Self-Determination of Colonial Peoples – The Case of Greenland Revisited

2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Elo Rytter
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The People ◽  
Right Of Self Determination

AbstractIn 1953 Greenland, having been a Danish colony for centuries, became an integral part of the Danish realm. The General Assembly in resolution 849 recognised this change of status as an exercise by the people of Greenland of their right of self-determination. Subsequently, however, some scholars have questioned the validity under international law of Greenland's change of status, referring to non-fulfilment of certain substantive and procedural requirements of the exercise of colonial self-determination. Addressing this criticism the article concludes that, based on the norms and standards applicable at the relevant time, there is not a sufficient basis for challenging the validity of Greenland's integration with Denmark in 1953 and the General Assembly's endorsement thereof. Consequently, in legal terms, Greenland cannot today claim a continued right of external self-determination, including independence from Denmark.

Decolonization in International Law

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai Taha
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
International Law ◽  
Third World ◽  
International Economic Order ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Economic Order ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Third World

In Gillo Pontecorvo’s evocative film The Battle of Algiers (1966), viewers reach the conclusion that the fight against colonialism would not be fought at the UN General Assembly. Decolonization would take place through the organized resistance of colonized people. Still, the 1945 United Nations Charter and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights provided some legal basis, albeit tenuous, for self-determination. When Third World leaders assembled in the 1955 Bandung Conference, it became clear that the UN needed to shift gears on the question of decolonization. By 1960, and through a show of Asian and African votes at the General Assembly, the Declaration for the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was adopted, effectively outlawing colonialism and affirming the right of all peoples to self-determination. Afro-Asian solidarity took a different form in the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, which founded the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The conference gathered leftist activists and leaders from across the Third World, who would later inspire radical movements and scholarship on decolonization and anticolonial socialism. This would also influence the adoption of the 1974 Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order and later lead to UNESCO’s series that starts with Mohammed Bedjaoui’s famous overture, Towards a New International Economic Order (1979; cited as Bedjaoui 1979 under the Decolonization “Moment”). This article situates this history within important international-law scholarship on decolonization. First, it introduces different approaches to decolonization and international law; namely, postcolonial, Marxist, feminist, and Indigenous approaches. Second, it highlights seminal texts on international law and the colonial encounter. Third, it focuses on scholarship that captures the spirit of the “decolonization moment” as a political and temporal rupture, but also as a continuity, addressing, fourth, decolonization and neocolonial practices. Finally, this article ends with some of the most important works on international law and settler colonialism in the 21st century.

scholarly journals History of self-determination of the people of Donbass. experience of the Soviet Republic of Donetsk and Krivoy Rog

2019 ◽  
pp. 148-152
Author(s):  
Vladislav V. Gruzdev ◽  
Dmitriy A. Babichev ◽  
Natal'ya A. Babicheva
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Political Status ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Right ◽  
Historical Past

The article is devoted to the burning problem that arose in 2014 in the Ukraine, in the regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, and that concerns the right of the people of Donbass to self-determination. This problem is not only of a local territorial nature, but it is also one of the most complex debatable problems of international law. Since the right to self-determination contradicts the principle of territorial integrity of the state, the consideration and solution of this issue is the most burning for the whole population living on the territory of the self-proclaimed people's republics of Lugansk and Donetsk. In the article, the authors analyse the concept of "self-determination of the people" and give a generalised characteristic of it, approving that it is the right of every nation to solve the issues of state structure, political status, economic, social and cultural development independently and at its own discretion. The author also examines the historical past of the people of Donbass, where, in terms of the Republic of Donetsk and Krivoy Rog and various documentary historical and legal materials, we come to the conclusion that the population of Donbass has the right to social, economic, cultural, spiritual and other development just as all the recognised countries of the world.

scholarly journals Disentangling the conundrum of self-determination and its implications in Greenland

Polar Record ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothée Céline Cambou
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Significant Control ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Self Determination

