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Culture Documents
Manycontemporarypeaceprocessesinvolvingethnicconflictandculminatinginsometypeofw
rittenagreementhaveincludedsignificantprovisionforprotectinghumanrightsasacrucia
lelement.Thiswouldsuggestthatmediatorsandpartiestotheconflictfindtheconnectionbe
tweenpeaceandjusticepersuasive.Typically,suchagreementsprovideforthreehumanright
saspects:first,sometypeofself-determinationoftenfallingshortofsecessionorstateho
od,suchasautonomyorpower-sharing;secondly,acollectionofhumanrightsinstitutions bil
lsofrights,constitutionalcourts,humanrightscommissions,equalitycommissions,newpo
liceandcriminaljusticestructures,andmeasuresprovidingforsocialandeconomicequalit
y;andthirdly,mechanismstodealwithpasthumanrightsabuses,suchastruthcommissionsori
nternationaltribunals,whilesimultaneouslyprovidingforprisonerrelease
Self-determination is the idea of a community's right to control its own future,
and thus physically to survive and prosper to the fullest extent possible. A co
mmunity's power of self-determination is perceived as a crucial aspect of its id
entity, and so also, in holistic terms, of its health and survival. When the phr
ase 'self-determination' is a part of a community's political lexicon, it theref
ore becomes a very powerful expression, and carries great hope for the birth of
physical changes in a community's circumstances. http://ejil.org/pdfs/12/1/500.p
df
The MNLF had been formed in 1969 by a group of young secular-educated men who re
jected the traditional aristocratic leaders of Mindanao's Muslims. According to
MNLF leader, Nur Misuari, " our armed struggle today is a jihad for national sal
vation from colonialism" and involved setting up an independent "Bangsa Moro Rep
ublic" (Che Man 1990: 87). Full scale war between the MNLF and government forces
lasted from 1972 until the mid-1970s, resulting in approximately 50,000 deaths
and the displacemet of at least 200,000 people with an additional 140,000 refuge
es in Sabah (May 1992). Other estimates put these figures considerably higher.
in Kida v. Senate, where the synchronization of ARMM elections with the national
elections was at issue, the decided the case on the premise that the ARMM, alth
ough given special status in the Constitution, remains a local government