Summary: Joint Session between Working Group on the Rights of Peoples to Self-Determination and the Working Group on Peace and Disarmament

Self-determination as a means of conflict resolution

This joint session between the Working Group on the Rights of Peoples to Self-Determination and Conflict Prevention and the Working Group on Peace and Disarmament introduced the audience to the particular issues of the Kurdish Nation, the Lithuanian struggle for independence, as well as a more general view of UNPO on the controversial question of self-determination for indigenous peoples. Lithuanian Ambassador A. Rimkunas presented his country's independence from the Soviet Union as an example of successful, non-violent conflict resolution, and Ms. Nilofer Koc of the Kurdish National Congress (KNC) described the continuing human rights abuses against the Kurds as an example of a conflict that is still far from being resolved. The work of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) was highlighted as an example of how civil society can forge a role in self-determination claims and conflict resolution.

Lithuania's struggle to secede from the Soviet Union, said Ambassador Rimkunas, was successful in part due to Lithuanian recognition of human rights for all peoples in Lithuania. He said that the Lithuanian call for independence was not lost over time, though they had enjoyed only 20 years of freedom in 200 years prior to 1991, and that Lithuania was the first Soviet state to gain independence. Mr. Rimkunas then described the political movement of the Sajudis, which challenged the Soviet government with the mass support of Lithuanian citizens and other Baltic states. In 1989, a human chain comprised of two million people stretched 650 kilometres across the Baltic states and placed the issue of independence firmly on the international agenda. Democratic elections were held in 1990, and Lithuania was recognized by most states and joined the UN in 1991.

Crucial to Lithuania's struggle for self-determination, explained Mr. Rimkunas, was a solid constitutional expression of human rights that afforded the same rights to ethnic minorities living in Lithuania (approximately 19% in 2001) as to ethnic Lithuanians. This constitution was agreed upon before independence was achieved and resulted in the clear support for one party rather than a fragmented independence movement. Independence proceeded with solid legal protection guaranteed to all and without any new conflict arising in the newly reborn state over self-determination claims.

More familiar in the popular press than the Lithuanian situation is the self-determination struggles of the Kurdish people, described by Ms. Nilofer Koc from the Kurdistan National Congress. There are forty million Kurds displaced over four countries (Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey) yet neither the laws of these countries nor international law recognize the collective existence of the Kurdish peoples. Addressing this human rights violation, Ms. Koc focused chiefly upon the rights of the 15 million Kurds living in Turkey. Even though Kurds comprise 30% of the Turkish population, they are denied the most basic of human rights, including freedom of expression and of language. The first article of the Turkish Constitution demands that people residing in Turkey speak Turkish. A Kurd who simply uses a Kurdish name for a Kurdish village can be charged as a separatist, said Ms. Koc.
Ms. Koc talked about the lack of support from the international community, which she sees as partly due to economic interests (Kurdish territories are rich in oil and water) and partly due to the political context of the Middle East region. The recently established Kurdish civil society in Turkey has been working on the mobilization of people, both Turkish and Kurdish, to support their demands, which are the recognition of their cultural identity and the right to speak their mother tongue. The speaker emphasized the need to integrate the Kurdish problem within the Middle East peace process and introduced the concept of a democratic Middle East Union where all people in the area will get the same constitutional rights, to avoid a future political crisis. In conclusion, Ms. Koc called on the governments of these states to forget the past and move forward with constitutional recognition of the Kurdish people.

The third panelist, Mr. Erkin Alptekin from the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), outlined the work of his organization and how it seeks to provide an 'early warning function' to avoid and resolve conflicts by promoting dialogue between stateless peoples and states. He described how at present UNPO work is somewhat limited because out of the thousands of unrepresented peoples and nations, only 53 are UNPO members. Given the fact that it is almost impossible for most of these peoples to find recognition on the international stage through existing UN mechanisms, it is vital that more peoples approach UNPO, said Mr. Alptekin. He expressed the concern that some stateless peoples believe that conflict is necessary because it is the only way to garner a reaction from the international community. Mr. Alptekin ended his presentation with some UNPO proposals: experts should work on the specific content of the concept of self-determination in a way that it can be implemented; the UN should create an effective mechanism to resolve self-determination claims and conflicts; and NGOs should promote the right to self-determination before the UN commission.

Interesting questions
The question session was extremely lively and quickly turned into something of a debate. This was chiefly due to the presence of a very broad mix of peoples - Palestinians, Turks, Iraqis and Americans. The majority of the questions were directed towards Ms. Koc and concerned the controversial issues she had raised, such as the possibility of America creating a Kurdish state in Iraq.

Conclusions
As in previous sessions, it was recognized that the current UN mechanism for processing self-determination claims is outdated and rarely applied. As Mr. Alptekin said, "The UN is a not a union of nations, but a union of states", since fewer than 200 of the world's 6,500 nations have representation in it. The growing disillusionment and anger of many nations that international recognition or aid will ever occur has led to the very real prospect of many more violent conflicts. It is vital that civil society organizations such as UNPO work "on the ground" to identify and resolve these conflicts before they do become violent. However, the case of Lithuania was a welcome example of how a non-violent, but patient, struggle can be entirely successful.

Presenters' Documents Available

16.23_alptekin_erkin.doc (18 K)
16.23_rimkunas_algimantas.doc (34 K)

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