Abstract: The subject of this research is the place and role of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples within the system of the fundamental principles of international law. Analysis is conducted  on the basic questions of the theory of international law – correlation between the principle of self-determination with other peremptory norms (jus cogens) and moral-ethical categories. Special attention is given to the problem of building a hierarchy of the fundamental principles of international law. A bias towards one of them leads to the disruption of the international system and order, and any attempts to extract a single link out of closely related principles of the international law are doomed to fail. The conclusion is drawn that multiple experts in international law try to build the system by extracting key link, which raises serious doubts. The author believes that all the principles of international law are interrelated and equal. The emerged at the turn of the XX – XXI centuries international legal concept of the “Responsibility to Protect” is of crucial importance. The concept interacts with the principle of respect for the human rights. The author concludes that universalization of human rights at the current stage of development of the international law can reveal the new aspects of the problems of state sovereignty and the right to self-determination. The author warns against the attempts to universalize human rights by giving priority, along with other principles. The author follows the logic of correlation of the principle of self-determination with other fundamental principles of international law such as: nonintervention in the internal affairs and non-use of force or threat of force, sovereignty, peaceful settlement of disputes by all means known to international law, cooperation between states and diligent discharge of obligations in accordance with the international law underlie the solution to the problem of self-determination; if various aspects of this problem extend beyond a single state, then acquire international scale.