realisation of the right to self-determination and form an essential tool for conflict prevention and resolution to enhance world peace and security.

6. Taking into consideration the above findings, as well as the fact that in our contemporary world the high increase in self-determination claims and the violent as well as non-violent intra state conflicts have serious implications for international peace and security, Pax Romana therefore urges the Sub-Commission to elaborate a working paper (without financial implications) on the implementation of the right to self-determination as a contribution to international peace and security, including in an internal colonization context.

7. This working paper should provide an update, a thematic and horizontal overview in relation to other agenda items of the Sub-Commissions. This overview should lead to the re-conceptualisation of the right to self-determination in a broad sense as well as of how treaty bodies and other UN mechanisms can effectively implement it, with a view towards conflict prevention. One line of analysis could look into available practices, gaining better insight into the accommodation of self-determination claims and the causes why such arrangements work or do not work. As Isaiah Berlin puts it "I do not wish to abandon the idea of a world which is a reasonably peaceful coat of many colours, each portion of which develops its own distinct cultural identity and is tolerant of others."

Thank you, Madam Chairperson.