Examples Of Secession

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Most Southern Cameroonians believe that the processes leading up to, and including the plebiscite vote, amounted to a denial of their right to self-determination. Additionally, local conditions of marginalization, and other forms of inequalities have fueled the demands for secession. However, and as the ICJ noted in The Northern Cameroons case , the outcome of the Southern Cameroons plebiscite and its associated processes were certified by UNGA resolution 1608. So, for over 50 years, Southern Cameroons has been administered as an integral part of the Republic of Cameroon. Although Buchanan has described secession as the most dramatic form assertions of self-determination, it is not entirely clear whether a right to secession from an independent…show more content…
For instance, Musgrave points out that paragraph 7 of UNGA resolution 2625(XXV) makes the territorial integrity of a state contingent upon the existence of a government representing the whole people. In the absence of this, secession is permitted to the unrepresented population. Additionally, Articles 3 and 4 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) recognizes the right to self-determination. In circumstances of gross marginalization, it seems that, the restrictions imposed by Article 46 UNDRIP would be displaced. Cassese, Pomerance, and Hannum, all agree, with varying degrees, that secession could be exercised as a right to self-determination as a remedy to gross human rights violations. Kamenu, insists that, the sustaining factor for remedial secession, is the oppression and not the linguistic, cultural, or ethnic differentiation. For example, it was the fact of oppression rather than cultural, linguistic, or ethnical differentiation that justified the recognition of the secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia by the…show more content…
In principle, the Article 20 provisions are all-embracing, and sufficient to effectively deal with the broad question of self-determination, including the right of remedial secession. Specifically, Article 20(2) the African Charter provides that colonized or oppressed peoples shall have the right to free themselves from the bonds of domination by resorting to any means recognized by the international community. However, in practice, the African Union (AU) has adopted a very unyielding position on the inviolability and immutability of boundaries inherited at independence. The AU’s refusal to recognize the unilateral secessions of Somaliland from Somalia in 1991, and Anjouan from Comoros in 1997, was based largely, on the respect for territorial integrity. Similarly, in strict adherence to the principle of uti possidetis juris, the AU only recognized Eritrea after Ethiopia; from which it seceded, had done so. Therefore, it seems more likely that, the AU will not recognize a unilateral independence of Southern
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