Abstract In 2009, the Act on Greenland Self-Government was adopted. It recognises that “the people of Greenland is a people pursuant to international law with the right of self-determination”. Within this framework, the people of Greenland have gained significant control over their own affairs and the right to access to independence. Yet, the extent to which this framework ensures the right of self-determination in accordance with fundamental human rights can still be questioned. From a human rights perspective, the right of self-determination is not a one-time right. It is fundamental human right that applies in different contexts beyond decolonisation and which has implications not only for colonial countries and peoples but also for the population of all territories, including indigenous and minority groups. From this perspective, this contribution seeks to disentangle and analyse the different facets of self-determination in Greenland while considering the implications of the right based on the multifarious identity of the peoples living in the country as colonial people, citizens, indigenous and minority groups, including their claim to control mining resources.

scholarly journals From High Hopes to Disillusionment: Indigenous Peoples' Struggle to (re)Gain Their Right to Self-determination

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Koivurova
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Draft Convention ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right

AbstractThis article will examine three international processes wherein the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples has been taken up: the process whereby the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration), the intention to negotiate a Nordic Saami Convention (Draft Convention) and the practice of the Human Rights Committee (HRC) in monitoring the observance of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Covenant). All of these processes have enunciated indigenous peoples' right to self-determination, but any claim to such a right has met with resistance from the states, with the reasons for such resistance examined here. The aim is to study why it is so difficult to insert indigenous peoples into international law as category and, in particular, to have states accept their right to self-determination. In the conclusions, it is useful to ask whether the problems experienced in promoting the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples are mere setbacks or whether they contain elements that might inform the international movement of indigenous peoples more generally.

PAKISTAN-INDIA CONFLICT AND THE RIGHT OF SELF-DETERMINATION OF KASHMIR

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
Yordan Gunawan ◽  
Desi Nur Cahya Kusuma Putri ◽  
Ravenska Marchdiva Sienda ◽  
Sigit Rosidi ◽  
Ami Cintia Melinda
Keyword(s):  
Self Determination ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Indian Government ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Self Determination

The dispute in Jammu and Kashmir has been tensed by the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution by the Indian government in the end of 2019. The existence of Kashmir has become one of matters as the main focus between India-Pakistan conflicts. People are under diverse senses of de facto and de jure martial law. Estimated from 1990, thereabouts 70,000 people have been killed, 8,000 people have been subjected to enforced disappearances, thousand of them also victims of repressive laws and Indian security forces humiliate the protestors and detainees frequently. The research is normative legal research by using statute approach and case approach through literature review. The research aims to discuss and analyze the implementation of the rights of self-determination pursuant to Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. The results of the study indicate all the disputes should be ended by giving the right to self-determination, which should be given to the people of Kashmir, thus the disputes between the two countries can be resolved properly and making a clarity of Kashmir status.

The Right of Secession in Public International Law

1983 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 24-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Turp
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Community ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
United Nations Charter ◽  
Right Of Self Determination

SummaryIn light of the numerous secessionist claims witnessed by the international community, it is of great interest to ascertain if international law provides for a right of secessionist self-determination. An analysis of treaty provisions encompassing the right of self-determination of peoples, namely the United Nations Charter and the Human Rights Covenants, suggests that the latter treaties consecrate an authentic right to secede. Such a right appears to be unhindered by any customary norm which would prohibit secession as a means of implementation of the right of self-determination of peoples, seeing that the practice of States is clearly divided on the issue of secession. It is submitted, however, that there is a need for more detached criteria with respect to the right of secession, its beneficiaries and its conditions of exercise and, consequently, for an acknowledgement, to the benefit of the international community as a whole, of the legitimacy of national affirmations and secessionist claims.

scholarly journals The issue of justification of application of the principle of self-determination of peoples by separatist formations in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Klymenko Kyrylo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
International Community ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The People ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right

The article provides an analysis of the possibility of separatist formations in Ukraine to refer to the principle of self-determination of peoples as a justification for their activities. The minimum necessary criteria of legal bases for self-determination are considered, among which: the existence of effective connection of the subject of self-determination with a certain territory; the existence of the subject itself, i.e., the people (ethnic group), which claims self-determination; and the recognition by the international community of such a potential entity as the bearer of the right to self-determination. Regarding the connection with the territory, the doctrine of international law and practice recognizes the right to cultural and national self-determination in a particular territory for any ethnic group. This right is limited to the common interests of all the people of the state, which consists in the unconditional preservation of the inviolability and integrity of its territory. As for the existence of the subject of self-determination, the people is recognized as the historical community of people formed in a certain area and have stable features of the language, culture, and mental composition (mentality), as well as aware of their unity and difference from others through conscious self-name. At the same time, diasporas and migrants must be subject to the laws of the country of residence under the right of citizenship or the right of permanent residence. As for the recognition of the subject of self-determination by the international community, it may recognize as the people those who are under colonial rule, occupation by a foreign state, or against whom a policy of racism is pursued. Thus, international law does not protect separatist movements aimed at secession if they do not meet these criteria. This means that separatist formations in Ukraine do not have the right to secession but are terrorist organizations in terms of their methods of activity. Keywords: people, international recognition, right to self-determination, secession, territory

