The right to self-determination in international law: case of Tamil people of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The Tamil peoples of the North East of Sri Lanka are "a people", possessing a distinctive social, cultural, and political background unique to them. The extensive historical background of their culture, language, and the way of life reveal that they are one of the indigenous peoples of the island and, as such, they do posses the same rights as do other communities around them. However, the Sri Lankan government's negligence and the discriminatory policies towards them, the Tamil people have become the victims of human rights violations and they certainly are denied of their right to self-determination. The analysis provided in this thesis asserts that the overwhelming international concern regarding ethnic and linguistic minority groups during the last couple of decades and the need to recognise their right to self-determination as important for the lasting peace and security of the world, the international community has taken a new approach in redressing the grievances of ethnic and linguistic minority groups around the world. This new system, under the rubric of human rights, provides new grounds for ethnic and linguistic minority groups to claim their rights back which they had once lost at the hands of their nation states under the euphemism of nation building. The analysis provided in this thesis asserts that the ideas sprung out of European liberalism and state system are no longer relevant in the contemporary inter-state relations in understanding the grievances of ethnic and linguistic minority groups and their right to self-determination. It will be argued that the traditional state-centric self-determination is anachronistic in contemporary world where there is human rights character to self-determination [i.e. Decolonisation is flawed]. The principle of self-determination is an extraordinary regulatory vehicle in the contemporary international system, broadly creating rights for the benefit of all peoples, including ethnic and linguistic minority groups such as the Tamil peoples. The customary international law includes a body of norms, conventions, and rules pertaining to ethnic and linguistic minority groups, grounded on the idea of principle of self-determination; the principle of highest order of things in the contemporary international system. It will be argued that, given the multiple interactions human beings are involved in today's complex world, the principle of self-determination, under contemporary state practice, [i.e. creation of Bangladesh and the disintegration of former Yugoslavia along ethnic lines], is understood and achieved along ethnic lines. The principle of self-determination, therefore, applies to all ethnic and linguistic minority groups, such as the Tamil peoples, not only as a minority group living with a unitary state [i.e. The Tamil people in Sri Lanka] but also a group of peoples who are denied of their basic human rights, including their right to self-determination.