" Self-determination" refers to the right claimed by a" people" to control its own destiny-
despite the fact that such a people has not yet achieved the status of" statehood" under
international law. Traditionally, only statehood could confer international legal personality
and its attendant rights and duties upon a group. A group seeking self-determination is, by
definition, one which feels that it has been excluded, albeit unjustifiably, from the community
of legal individuals recognized by international law. Hence the paradox involved in the …