[The first section of this article, apart from providing a brief justification of our right to self determination, explains the basis of this right in international law, and sheds light on other competing norms which restrict the scope of this right and recent trends which are expected to positively influence its observance. Given the length of this article, I advise readers who are already well-versed on these matters to skip the first section altogether and begin reading from the section titled “The Impediments & the Stumbling Blocks”. Many thanks!]
Tibet, Self-Determination & International Law
The right to self-determination is a well-established norm of international law. The common article 1 of the two human rights covenants states: “All people 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.” That is to say, the right to self determination provides a disaffected group which satisfies the definition of a “people”, the freedom to decide upon its political future by choosing from a continuum of possible options ranging from independence to a multitude of internal arrangements short of independence such as autonomy, free association and integration. It is, thus, customary to speak of two variants of this collective right i.e. external self-determination which when exercised leads to secession of the territory inhabited by the disaffected people from the metropolitan state, and internal self-determination which affords the said group greater say in regulating its political, economic, social and cultural life whilst remaining a part of the metropolitan state. Self-determination is, therefore, a procedural right which is ordinarily accomplished through a referendum.