The Right of Nations to Self-Determination in the Context of the Regaining of Independence by Poland — an International-Law Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol Special Issue ◽  
pp. 7-14
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Andrzejczak-Świątek
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
World War ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right

This article aims to show the problem of self-determination of the people in the light of contemporary standards of international law, as well as to compare them with the factual and legal basis of regaining independence by Poland in 1918. The principle of the right of people to self-determination as one of the basic rules of international law was proclaimed only after World War II, however, concepts conferring on the population living in a given territory to decide about themselves appeared before the French Revolution. The issue of the right to self-determination of people is extremely complex — after World War II, there was in this respect the development of treaty guarantees concluded with international agreements for the system of human rights protection, which sanctioned this right as the only subjective collective right. On the other hand, the practice of contemporary states on this issue is not uniform and largely depends on the acceptance of the facts by the international community. From the point of view of developing the right to self-determination of people, and thus the right to independence, the case of Poland is extremely interesting not only because of the historical and political background, but also because it can be treated as a precedent in international law in the context of recognition and acceptance of independence by the state.

scholarly journals Decisions of the Grand national assembly from the perspective of the contemporary international law on people's self determination

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 383-404
Author(s):  
Mihajlo Vučić
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Political Dimension ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
The People ◽  
Normative Content

Right to self-determination has in the last hundred years been developed through a string of international legal acts and a string of different contexts of international relations. This fact has influenced its contemporary normative content which is not stripped of political dimension. The author identifies in the article four criteria which are the key to full enjoyment of contemporary right of self-determination. These are: permanent and heavy breaches of rights of the people who requests self-determination from the state authorities, weak central government in the territory where this people lives, creation of people's own authorities who can effectively control this territory, support of great powers. Author analyzes the case of self-determination of peoples in Vojvodina to incorporate themselves into Kingdom of Serbia through the prism of these criteria and concludes that from the point of view of contemporary international law this incorporation would be perfectly legal.

Self-Determination during the Cold War: UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (1960), the Prohibition of Partition, and the Establishment of the British Indian Ocean Territory (1965)

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 419-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Kattan
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
West Africa ◽  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
South West ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
Un General Assembly

This article uses the history of partition to assess when self-determination became a rule of customary international law prohibiting partition as a method of decolonization. In so doing it revisits the partitions of Indochina, Korea, India, Palestine, Cyprus, South Africa, and South West Africa, and explains that UN practice underwent a transformation when the UN General Assembly opposed the United Kingdom’s partition proposals for Cyprus in 1958. Two years later, the UN General Assembly condemned any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country in Resolution 1514 (1960). The illegality of partition under customary international law was raised during the second phase of the South West Africa Cases (1960–1966) in respect of South Africa’s homelands policy, but the International Court of Justice (ICJ) infamously did not address the merits of those cases. The illegality of partition was also raised in the arbitration between the United Kingdom and Mauritius over the establishment of the British Indian Ocean Territory in 1965. Like the ICJ in the South West Africa Cases, the Arbitral Tribunal decided that it did not have jurisdiction to address the legality of the British excision of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, even though the legality of the excision was argued at length between counsels for Mauritius and the United Kingdom in their oral pleadings and written statements. However, in their joint dissenting opinion, Judge Rüdiger Wolfrum and Judge James Kateka expressed their opinion that self-determination had developed before 1965, and that consequently the partition was unlawful. This paper agrees that selfdetermination prohibited the partition of Mauritius to establish the British Indian Ocean Territory, a new colony, in 1965 although self-determination probably did not emerge as a rule of customary international law until the adoption of the human rights covenants in 1966, after the excision of the Chagos Archipelago in 1965, but before the passage of the Mauritius Independence Act in 1968.

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