The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) discusses the many (and not all) basic rights all human persons have. All its articles I do not only agree in but also work to uphold these. The defence of human dignity, from which come such rights, has become a reason for me to live, one of the bases of my principles and philosophies. Of course, the UDHR is a document, and a mere document cannot be the sole foundation of my beliefs. I identified two points missing in the Declaration– the inclusion of the prenate (instead of “conceived” in Article I, “born” is used, and I strongly campaign for replacing this term; I have wrote a series on this) and self-determination. We talk about the latter.

Countries that were subject to occupation or colonisation celebrate their independence days. These commemorations are actually reminders for the peoples about how self-determination is upheld and championed by their forefathers– on the day of independence, the occupants/colonisers gave up to the self-determination of the territories’ inhabitants.

Even if self-determination is absent in the UDHR (I recommend it be placed as a subsection of Article 15 (right to nationality)), the concept is mentioned in Article 1.2 of Chapter I of the United Nations Charter. The right to self-determination is expounded and further protected in the UN General Assembly Resolution 1514: “All peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development“.  This also has become a driving force for decolonisation of numerous regions in the latter half of the 20th Century– dozens of states came from some of the 51 UN founding members; now the supranational body has 193 member states. Self-determination is still then in the international law, so countries shall respect this, which every nation has.

Certain countries have regions with peoples desiring to secede and be sovereign over their lands. Given the words above, these countries should understand they are also trying to practise self-determination, which is also a basis of the existence of the larger countries. How come is denying the regions’ rights to self-determination not hypocritical?

Let me enumerate some regions with active independence movements, some of which having membership in the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO): North America has Greenland, Quebec, Puerto Rico and French West Indies, while South America has French Guiana; Europe has Scotland, Catalonia, South Tyrol, Northern Cyprus, Kosovo, Transnistria, Chechnya and Circassia; Africa has Western Sahara, Western Togoland, Biafra, Ambazonia and Somaliland.

Both Asia and Oceania have numerous secessionist movements: Asia has Palestine, South Yemen, Kurdistan, South Azerbaijan, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Karakalpakstan, Balochistan, Kashmir, Northeast Indian states, Arakan, Tibet, East Turkestan, Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Sulu and North Borneo; Oceania has Chuuk, Banaba, West Papua, Bougainville, French Polynesia, Rapa Nui, Hawai’i and, to a lesser extent, Cook Islands. These are due to the continents having a multitude of peoples yet lesser sovereign states compared to Africa and Europe.

My support for self-determination of regions however depends per context, situation and political environment. I am quick to recognise the movements of regions like Greenland, Catalonia, Kurdistan, Tibet, East Turkestan, West Papua, French Polynesia, Rapa Nui and Hawai’i; I can even view these are sovereign countries on their own. Their identities are strikingly different from the states currently holding these. I can give considerations for Puerto Rico, Circassia, Balochistan, and Kashmir, while others like Inner Mongolia and South Azerbaijan deserve to be unified with adjacent countries having similar names. Bougainville, meanwhile, is a few steps away from independence and sovereignty, so I expect it will be the UN’s newest member in the coming years.

I am yet to learn more about movements in rest of Americas, rest of Europe, Africa, Northeast India, Southeast Asia, Micronesia, and movements I fail to mention, so I have no views regarding these as of time of writing, aside from the comment that the national governments should negotiate with them. In the case of Sulu and North Borneo, which is in my country the Philippines (Sulu) and Malaysia (Sabah), I would leave the matter to Suluans and Sabahans, but I would reject a Malaysian Sulu and a Philippine Sabah, the latter being promoted by loyalists of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.. In cases of Kosovo, Palestine, South Ossetia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, I express reservations: Kosovo is not yet a clear case for me, Palestine and Israel would be best as one democratic state and not two states, South Ossetia has Georgia challenging and North Ossetia not planning to be on its own, Hong Kong is better in a free Cantonia (Guangdong), and Taiwan has to prioritise liberating China first before working on independence. The reason I don’t treat the Taiwanese and Hong Kong movements equal with Tibetan and East Turkestani ones is identity and culture, though it’s satisfying to see all of them cooperating with another.

Despite my belief in the concept of self-determination, I oppose certain movements, viewing these as misusing self-determination to fulfil hidden agenda: Cyprus is different from Greece, and the island is in the best condition with Greeks and Turks coexisting in harmony; Transnistria is an instrument of Vladimir Putin to exert pressure on Moldova, Romania and Ukraine, all oriented to the West; and Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics” are unpopular among people of the Donbas. The “referenda” Putin’s Russia is holding in these regions plus occupied Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in Ukraine simply violate the inhabitants’ self-determination and sovereignty, even if we exclude the Ukrainian state in this context.

To wrap things up, self-determination is a basic human right, a right all peoples and all countries should respect. As a right, this concept shall not be misused and abused: we remember the UDHR’s Article 30, that one cannot use rights to trample others’ rights. Understanding and acceptance are also keys reduce conflict and promote mutual coexistence.

I have also written pieces tackling certain movements and issues involving self-determination:

Article posted on 25 September 2022, 20:12 (UTC +08:00).