ABSTRACT
Self-determination was first recognized as a principle of international law by Article 1 of the UN Charter, which calls for 'friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples'. The 1966 UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights defines this principle as the right of peoples to 'freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development'. Self-determination was popularized by US President Woodrow Wilson in his wartime speeches, with six of his 'Fourteen Points' implicitly based on the concept. Prior to the formation of the UN, self-determination failed to gain recognition in international forums such as the League of Nations, as it threatened the interests of existing colonial powers. Demands for national self-determination have served a large number of people in rising against colonial powers and in breaking up empires to form their own states and nations.
