Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Historic Conference on the Right to Self-Determination & the United Nations Pushes for UN Self-Determination Mechanisms
GENEVA (15 August 2000) The First International Conference on the Right to
Self-Determination and the United Nations concluded in Geneva with the unanimous adoption
of its resolutions, amid expression by many of the attendees that the three-day event
marked an historic milestone in the struggle of the international community to come to
grips with the thorny issue of the internationally-recognized right to self-determination.
Co-sponsored by the International Human Rights Association of American
Minorities (IHRAAM), an international NGO in consultative status with the UN, and the
International Council for Human Rights (ICHR), the Conference attracted a full house of
delegates, who packed the Zurich Room of the prestigious Forum Park Hotel to hear the
Conference Roster of distinguished speakers, participate in the four Conference workshops,
and draft and adopt the final Conference resolutions urging the establishment of new UN
mechanisms related to self-determination.
Conference speakers included eminent United Nations experts, members of several
governments, distinguished jurists and scholars. NGO attendees from all corners of
the globe delivered interventions concerning the self-determination needs of a wide range
of indigenous populations, minorities, and nations, including the Kashmiris, Native
Americans, African Americans, Irish, Tamils, Saamis, Dalits of India, Canadian First
Nations, Khmer Krom of Vietnam, Chechens, Mon of Burma, Puerto Ricans, the Quichua
indigenous nation of Ecuador, the Zanzibarians, etc.
Mr. Glélé-Ahanhanzo, the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination and
Xenophobia, was in attendance for the opening banquet, while UN Sub-Commission
expert David Weissbrodt and Mme. Blyth-Kubota, from the UN Working Group on
Minorities Secretariat, visited the Conference on its second day. Mr. Daniel
Atchebro, Human Rights Officer at the Office of the High Commissioner on Human
Rights, in a presentation from the floor, outlined the program of the forthcoming
World Conference Against Racism for Conference delegates, and urged their participation.
Mr. George Reid, Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, delivered a
stirring inaugural address, recounting the several centuries-long struggle of the Scottish
people for self-determination, which is only now nearing resolution through the recent
creation of the Scottish Parliament. He acknowledged the problematic posed by the
melting pot paradigm for dealing with internal nations and peoples, and saw great hope for
the future in the combination of self-determination of peoples on a local level, when
accompanied by their integration as a politico-cultural unit into a greater regional body
such as the European Union.
In his Welcoming Address to Conference attendees, IHRAAM Chair, Dr. Y. N. Kly
elaborated on the detrimental effects of melting pot policies imposed upon national
minorities in multinational states, leading frequently to their incorporation into the
lower caste or underclass of the dominant majority, a position which left them at a
permanent disadvantage in the competition for wealth, status, education, and all other
socio-economic needs. He called upon the Conference not merely to address the need
for self-determination in specific situations, but to give full consideration to how the
United Nations might be restructured to facilitate the resolution of longstanding
inequities and conflicts related to the non-realization of the right to
self-determination.
Conference Moderator, Barrister Majid Tramboo, a member of the IHRAAM Directorate and
Executive Director of the International Council for Human Rights (ICHR), informed the
delegates that the Government of India had not facilitated Mr. Mohd. Yasin Malik,
a guest of honor at the Conference, with travel documents necessary to his attendance at
the Conference. Barrister Tramboo moved a petition addressed to UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan and UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Mary Robinson,
which noted with deep regret that the Indian authorities’ failure to provide Mr.
Yasin Malik with the relevant travel documents was a blatant violation of his fundamental
human right to movement, condemned this act by the Government of India, and demanded that
Mr. Yasin Malik be provided with the travel documents forthwith. This petition was
overwhelmingly endorsed by Conference attendees. A later highlight of the Conference
occurred when organizers succeeded in establishing a telephone link to India, through
which Mohd. Yasin Malik, Chairman of the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front and an
Executive Member of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (A.P.H.C.) advised a hushed
Conference plenary in halting tones:
"Political disputes are being resolved around the world by political dialogue.
I ask you, why must the Kashmiris be forced to accept solutions imposed by the occupiers
of our country? I wish to make it crystal clear to you that my organization, the
JKLF, cannot see any other solution to the crisis in Kashmir. We think
re-unification and complete independence for Jammu-Kashmir is the ONLY answer to the
problem, which should be determined through the exercise of the right to
self-determination. Internal autonomy; maintaining the status quo;
partitioning the state… all of this has been tried over the past 50 years… All
these options have failed. I seek your support for this amicable solution, which
will not only cater to the legitimate national interests of all our neighbors, India and
Pakistan, but will, as well, safeguard the rights of all our minority communities in
Jammu-Kashmir."
