Mere change of political status may not ensure a people's freedom to pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Would there still be the urge for self-determination if people are able to get this freedom? In many cases, democracy and federalism can satisfy the urge for self-determination better than secession and independence.

India was among those countries which had insisted on adding recognition of right of all peoples to self-determination to the International Bill of Human Rights which the United Nations adopted in 1976 to give a legal form to the rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1948. By virtue of this right people freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

As long as this principle was applied to the liberation struggle of the colonies, there was not much controversy. For colonial rule had lost its moral and political legitimacy in the post-war period. Thereafter, gradually colonial powers conceded independence to the colonies either voluntarily or after violent or non-violent struggles of the people of the colonies in pursuit of their right of self-determination. Till then the right was synonymous with independence. But ethnic consciousness, inequitable growth, concentration of political power and other real or perceived grievances have encouraged some communities in many nations to seek a distinct and separate identity, which in some cases assert their right of self-determination. The phenomenon is particularly pronounced in the case of geographically and emotionally peripheral communities away from the centre of power. But after decolonisation, their pursuit of the right, through constitutional or non-constitutional means, with or without support of a foreign power, became a source of controversy.

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QOSHE - Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and Right of Self-Determination - Balraj Puri
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Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and Right of Self-Determination

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24.03.2024

Mere change of political status may not ensure a people's freedom to pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Would there still be the urge for self-determination if people are able to get this freedom? In many cases, democracy and federalism can satisfy the urge for self-determination better than secession and independence.

India was among those countries which had insisted on adding recognition of right of all peoples to self-determination to the International Bill of Human Rights which the United Nations........

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