Author(s): Denis Kumbo Kpason

Abstract: The right to self-determination is recognized under international law and has been codified in many different international legal instruments including the United Nations Charter, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other international human right instruments. However, the jurisprudence of the African Commission has been ambiguous in handling the different cases of groups seeking their right to self-determination. This paper critically examines the Katanga People’s and Southern Cameroons case before the African Commission as a means to appreciate the jurisprudential trend of the African Commission. It adopts a qualitative research methodology because it investigates into the legal reasoning of a judicial institution. It relies on non-numerical data from primary and secondary sources in carrying out content analysis and interpretation of facts of both cases. The work reveals that the African Commission focuses on the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity as the basis of its legal reasoning. This tends to create an ambiguity in its jurisprudence as it relates to the right to self-determination.

DOI: 10.22271/2790-0673.2025.v5.i2f.269

Pages: 551-557 | Views: 80 | Downloads: 33

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