self determination

Question 1

what is self determination

Answer 1

nations/ people have the right to freely make decisions about their own nation and political status without interference from others
(think about it like only yourSELF can DETERMINE what you want to do)
- a collective right exercised as a group, less like an individual right (such as the right to vote), more about the right you have as a collection of people

Question 2

development to self determination

Answer 2

COLONISATION (15th century to ww2)
- opposite of self determination, as control is held over one nation by someone else

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
- against British colonialism
- revolted against their British colonisers, fighting and winning a war where they created the Declaration of Independence –> triclle on effect with other countries

Question 3

TREATIES AND DOCUMEMTS AND LEGISLATION

Answer 3

POST WW2
- paradigm shift with attitudes towards war
- UN and UN charter: developed the notion of self determination, how nobody should arbitrarily interfere with others’ rights to run their own nations
- UN CHARTER Article 1(2): we are all to have ‘respect for the principle of equal right and self determination of peoples’

INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL RIGHTS (ICESCR) and the INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS:
- have matching statements in their first articles, acknowledging that ‘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’

Question 4

SELF DETERMINATION IN PRACTICE

Answer 4

REACHING INDEPENDENCE
- 1960S INTERNATIONAL TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL (US) aims to reverse the historical trend of colonisation that grew across the world. Between 1960 and 1993, 53 territories became independent.
- However, we are still learning how to transition to independence peacefully and without conflict

AUSTRALIA
- Indigenous people have been fighting for their own self-determination since white settlers, the acknowledgments of indigenous land was one major part of the movement towards indigenous self determination
- Ideally, ATSI people in Australia would like to gain the ability to govern themselves in respect to their own needs with their own cultural understanding as opposed to being governed by ppl who aren’t in their culture and may not understand the issues of their communities
- example of protest for self determination is the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, which is planted outside the Old Parliament House for over 40 years as a protest for Aboriginal soverignty and rights.