International_Law_And_The_Right_Of_Self-Determination

International Law And The Right Of Self-Determination Throughout the years since the second world war, there has been a need to determine what conditions would legitimize a group of people’s right to control their own governance. International law provides a vague definition of self-determination and an even vaguer description for the conditions that justify it. I will discuss the particular importance of this principle, its evolution and several different interpretations of the laws of self-determination. I will also reference specific cases to show how the ICJ deals with the claims based upon this principle. The right of self-determination is of particular importance because its realization is an essential condition for the effective guarantee and respect of individual and minority rights. History has proven that the realization and respect for the right of self-determination of peoples contributes to the establishment of friendly relations and cooperation between states. Considering the importance of the self-determination principle, it is necessary to explore the beginnings of the concept and its development through the decolonization period and outside of the colonial context. Before 1945 there was little clout given to the idea that people living within a territory of a state had a right to determine the political and legal self-determination, international, principle, rights, right, peoples, states, people, law, territory, territories, charter, claims, un, icj, state, nations, applied, been, based, article, within, timor, new, east, decolonization, under, relations, human, definition, context, community, colonial, case, 73