Self-determination facts for kids

The right of nations to self-determination (from German: Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Völker), or with less words, self-determination is the idea that nations have the right to choose their sovereignty (who or what rules them) and international political status without other countries telling them. Most of the world used to be ruled by empires (really big countries with more than one ethnic group, usually with one group having a lot of power over the others), and many of the countries that the empires ruled were considered colonies of the empire, but after The first World War (1914-1919), and especially the second World War (1929-1945), most of these empires collapsed (fell apart) and local populations (people living in the "colonies" native to the area) began to want independence and their country to be ruled by them, not someone very far away who they thought was mistreating them. Lots of nationalist movements arose in these countries, usually in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, because people usually considered themselves as a separate group than the one who ruled them (for example, Arabs, not British, when the British Empire had ruled a lot of Arabia).

Some people who believe in self-determination use violence, others do not.

Images for kids

Western European colonial empires in Asia and Africa disintegrated after World War II
Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War
Southern Sudanese expressed joy and jubilation on their day of independence, July 9, 2011, from Sudan.
Celebration of the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo in 2008
Donetsk status referendum organized by separatists in Ukraine. A line to enter a polling place, 11 May 2014
During 2019-20 Hong Kong protests, calls for self-determination by Hongkongers have been risen.
A republican mural in Belfast showing support for Palestine
Tuareg rebels in the short-lived proto-state of Azawad in 2012
2014 human chain for Basque Country's right to decide
Protest in Barcelona on 1 October 2018
Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk during the Ukraine-Crisis, April 2015
Malvinas and South Atlantic Islands Museum in Buenos Aires, 2015
Gibraltar National Day, September 2013
Pro-independence Hong Kong flag put up before a football match between the Hong Kong Football Team and the China national football team.
Indian soldiers on the streets of Kashmir during the 2016 unrests.
Kurdish YPG's female fighters during the Syrian War
Pro-independence rally in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan in September 2017
Atatürk Square, North Nicosia in 2006, with the Northern Cyprus and Turkish flags.
A Native American woman in traditional dress.
Native Americans and their supporters protest during the Washington Redskins name controversy.
A demonstration in Madrid for the independence of Western Sahara, 2007