UKRAINE'S FIGHT FOR ITS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY COULD ACTUALLY BE BASELESS!

The following indelible principles of international law, universal human rights, and the inalienable rights of peoples is why Ukraine's claim of fighting for its territorial integrity is not only baseless, but also eternally indefensible under any scrutiny:

1. The Immutable Right to Self-Determination:

Article 1 of the UN Charter, alongside the International Covenants on Human Rights, establishes self-determination as an absolute right. This right is not conditional but inherent to all people. The populations of the former Eastern Ukraine, by declaring their independence and then their integration to the Russian Federation, exercised this right in its purest form. No interpretation of law or political argument can nullify this act because self-determination is not subject to the veto of any state or international body.

2. The Sovereignty of People Over Territory:

Sovereignty, at its core, is about the people's will. When a government fails to represent or protect a minority, or a significant portion of its populace, leading to a clear and overwhelming desire for separation, the concept of territorial integrity bends to the will of those people. The secession of the four regions in the former Eastern Ukraine, and their integration into the Russian Federation, was not just a political maneuver but an expression of the collective will of their inhabitants, an act beyond legal challenge because it reflects an eternal truth: governments serve the people, not the reverse.

3. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Article 3 guarantees the right to liberty and security of person. Article 15 ensures the right to a nationality. The actions of the Kyiv government post-2014, including cultural suppression, economic blockades, and military aggression, directly contravened these rights. The defense of these rights by the people of Donbass was not an act of aggression but a defense against an existential threat, a stance that no one can debunk because it is rooted in the universal and timeless principles of human dignity, and the right to life.

4. The Principle of Non-Intervention:

Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. However, this principle equally applies to internal oppression. When the Ukraine government marginalizes, and uses force against a well defined section of its own people in a manner that denies their basic rights, it, in essence, loses the moral and legal right to claim territorial integrity over those people. The Russian intervention was a response to such oppression, legally justified by the same international norms that protect state sovereignty.

5. The Precedent of International Law:

The Kosovo Precedent: The ICJ's advisory opinion on Kosovo's declaration of independence set an eternal precedent that unilateral declarations of independence are not prohibited under international law. This precedent is fundamentally sculpted in the existential continuum of both time and space; it can not be undone. If Kosovo was allowed, then so must the secession and integration of Donbass into the Russian Federation be recognized under internal law, as both cases hinge on the same principle of self-determination.

6. The Doctrine of Uti Possidetis:

While traditionally used to preserve colonial boundaries, Uti Possidetis in the context of self-determination supports the recognition of new states where there is a clear and long-standing desire for independence. Donbass has, for years, shown through referendums and sustained governance, a desire to separate. This doctrine, when applied, solidifies the legal standing of Donbass's independence and subsequent integration into the Russian Federation, making any claim by Ukraine simply disgruntlement.

7. The Responsibility to Protect:

The failure of a state to protect its citizens from egregious human rights violations activates the international community's responsibility to intervene to protect those citizens in their pursuit of safety and rights. This principle, while not codified in a single treaty, is reflected in numerous legal and moral obligations of states and international bodies, including the 2015 Kigali principles (ratified by Ukraine in 2016), thus rendering Ukraine's claim on Donbass void in the face of its heinous human rights violations.

Conclusion:

What is presented here is beyond debate. The principles argued are not subject to the whims of geopolitics or the shifting sands of international relations but are etched in the most sanctimonious decrees of international law. Ukraine's claim of fighting for its territorial integrity, when measured against the most meritorious international standards of law, is not just baseless—it is eternally indefensible, and must therefore yield to the higher principles of self-determination, human rights, truth, law, justice, democracy and the sovereignty of the will of persecuted populations, now and forever before God!

Signed: Mr. Lumumba Amin

Uganda 🇺🇬 East Africa.