'US needs to avoid internationalising self-determination rows'

The US should avoid assertively internationalising other countries' self-determination conflicts so as to maintain peace and stability in the region, an eminent expert has told lawmakers.
"There are good reasons for the US government to avoid assertively internationalising other countries' self- determination conflicts, which can look like meddling in other countries' internal affairs," said Jason Sorens, from the Dartmouth College told members of House Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing on US Policy Toward National Self-Determination Movements.
Sorens said the ongoing self-determination claims among others are found in Scotland, Catalonia, the Faroe Islands, Kashmir, Tamil Eelam, Somaliland, Western Sahara, West Papua, Tibet, and Mindanao.

Like other states, the US government faces decisions about whether to recognise declarations of independence, to enter into diplomatic relations with new states, and to engage in diplomacy with other states about self-determination movements within their borders, Sorens said.
Sorens said developing countries usually forbid self-determination movements from organising as political parties.
"For instance, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Russia make advocacy for the self-determination of a particular region a criminal offence - an act that would be protected by the First Amendment in the United States," he said.

Currently, there are over sixty national self- determination movements seeking independence or increased autonomy, said Dr Paul Williams Rebecca I Grazier, Professor of Law and International Relations American University President and Co-Founder, Public International Law and Policy Group.

Noting that overall, the states subjected to the pull of self-determination represent a wide range of geographic locations, geopolitical contexts and economic development, he said in Europe and Eurasia there are currently over 20 active national self-determination movements, with at least 8 potentially poised to seek independence.
"These conflicts afflict some of America's closest and most important allies such as the UK, France, Italy and Spain. They also afflict some of America's newest and most vulnerable allies such as Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine," Grazier said.