Question Description
I'm working on a law discussion question and need guidance to help me learn.
This question required to discuss statehood, secession and self-determination with reference among others to the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Kosovo. The answer must take a very systematic with the Montevideo criteria mentioning examples and introduced a wide range of other rules, real examples and literature references to deliver a convincing response. The use of case law, international law and critical analyse is critical.
Description: The State of Merriland consisted of two ethnic groups, the Happilanders who represented the majority, and the Smileylanders who represented 20% of the entire population. The Smileylanders lived concentrated in the North West part of the country where they were able to run autonomously their affairs which allowed them to adopt their own laws in areas such as healthcare and education. However, the Smileylanders were reliant on economic support from the government of Merriland. Amidst growing dissatisfaction as a result of Merriland’s decision to withdraw from the Treaty of the World Union, the Smileylanders made a claim towards establishing their own independent state.

Explanation & Answer

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International Public Law 1
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC LAW
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International Public Law 2
International Public Law
According to international law, minority groups like the Smileylanders who qualify as
"citizens" have the right to self-determination. Importantly, self-determination is the ability of
individuals to determine their political fate and establish their government. Moreover,
international laws were developed to embrace self-determination principles in a binary form,
relating to external or internal self-determination or depending on the issues.1 Thus, individuals
who do not qualify in oppressed or colonized groups may use internal means, such as autonomy
or free association. In contrast, oppressed or colonized people have the right to selfdetermination, and they can exercise this using secession from their mother country.
In this situation, Smileylanders are the minority population in Maryland state since they
constitute 20 percent of the entire population. External self-determination using internal laws
best suits this situation. Moreover, they have been reliant on economic support for the Maryland
government. Also, international laws can be useful since the...
