Conclusion

Abstract

The bitter debates over the secessionist claims of the Albanians in Yugoslavia and of the Catholic nationalists in Northern Ireland demonstrate only too clearly the difficulties which arise with respect to ‘the realization of the right of self-determination’ of peoples set out in Article 1 of both ICPR and ICES. In his authoritative essay on ‘The Self-Determination of Peoples’, Professor Antonio Cassese argues that if one examines Article 1 in terms of ICPR as a whole, with due regard to the views of those who drafted it, it becomes clear that

full realization of a people’s self-determination is dependent upon full respect for the rights and freedoms of the individuals and groups making up the people. Internal political self-determination is the right to choose one’s government freely and to have a government that, once chosen, is not oppressive or authoritarian. It can be achieved only if the state fully respects and guarantees those civil and political rights whose exercise enables the people to establish and express its will freely and continually.