Syed Nazir Gilani of the Jammu Kashmir Council for Human Rights, speaking on the
Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, advised that "there has been a total
lack of understanding of the jurisprudence of UN resolutions on Kashmir…
Self-determination succeeds the right to life. India and Pakistan as member nations
of the UN, as parties to the dispute and under their shared constitutional stipulations in
their respective territories of control and command, have to admit the culpability on the
loss of life in Kashmir and on their non-compliance with UN resolutions on Kashmir."
The Conference opened with Theme IV (The Role of the UN in implementing its promised
and just demand of peoples for Self-Determination), moderated by IHRAAM Chair, Dr.
Y. N. Kly. Madame Erica Daes, who has only recently become a former Chairperson
of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, delivered a resume of international
law and indigenous people, and the considerations surrounding the draft Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She advised that self-determination cannot be defined
in the abstract, and that people living together in a multinational state must be willing
to continuously renegotiate the terms of their relations, in a context of mutual respect.
Her resume of the desperate situation of the world’s first peoples, and the
need to recognize the depth of their ties to their lands was profound and compelling.
Karen Parker, an international lawyer and Chief/Delegate of the
International Educational Developmental/Humanitarian Law Project at the United Nations,
discussed in detail the nature of international humanitarian law and its application to
armed conflicts in pursuit of the exercise of the right to self-determination in the
context of numerous situations in southern Asia.
Professor Ramon Nenadich, from Puerto Rico chaired Theme I (Self-Determination
as a form of collective restorative justice for the malformation of many multinational
states created through exercise of the now-discredited historical right to conquest and
domination). Mr. Daniel Turp, Canadian MP and Bloc Quebeçois Critic for
Intergovernmental Affairs, discussed the nature of self-determination as it related to
the collision of Canada’s Bill C-20 and Quebec’s Bill 99 in the continuing
confrontation between Canada and Quebec over the wording of a future Quebec referendum
question related to sovereignty-association. Ms. Suzette Bronkhurst of the
Magenta Foundation discussed the historical and contemporary situation, both in the
Netherlands and in Indonesia, of the South Moluccans in relation to self-determination and
restorative justice. Attorney Musa Dan-Fodio noted that the African American
struggle has gone through successive stages related to their institutionalized relations
in America, from enslavement to segregation to the civil rights period, that this struggle
was continuous, and is now at the stage of searching for justice through
self-determination. He introduced a video presentation to the Conference by Marquetta
L. Goodwine, recently enstooled as Chief of the Gullah-Geechee Nation.
Ms. Goodwine outlined the long resistance of the Gullah-Geechee people to assimilation,
their efforts to restore and maintain their culture, including the Gullah language, in
full respect of the ways of their ancestors.
The Right Honourable Gerald Kaufman, a member of the British Parliament, presented
an analysis of Theme II (The relationship between policies of forced assimilation and
racism, ethnocide and armed conflict in the context of denial of just demands for
self-determination) by providing a wide-ranging analysis of how the self-determination
efforts of internal peoples are resisted and defeated by states, balanced on the other
hand, by remarks on the extent to which resorting to violence has subsequently furthered
demands for self-determination where other measures were not yet in place or had proved
unsuccessful. Mr. Kenneth Deer, editor of The Eastern Door, addressed
the situation of the Mohawks in Canada, reflecting his long involvement in indigenous
issues over the past 14 years, including discussions related to the ILO Convention 169 and
the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Due to the extensive number of interventions from the floor concerning a wide range of
local situations, and the fact that two speakers on Theme V would not be available if it
were to be presented on the following day, Theme V was addressed before Theme III. UN
Sub-Commission Expert Françoise Jane Hampson opened Theme V (Self-determination as
a means of further democratisation of the UN and the international system). She
introduced the notion of minority rights as self-determination through structures of
governance rights, and outlined the possibilities attendant on a future creation of an
Assembly of Nations, to take its place in interaction with other formal UN bodies such as
the General Assembly and Security Council. Prof. Mehdi Imberesh of Al Fateh
University and former Libyan Ambassador to Germany, Iran, and at present to Turkmenistan,
spoke passionately on how the world should examine the fact that it is elites, who are
themselves minorities, who are running its affairs, since the peoples abrogate their
democratic powers by surrendering them to representatives who by that very fact fail to
adequately address their interests and needs. Theme V was moderated by Dr. Joseph
Wronka, author of Human Rights and Social Policy in the 21st
Century.
The last speaker on Theme V, Dr. Hans Koechler, Head of the Philosophy
Department at the University of Innsbruck, Austria and Director of the International
Progress Organization, addressed the Conference the next morning. His scholarly
analysis of the UN’s conception and early development, rooted in the policy aims of
Allied Powers, was greeted with great interest, as was his outline of means of potential
UN reform with a view to its further democratization.
