In light of International Law, States are exclusively sovereign over political, economic, cultural and social areas. This reality is likely to generate common rights and duties for States that appear fundamental for peaceful coexistence among all peoples, regardless of the systems that each one develops individually within the three types of rights that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights designates as indispensable rights: economic, cultural and social. These, together with political rights, integrate the right to self-determination, thus guaranteeing the protection of the inherent dignity of the human person.
In particular, compliance with the principles of the identity of each people is at stake, as well as the independence and free exercise of sovereignty by each State, in a context in which it is up to each political society to define, without external interference, the structuring of the community and of political power within the scope of the set of nuclear constitutional elements and complementary of the State. These elements, in turn, can be divided into two major domains: on the one hand, those relating to political organization and which make up the so-called political system, and, on the other hand, those relating to the notion of social principle or social state, which corresponds to the idea of “public responsibility for promoting economic, social and cultural development”.
Although partially autonomous ― to the point where we can speak of economic constitution, social constitution and cultural constitution ― each of these systems functions in a relationship of interdependence with the others, so the absence of one of them affects the existence of the entire system in which it is located as a part of, and form the State. The unique identity, that each State assumes based on its characteristics, therefore justifies that each state actor independently decides the characteristics of its political, economic, social and cultural systems, although always subject to the limitations imposed by the set of common principles to all humanity.
In short, more than a right recognized by States as a political entity, the exercise of sovereignty in a free and independent manner, with a view to the genuine determination of their political, economic, cultural and social systems, constitutes a requirement to guarantee the minimum guarantee of the protection of dignity of the human person and the self-determination of peoples. Interference that manifests itself in the political, economic, social and cultural domains of a State falls primarily within the field of Human Rights and affects their protection, putting into question the pursuit of the most elementary principle of International Law enshrined in article 1 of the UDHR: the principle of equality in dignity and rights among all human beings.
All domains of the political system are defined by each State depending on its characteristics and as a corollary of the people's exercise of self-determination. An alteration or change in any of these elements through intervention or influence from outside affects the sovereign rights of the people of a State, therefore being considered an abnormal alteration of the constitutional order.
With regard to the economic system, it is important to consider that through Resolution 3281 (XXIX), of December 12, 1974, the General Assembly adopted the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States. In this instrument, article 1 enshrines the “inalienable and sovereign right” of all States to “choose their economic system, as well as their political, social and cultural systems in accordance with the will of their people, without any form of external interference, coercion or threat”. Specifically on the economic level, this Charter, which codified and developed generally accepted norms on international economic relations, recognized all States: the right to adopt the economic structure they consider to be most appropriate to their reality; the right to treat private property in accordance with the established public interest; the subjection of foreign investment to the internal law of the State and the prohibition of interference by multinational companies in the internal affairs of States.
It is also an exclusive right of States to use and dispose of all their wealth, natural resources and economic activities.
Furthermore, within the scope of the right to participate in international trade and other forms of economic cooperation, all States are free to choose the forms of organization of their economic relations and to establish agreements with the outside world without being discriminated based on these choices. It is also up to each State to decide on the conditions under which social and economic reforms are implemented that favor the participation of the people in the process of internal economic development.
Regarding the cultural system of a State, there is a recognition of the importance of culture as part of the identity of people and of cultural diversity as a corollary of the multiplicity of peoples who inhabit the different States, in a context in which the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) has played a fundamental role in spreading the protection of cultural diversity as a reflection of the dignity of the human person. Therefore, the need to protect and preserve the independence, integrity and diversity of the cultures and educational systems of the UN Member States is at stake, as set out in the UNESCO Constitution.
As a result of people's commitment to achieving these ends, the 1982 World Declaration on Cultural Policies affirms the inseparability between cultural identity and diversity. Actions leading to homogenization or the reduction of cultural heterogenization present a risk to human dignity, since the ascendancy of one culture by another is likely to lead to the manipulation of the identity of a people, thus putting minorities and equality between all human beings.
In fact, as enshrined in the Declaration of Principles of International Cultural Cooperation, of November 4, 1966, each “culture has dignity and value that must be respected and preserved” and “each people has the right and duty to develop their culture”. Likewise, the Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice, of November 27, 1978, establishes that cultural diversity provides people with the affirmation of equality in rights and duties vis-à-vis others, as well as respect by all for their own cultural identity and to the development of its distinctive cultural life in national and international contexts.
As stated in General Assembly Resolution 62/155, of December 18, 2007, “all Human Rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated” and each culture has dignity and value similar to the others, therefore, the pluralism through respect for cultural multiplicity constitutes the recognition of equality among all peoples and contributes to global peace through the understanding and acceptance of diversity. This approach follows the line of guidance adopted by the General Assembly in its Resolution 3148 (XXVIII), of December 14, 1973, in whose preamble it is stated the “sovereign right of each State to formulate and implement, in accordance with its conditions and national requirements, policies and measures that lead to the promotion of their cultural values and national heritage”.
Therefore, actions from the outside that are likely to alter the identity or cultural aspects of a people are not natural transforming factors, interfering, in this way, with the maturation and projection of the characteristics that make each people a unique social group in the its most varied manifestations, not only cultural property, but also ways of life and moral values. Thus, any external act that could be reflected in the culture of a people compromises the “value and dignity of each culture” which, together with the ability to preserve and develop them, are recognized as “a basic right of all countries and peoples”.
Finally, the social system consists of the mode of “direct or indirect interaction of human beings among themselves”, in which society corresponds to a “very complex network of interrelated and interdependent subsystems, each of which constitutes in itself another authentic social system”. We speak, therefore, not of a social system, but of social systems, given the multiplicity of dynamics reflected in the different forms of human interactions, namely through friendship relationships, professional relationships, family relationships and relationships of different natures, including in sports, educational, economic and legal domains.
Social systems are, therefore, determined according to the characteristics of a people, specifically cultural, economic and political specificities, with all these systems interacting as part of a whole. The protection and role of each social system, as they are central to the mutation and consolidation of the identity of a State, are, like the other systems mentioned above, shielded from any dynamic or initiative of unconsented or concealed forced interference from actors foreign to the normal process of its evolution.
In the end, as emphasized by General Assembly Resolution 2542 (XXIV), of December 11, 1969, the people are recognized as having the right to social development, a right that they are responsible for exercising, exclusively, without interference from third parties and without imperialist ambitions that promote the universalization of values, principles and dynamics.
