Publication title information
A Booley & J van Schalkwyk (2021). 'The legal and social complexities relating to self-determination: Internal and external self-determination and obligations erga omnes'. South African Yearbook of International Law
Further detail
Publication type
Academic journal articles
Description
It is generally agreed that peoples have a right to self-determination. The right to self-determination for all peoples was enshrined in the founding Charter of the United Nations. Self-determination has been the subject of extensive debate and controversy. The controversy is embedded in the content of the right as well as who can assert the right as it continues to evolve in the arena of customary and international law. Self-determination has two dimensions, namely internal and external. Internal self-determination is the right of the people of a state to govern themselves without any interference, whereas external selfdetermination is the right of peoples to control their own political well-being and to be free of any alien domination, including in the formation of their own independent state. According to current interpretation, the right of groups to govern themselves is increasingly inter-woven within the human rights ambit, in particular with the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. The question is whether self-determination has the characteristics of reaching the status of a peremptory norm from which there is no derogation.
About the author/s
Ashraf Booley
Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape.
Commentary
No results found
Access publication
View on an external website
Download on our website
No download is available
Preview publication
No preview available
