Le droit de résistance à l'oppression en droit international
Sometimes denied in its principle, sometimes proclaimed like a sacred and inalienable right of man, the right of resistance to oppression has, since its proclamation for the first time in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of August 26, 1789, continuously caused debates as for its nature and the legitimacy of its exercise. In a general way, this thesis aims at exposing the origins of the right of resistance to oppression, and its normative consecration on an international level. It is a question of finding bases justifying and legalizing the recourse to resistance in all its forms, when confronted with a state oppression. These bases could be recalled among philosophers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, who gave man a natural right of resistance, superior to positive law. By calling upon the concepts of justice and humanity, this notion of natural right contributed to legitimate the concept of resistance in the relation of the people with its sovereign. Besides, we find this idea within the framework of contemporary international law through the protection granted to certain rights such as the right of the minorities and the right of people to self-determination. In spite of that, one notes however the absence of an express consecration of "a right of resistance to oppression" on the international level. The right of resistance to oppression remains a difficult right to «positivate» within the framework of an international law that presents itself above all as a right of consolidation of the sovereignty of the States, and in a system where the implementation of the rights rests on the good will of the latter.
Oppression Right of peoples Natural law Positive law