Lecture--13-IHRL-1309s2024-090554am.pptx

This presentation is regarding International institutions such as United Nations, International Court of Justice, General Assembly, Security Council.

1. BAHRIA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL TITLE OF COURSE public international law – II BY DR. SABA JAWED

2. KINDS OF IHRL Prohibition of genocide Prohibition of discrimination The P rinciple of self-determination as a human right The P rotection of minorities

3. P rotection of collective rights of groups and individuals The principle of self-determination as a human right The right to self determination may be defined as “The right of a people or a nation to determine freely by themselves without any outside pressure their political and legal status as a separate entity, preferably in the form of an independent State, the form of government of their choice and the form of their economic, social and cultural system”.

4. P rotection of collective rights of groups and individuals The principle of self-determination as a human right The UN Charter explains the two meanings of the term self-determination. First , a state is said to have the right of self-determination in the sense of having the right to choose freely its political, economic, social, and cultural systems. Second , the right to self-determination is defined as the right of a people to constitute itself in a state or otherwise freely determine the form of its association with an existing state . Both meanings have their basis in the Article 1, paragraph 2; and Article 55, paragraph 1 of the Charter.

5. P rotection of collective rights of groups and individuals The principle of self-determination as a human right The Chamber of the International Court of Justice emphasised that uti possidetis constituted a general principle, whose purpose was to prevent the independence and stability of new states from being endangered by fratricidal struggles provoked by the challenging of frontiers. This essential requirement of stability had induced newly independent states to consent to the respecting of colonial borders ‘and to take account of it in the interpretation of the principle of self-determination of peoples’. Burkina Faso/Mali case

6. P rotection of collective rights of groups and individuals The principle of self-determination as a human right Burkina Faso/Mali case

7. P rotection of collective rights of groups and individuals The principle of self-determination as a human right The International Court of Justice has affirmed in the East Timor Case that, the right to self-determination has an ‘ erga   omnes   character’. The term ‘ erga omnes ’ means ‘flowing to all ’. According , erga omnes obligations of a State are owed to the international community as a whole. When a principle achieves the status of erga omnes the rest of the international community is under a mandatory duty to respect it in all circumstances in their relations with each other. Hence, the right to self determination is a right which should be respected by international community in all circumstances. East Timor C ase

8. P rotection of collective rights of groups and individuals The P rotection of minorities In 1947, the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities established. The Article 27 of ICCPR states that “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language”.

9. P rotection of collective rights of groups and individuals The protection of minorities The UN General Assembly adopted a Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities in December 1992. The Declaration states that persons belonging to minorities have the right to enjoy their own culture, practise and profess their own religion and to use their own language in private and in public without hindrance. Such persons also have the right to participate effectively in cultural, social, economic and public life.

10. P rotection of collective rights of groups and individuals The Protection of Minorities In the Lubicon Lake Band case, the Committee upheld the complaint that the Canadian Government, in allowing the Provincial Government of Alberta to expropriate the Band’s territory for the benefit of private corporate interests, violated article 27. It was held that the rights protected under article 27 included the right of persons in community with others to engage in economic and social activities which were part of the culture of the community to which they belonged. However, measures with only a limited impact on the way of life and livelihood of persons belonging to a minority would not necessarily violate article 27. LUBICON LAKE BAND CASE