Enforcement of Right to Self-Determination: Opposition between Human Rights and Sovereignty of Governments

One of the main principles in the contemporary international law is the principal of the right to self-determination which has been mentioned in many of international documents. From the historical perspective and in the formation process, this right has been just associated with colonial cases for a long time, and it has had a political concept. With regard to the evolutions in global society, this principal has been gradually written in the international documents including the Charter of the United Nations, International Covenant on Civil and political Rights, International Covenant on economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, General Assembly Resolutions, conventions and regional documents, and it has been recognized as a principle law. From the author’s point of view, the cooperation of the United Nations members in accordance with the charter of the United Nations, together with the proposal of organized guidelines and compulsory treaties are of great importance in order to omit this opposition.
The present article is an investigation of different aspects of this opposition along with the explanation of cases and operational methods leading to the omission of this opposition.