Editing Self-determination (section)

=== Self-determination versus territorial integrity ===

[[File:Kosova independence Vienna 17-02-2008 b.jpg|thumb|200px|Celebration of the [[2008 Kosovo declaration of independence|Declaration of Independence]] of [[Kosovo]] in 2008]]
National self-determination appears to challenge the principle of [[territorial integrity]] (or [[sovereignty]]) of states as it is the will of the people that makes a state legitimate. This implies that people should be free to choose their own state and its territorial boundaries. However, there are far more self-identified nations than there are existing states and there is no legal process to redraw state boundaries according to the will of these peoples.<ref name="Pavkovic" /> According to the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, the UN, ICJ and international law experts, there is no contradiction between the principles of self-determination and territorial integrity, with the latter taking precedence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.int/azerbaijan/pdf/unrep1.pdf |title=Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development. The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, Security Council, Sixty-third year/ General Assembly, Sixty-third session, Agenda items 13 and 18, A/63/664 – S/2008/823, 29 December 2008 |access-date=2012-03-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120120717/http://www.un.int/azerbaijan/pdf/unrep1.pdf |archive-date=January 20, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/transnational/vol101/vyver.pdf |author=Johan D. van der Vyver |title=Self-Determination of the Peoples of Quebec Under International Law |journal=Journal of Transnational Law & Policy |volume=10 |issue=1–38 |date=Fall 2000 |access-date=2012-03-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206211910/http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/transnational/vol101/vyver.pdf |archive-date=2012-02-06 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://cria-online.org/1_2.html |author=M. Mammadov |title=Legal Aspects of the Nagorno-Garabagh Conflict |journal=Caucasian Review of International Affairs |volume=1 |issue=1 |date=Winter 2006 |pages=14–30 |via=cria-online.org |access-date=2012-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402120053/http://cria-online.org/1_2.html |archive-date=2012-04-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ucss.ge/lecture%203%20-%20TI%20and%20NSD41.doc |author=S. Neil MacFarlane |title=Normative Conflict – Territorial Integrity and National Self-Determination |publisher=Centre for Social Sciences |date=December 14, 2010 |access-date=2012-03-04 |archive-date=2016-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428013355/http://ucss.ge/lecture |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:2014-05-11. Референдум в Донецке 011.jpg|thumb|[[2014 Donetsk and Luhansk status referendums|Donetsk status referendum]] organized by separatists in [[Ukraine]]. A line to enter a polling place, 11 May 2014]]

[[Allen Buchanan]], author of seven books on self-determination and secession, supports territorial integrity as a moral and legal aspect of constitutional democracy. However, he also advances a "Remedial Rights Only Theory" where a group has "a general right to secede if and only if it has suffered certain injustices, for which secession is the appropriate remedy of last resort." He also would recognize secession if the state grants, or the constitution includes, a right to secede.<ref name="Gudeleviciute" />

Vita Gudeleviciute holds that in cases of non-self-governing peoples and foreign military occupation the principle of self-determination trumps that of territorial integrity. In cases where people lack representation by a state's government, they also may be considered a separate people, but under current law cannot claim the right to self-determination. On the other hand, she finds that secession within a single state is a domestic matter not covered by international law. Thus, there are no on what groups may constitute a seceding people.<ref name="Gudeleviciute" />

[[File:Hong Kong IMG 20190616 171444 (48073669892).jpg|thumb|During the [[2019–2020 Hong Kong protests|2019–20 Hong Kong protests]], calls rose for self-determination by [[Hongkongers]].]]
A number of states have laid claim to territories, which they allege were removed from them as a result of colonialism.  This is justified by reference to Paragraph 6 of UN Resolution 1514(XV), which states that any attempt "aimed at partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter".  This, it is claimed, applies to situations where the territorial integrity of a state had been disrupted by colonisation, so that the people of a territory subject to a historic territorial claim are prevented from exercising a right to self-determination.  This interpretation is rejected by many states, who argue that Paragraph 2 of UN Resolution 1514(XV) states that "all peoples have the right to self-determination" and Paragraph 6 cannot be used to justify territorial claims.  The original purpose of Paragraph 6 was "to ensure that acts of self-determination occur within the established boundaries of colonies, rather than within sub-regions".  Further, the use of the word ''attempt'' in Paragraph 6 denotes future action and cannot be construed to justify territorial redress for past action.<ref name="Musgrave2000">{{cite book|author=Thomas D. Musgrave|title=Self-Determination and National Minorities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJg6T7SqJ1gC|access-date=5 March 2012|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-829898-4|page=239}}</ref> An attempt sponsored by Spain and Argentina to qualify the right to self-determination in cases where there was a territorial dispute was rejected by the UN General Assembly, which re-iterated the right to self-determination was a universal right.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.falklands.gov.fk/assembly/documents/The%20Challenge%20of%20Sovereignty%20in%20small%20states.pdf |title=The Challenge of Sovereignty in small states |access-date=2012-03-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430061445/http://www.falklands.gov.fk/assembly/documents/The%20Challenge%20of%20Sovereignty%20in%20small%20states.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-30 }} Falkland Islands Government, Dick Sawle MLA, The Challenge of Sovereignty in small states ''As I mentioned previously, the UN itself, in 2008, rejected the claim that a dispute over sovereignty affected self-determination, affirming self-determination to be "a basic human right."''</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2008/gaspd406.doc.htm | title=General Assembly GA/SPD/406 | publisher=UN Department of Public Information | date=20 October 2008 | access-date=March 10, 2012}}</ref>