UN General Assembly
2009

of use of force, of the self-determination of peoples and of territorial integrity are equally viable. Some have long attempted to downplay the importance of the notion of the self-determination of peoples as a second-rate principle in the system of international law and as inferior to that of territorial integrity. I have to disappoint the advocates of double standards. The right to self-determination is an unconditional clause of international law; it is a 09-52604 14 principle of liberty and of the freedom of any people to choose its future and fate, and to defend its collective rights whenever those rights and that future are jeopardized. If self-determination were a principle inferior to territorial integrity, there would have been only 52 Member States of the United Nations, instead of the current 192. Trust and accountability among neighbouring States are guarantees of sustainable cooperation and durable security in any region. We in the South Caucasus have yet to witness that. Our region, in fact, is among the most sensitive hot spots on the world’s political map, overloaded with a plethora of security