The Conference then returned to Theme III (Self-Determination through Minority
Rights, Internal Autonomy or Secession). It was opened by Mme. Ragnhild
Nystad, Vice-President of the Saami Parliament, with the Saami flag emblazoned on the
Conference screen beside her. Ms. Nystad discussed the relation of governmental
structures to the Saami people, who are dispersed throughout Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Dr.
Robert Brock of the African American Self-Determination Committee, made an impassioned
plea for reparations for the African American national minority, as did his wife, Mickey.
Mr. Joseph v. Komlossy, Vice President of the Federal Union of European
Nationalities, discussed how effectively minority rights had been instituted in
Hungary where 13 cultural minorities enjoy autonomy, a system which has proved very
successful towards the development of all groups.
Conference attendees then adjourned to their choice of one of the four prototype
workshops, based on the situation of the Kashmiris, Native Americans, African Americans
and the Dalits of India. Workshop moderators (S.N. Gilani, Rudy James, Dr. Farid
I. Muhammad and Dr. Laxmi Berwa, respectively) then presented their reports in
the closing plenary, which was chaired by Dr. Y. N. Kly.
Numerous unscheduled interventions from the floor were made throughout the
Conference, adding to its interest, depth and breadth, such as those provided by the
Kashmiris, Tamils, Mons, Irish, Dalits, and indigenous peoples. For example, the
Conference received a Petition and Diplomatic Protest from the Kuiu Thlingit Nation and
the United Native Nations protesting the current attempt of the state of Alaska to
permanent "Quiet Title" to submerged lands in the Alexander Archipelago. Dr.
Laxmi Berwa advised the Conference of the need to institute a UNDP Human Rights
Development mechanism to prevent all kinds of oppression against Dalits in India.
The Irish 32 County Sovereignty Movement called for the Secretary-General and the
UN Human Rights High Commissioner, to intervene in the visa denial of its members by the
USA and allow it to pursue its peaceful challenge at the UN.
Mr. George Reid, who gave the opening address, delivered an eloquent closing
summation as well, reviewing the outcome of the Conference and suggesting future courses
of action. Mr. Reid reiterated that self-determination is an ongoing process, and
the effort to achieve it will not stop until true freedom is achieved.
Introducing the resolutions to the Conference, Barrister Majid Tramboo, Executive
Director, ICHR, stated that there has been an international expansion in the desire
for democracy, and that the concepts of democracy and the right to self-determination are
interlinked. He believed that the popular political concept of self-determination
used by states has developed a division into two limbs, i.e. the first limb entailing the
right to external self-determination, confined to populations of fixed territorial
entities, such as overseas colonies, forced occupations, unrepresented peoples and
nations, and the second limb relating to the right to internal self-determination
evolving into what seems to be an articulation of the type of rights most often demanded
by national minorities. He stressed the need to have a mechanism in place to address
this vital human right.
The following resolutions were debated and unanimously passed by the Conference:
1. In the ongoing efforts of reconstruction of the United Nations in line with the requirements for the success of its mission, this Conference recommends the following:
(a) The establishment of an Office of the High Commissioner for Self-Determination; and
(b) the establishment of a Self-Determination Commission comprised of representatives of United Nations member states.
2. This Conference reaffirms the importance of the right to Self-Determination as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and other international documents. The Conference further condemns all violations of this right.
3. This Conference invites the organisers of "the Second International Conference on the Right to Self-Determination and the United Nations" to initiate a process by which individual cases may be comprehensively discussed and specific resolutions adopted accordingly.
The above resolutions were agreed to on the basis of the discussions, lectures and
interventions presented under the Conference themes, as well as the reports received from
the Conference workshops.
The Conference’s Collected Papers and Proceedings will be published by Clarity Press,
Inc., of Atlanta, in a volume to be titled In Pursuit of the Right to
Self-Determination: Collected Papers and Proceedings of the First International
Conference on the Right to Self-Determination & the United Nations.
In closing the Conference, IHRAAM Chair, Dr. Y. N. Kly stressed the significance of
mutual respect and the need for willingness to continually renegotiate the relations of
groups living together in multinational states as key themes that emerged from the
Conference. He announced the holding of a First Regional Conference on the Right to
Self-Determination and an expanded Second International Conference on the Right to
Self-Determination. The dates and venues of both conferences are to be announced.
The Conference resolutions have been formally submitted to the UN Secretary-General, to
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and to the Chair of the UN Working Group on
Minorities by IHRAAM Chair, Dr. Y. N. Kly.
This press release is issued by Mrs. Diana Kly, Program Director, and Mr. Colin
McNaughton, Operations Director, of the First International Conference on the Right to
Self-Determination and the United Nations. For further information, please contact
Mrs. Diana Kly at 1-306-789-0474 (e-mail: ihraam@usa.net)
or Mr. Colin McNaughton at 44-208-898-8099 (e-mail: TRAMBOO@compuserve.com).
More information on IHRAAM is available at http://www.ihraam.org.