Reframing self-determination in contemporary international law

Abstract

Since its inclusion in the Charter of the United Nations, self-determination has developed from a legal principle to a right of peoples to self-governance, and was crucial in the decolonization process. The end of the Cold War saw the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, out of which new states formed under the banner of pursuing self-determination. As such, the term came to connote secession, although there is no legal premise for such a notion. International law has largely remained silent on this shift, which has allowed self-determination movements to claim secession as they engage in struggle with resisting parent states, who call for their territorial integrity to be respected. Data on self-determination movements and territorial change from 1945-2012 show that while there has not yet been large scale territorial change, movements exist in a majority of states calling for some degree of increased autonomy. Events in Ukraine since 2013 underscore the need for clarification on the meaning of a contemporary version of self-determination. It is argued that such clarification should involve the reframing of selfdetermination as a human right, not a right to secession, and a procedural mechanism should be established to ensure respect for self-determination of all peoples is enforced.