Dr. Y. N. Kly (1935-2011) was the Chair and Co-founder of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (IHRAAM). As a Professor Emeritus in the field of political science and international law at the University of Regina, and as a founder and primary theoretician directing IHRAAM, an international human rights NGO in consultative status with the United Nations, he brought unique and far-reaching insights into the possible conduct of domestic and international affairs. His many books dealing with the rights of oppressed minorities, and in particular his own African American and Gullah-Geechee peoples, sought to advance an understanding of their actual politico-legal situation within multinational states, and the many legal and institutional means and route to improving their socio-economic well being without surrendering their unique and beautiful cultures. He further sought to move the UN itself towards a fuller understanding and institutional protection of Article 1 of both of the major human rights treaties, which legally enshrined the right to self-determination, by means of two international conferences held in Geneva.