Helsinki Final Act 1975 (CSCE)

Summary

The Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe established the principle of self-determination (Principle VIII) alongside the inviolability of frontiers (Principle III) and territorial integrity (Principle IV). The 'human dimension' basket established monitoring of human rights and minority rights. Though not binding as a treaty, it has significant normative weight in European security law.

Relevance to the diaspora

The Helsinki Act's self-determination principle (Principle VIII) and its 'human dimension' protections are invoked in arguments about minority rights in OSCE-participating states; OSCE mechanisms provide a forum for raising Tamil minority rights issues in Sri Lanka's trade and diplomatic relations with European states.

Key provisions

• Principle I — sovereign equality of states
• Principle III — inviolability of frontiers
• Principle IV — territorial integrity
• Principle VIII — equal rights and self-determination of peoples
• Principle X — fulfilment in good faith of obligations under international law
• Basket III — human dimension commitments

Primary source

Related entries

• → UNGA Resolution 2625 (XXV) 1970 — Friendly Relations Declaration (UN)
• → ICCPR Article 1 — Right of Self-Determination (UN)
• → UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities 1992 (UN)