The Right to Self-Determination

The right to self-determination is one of the most contentious and threatening issues of the post-Cold War era. While classical Western colonialism has almost come to an end, minority groups across the world are increasingly legitimising their demands for autonomy, separation or independence through the principle of self-determination. In the absence of clear legal and political definitions of the temporary scope and content of the principle however, claims for fulfilment of the right all too often leads to violence, human rights abuse and civil war. This book examines the dynamics of the principle of self-determination as an international legal norm and the dilemmas of its application to minority groups living within sovereign states. This book chooses as its case study the Tamil minority's quest for self-determination in Sri Lanka. It traces the evolution of the Tamil's struggle from the demand for parity of status to self-determination in the form of an independent Tamil homeland, as a response to marked discrimination and oppression at the hands of the majority of Singhalese-dominated government of Sri Lanka. It revel as how the inherent conflict between the Singhalese majority's claim to the territorial integrity of the island and the Tamil minority's claim to self-determination has led to over a decade of civil war, the death of over 50,000 Tamils and the flight of over 500,000 refugees. Whilst this book focuses on the Tamils' struggle for self-determination, its significance spans across the national, regional and global landscape. It reveals the intransigence and intolerance of the parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka which has led to bloodshed and human misery, can only begin to be assuaged if the principle of self-determination is broadened to meet the demands of minority groups living within independent states. This would have far-reaching ramifications not only for the stability and security of South Asia's ethno-cultural mosaic, but also for the rest of the modern world. Helena J Whall is a researcher at the Tamil Information Centre, London and is currently studying for her Ph.D at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London University.