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The
mere thought of introducing a federalist form of
government in Iraq has sent shivers across the
entire Middle East, for fear that federalism is
simply a prescription for partitioning the region
into ever more feeble mini-states.
The anxiety about partitioning existing states along
sectarian or ethnic lines is inspired by the
contradiction between such fragmentation and the
very essence of Arab nationalism that inspired the
Arab peoples before and after World War II.
Arabs have always suspected that Israel, with the
United States behind it, would like nothing better
than to create a more divided Arab nation. This
suspicion has acquired a more pronounced
conspiratorial connotation ever since the idea of
turning Iraq into a federal state was broached. But
conspiracies aside, Arab fears are justified when it
is understood that some Arab countries have indeed
sizable minorities within their borders. Some Arab
countries include other ethnic groups, or "peoples,"
as indeed is the case in Iraq.
The rule of thumb under international human rights
norms, especially as stipulated in the two principal
international covenants on civil and political
rights on the one hand and on economic, social and
cultural rights on the other, is that "peoples" have
a right to self-determination. When the right to
self-determination is taken to its logical
conclusion, it means peoples may secede from the
existing political order in any given country by the
exercise of this inalienable right. Minorities,
however, do not have the same right.
By consensus, a sizable group of people that is
socially, culturally and-or linguistically distinct
and with historical roots in a certain part of a
country or region constitutes a people for the
purposes of the right to self-determination.
Accordingly, the Kurds of Iraq (and Turkey, Iran and
Syria) are indeed a people by all recognized
standards and are therefore eligible to exercise
their right of self-determination.
Minorities, on the other hand, are normally smaller
groups of people usually scattered in many parts of
any given country, and have no right of
self-determination. Under Article 27 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, minorities have only linguistic, religious
and cultural rights. Of course they may have
additional rights that the country in which they
happen to live may allow them to exercise.
The political implications of federalism in Iraq
could thus be widespread, but not necessarily in the
direction of fragmentation. Are the Christian Arabs
in Lebanon a distinct people entitled to exercise a
right of self-determination? The rule of thumb does
not make a people synonymous with a religion. If the
Christians of Lebanon are viewed as Arab, then they
cannot be regarded as a distinct people. The same
goes for the Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq. Since both
communities are considered Arab, the religious
differences between them are not a sufficient basis
for viewing them as different peoples
Indeed, the countries and peoples of the Middle East
may have to watch and see how Iraqi federalism works
before jumping to conclusions about their own
particular situations.
Waleed Sadi is a former Jordanian ambassador to
Turkey and to the UN in Geneva.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
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