Document Type : Research Paper
Author
PhD student in Public International Law Qom university, Qom, Iran
Abstract
freedom of people in determining their own destiny is a value first raised during the French Revolution in the form of a general concept called “the right of the people to determine their destiny” and was later pointed at internationally in different ways by statesmen such as Lenin and Wilson. This right was developed to discard of the old approach in the international arena i.e., the state-oriented tendency in international interactions.
According to the old approach, the international community was made up of states which essentially pursued the political interests of their leaders. In fact, the relations between the governments resulted in the relations between the ruling groups who considered the interests of their citizens only when they were threatened by foreign powers or only when the protection of the citizen’s interests was directly related to the interests of the country's leaders. On the contrary, self-determination means that individuals and nations have a say in the international arena. Governments with sovereignty can no longer oppress nations freely and can't take over territory without considering the wishes of the beneficiary population. People should also play a role in domestic and foreign relations. Self-determination, as a democratic principle, requires the consent of the governed meaning the people must always have the right to freely choose their rulers.
Therefore, institutionalization and gradual legalization of this right, especially after World War I, gave a new concept to domestic and global relations. This right, which was first created in order to support the nations under colonialism, gradually extended its scope of protection to human groups under the domination of racist regimes, as well as the protection of religious, linguistic, and in general, all cultural minorities, and ultimately all peoples and nations. Paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the United Nations Charter states one of the goals of this organization is to establish friendly relations between nations with respect for equal rights and the right to self-determination. This goal is also repeated in Article 55 of this document.
In addition to recognition of this right in the United Nations Charter, the well-known Declaration On the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also known as the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 approved by the General Assembly in 1960, while calling for the end of colonialism and the domination of foreign nations, emphasized that the nations have the right to determine their own destiny and to freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
This concept is also repeated in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. These documents were approved in 1966 by the General Assembly Resolution A/2200. It is noteworthy that the Human Rights Committee's General Interpretation No. 12 of Article 1 of the Covenants also mentions the right to determine the destiny of nations and highlights its importance to guarantee, and effectively respect, individual human rights. The principle of equal rights and self-determination for the people is also stated in the Friendly Relations Declaration of 1970[1]. All the above-mentioned documents indicate that the principle of self-determination is an internationally recognized right.
According to international law, the Afghan nation has the right to self-determination. Therefore, they have the right to freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social, and cultural development, in front of the ruling body from an internal perspective and also, from an external perspective, in front of other nations in the world. Furthermore, respecting this fundamental human right is considered a general obligation for all members of the international community, the violation of which entails responsibilities for transgressors. Therefore, with the establishment of the Taliban government, the question arises as to whether the right to self-determination of the Afghan people has been properly exercised, and have other governments fulfilled their commitment to the rights of the Afghan people in this regard? The current research has explored this issue using the descriptive-analytical method. At First glance, it appears that the self-proclaimed government of the Islamic Emirate has not only violated the right of the Afghan people to choose their political structure but is imposing its power on the Afghan nation by widely violating even more of their human rights. Despite all this, it, unfortunately, has the explicit and implicit support of some members of the international community, contrary to their erga omnes commitment.
[1]. Full title: Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
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