21st century colonialism : self-determination in today’s world

Abstract

Just under sixty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, which started the international movement against colonization resulting in tens of states achieving independence. Through the right to self-determination of peoples, empires came and went giving rise to an international community of freed people groups with political, social and economic self-determination. The right of self-determination today is applied restrictively and without certainty. Despite the respect it is shown internationally, the Declaration is redundant in application and outdated for modern times. The definition and application of the right to self-determination, the criteria for identification of peoples groups and the reluctance on the part of the international community especially the United Nations, to recognize self-determination movements beyond the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories has marked the shrouded future of the right. To adapt self-determination to the 20th Century and 21st Century, the international community must reconsider the status of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, particularly in light of the silence of the Charter on this right. It must reevaluate the relevance of this document today, and whether it is applicable to modern-day situations on the right to self-determination. The lacking definition of peoples, as well as the similarity between modern-day self determination movements and 20th Century movements, shows the need to properly adapt self-determination to the international law of today. Spain, Serbia and Israel can be considered to be in violation of their international obligations to preserve the human rights of their citizens, as a result of their choice to suppress self-determination movements in their territories. While it is clear that there exists a right to self determination on paper, it is uncertain whether any form of enforceability of this right exists today.