Rights and choices

There is a common Article 1 in both international covenants on civil and political rights and on the economic, social and cultural rights on the right of self-determination.

It reads as follows: “All peoples have the right of self determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural rights.”

Some states entered a reservation or made a declaring on this common article for fear that the exercises of the right of self-determination may lead to the secession of some parts of their countries.

I believe that the fear is legitimate when it comes to civil and political rights, but not so when it has to do with economic, social and cultural rights.

The rule of thumb is that in the purview of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, peoples, especially when they are sizeable and living in one particular area of a state, may, by the logic of the covenant, exercise the right of secession.

In the context of economic, social and cultural rights, the exercise of the right of self-determination by any group of people, irrespective of their size and location, may not by any stretch of the imagination lead breaking away from the state, only enable the group to determine and pursue freely its economic, social and cultural rights. 

Hence the distinction between the two human rights pillars on the exercise of the right of self-determination.

The exercise of the right of self-determination within the context of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has far-reaching implications for most countries in the Middle East.

Given the fact that most Arab states in the region are constituted of several ethnic and religious groups, by the logic of Article 1 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights they are entitled to exercise the right of self-determination.

That is what we are witnessing happening in some parts of the Arab world.

Against this backdrop, the concerned Arab countries have two choices: either they make reservations on Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political, asking that the exercise of this right not lead to secession, or opt for federated forms of government as the lesser evil to the breakup of their states.

An even better choice is to have a truly democratic form of government which is all inclusive in word and deed. For this third choice to happen, there is need of a genuine culture of democracy, sorely missing.