Montevideo Convention: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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Line 34: ==Background== {{see also|Declarative theory of statehood}} In most cases, the only avenue open to [[self-determination]] for colonial or national ethnic minority populations was to achieve international legal personality as a nation-state.<ref>[http://www.harvardilj.org/attach.php?id=42 The Postcoloniality of International Law, Harvard International Law Journal, Volume 46, Number 2, Summer 2005, Sundhya Pahuja, page 5] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205215653/http://www.harvardilj.org/attach.php?id=42 |date=2009-02-05 }}</ref> The majority of delegations at the [[International Conference of American States]] represented independent states that had emerged from former colonies. In most cases, their own existence and independence had been disputed or opposed by one or more of the European colonial empires. They agreed among themselves to criteria that made it easier for other dependent states with limited sovereignty to gain international recognition.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} == Contents of the convention == Article 1 sets out the criteria for statehood:
{{Quotation2|The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.}}
An important part of the convention was a prohibition of using military force to gain sovereignty. According to Article 11 of the convention,<ref name="Hersch Lauterpacht 2012 419"/> {{Quotation2|The contracting states definitely establish the rule of their conduct the precise obligation not to recognize territorial acquisitions or advantages that have been obtained by force whether this consists in the employment of arms, in threatening diplomatic representations, or in any other effective coercive measure}}
==Parties== Line 161 ⟶ 160: The only state to attend the Seventh International Conference of American States, where the convention was agreed upon, which did not sign it was [[Bolivia]].<ref name=yale/> Costa Rica, which did not attend the conference, later signed the convention.<ref name=CR>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tccRqha7894C|title=Encyclopedia of the Inter-American System|date=1997-01-01|access-date=2013-07-23|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|page=287|quote=Delegations from twenty states participated - from the United States and all those in Latin America except Costa Rica (provision was made for Costa Rica to later sign the conventions and treaties presented in the conference).|isbn=9780313286001}}</ref> ==Analysis==
In so far as it restates [[customary international law]], the Montevideo Convention codified existing legal norms and its principles, which do not apply merely to the signatories, but to all subjects of international law as a whole.<ref>Harris, D.J. (ed) 2004 "Cases and Materials on International Law" 6th Ed. at p. 99. Sweet and Maxwell, London</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGMxfj4oedEC&pg=PA77|title=International Law and Self-Determination: The Interplay of the Politics of Territorial Possession With Formulations of Post-Colonial National Identity|pages=77|year=2000|last=Castellino|first=Joshua|publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]]|isbn=9041114092}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2024}}▼ ▲ The [[European Union]], in the principal statement of its [[Badinter Committee]],<ref>''The Badinter Arbitration Committee'' (full title), named for its chair, ruled on the question of whether the Republics of Croatia, Macedonia, and Slovenia, who had formally requested recognition by the members of the European Union and by the EU itself, had met conditions specified by the Council of Ministers of the European Community on December 16, 1991. {{cite web|url=http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol3/No1/art12.html |title=The Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee: A Second Breath for the Self-Determination of Peoples |access-date=2012-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517085252/http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol3/No1/art12.html|archive-date=2008-05-17}}</ref> follows{{clarify|date=July 2024|reason=To what extent can the EU "follow" this?}} the Montevideo Convention in its definition of a state: by having a territory, a population, and a political authority. The committee also found that the existence of states was a question of fact, while the recognition by other states was purely declaratory and not a determinative factor of statehood.<ref>Opinion No 1., Badinter Arbitration Committee, states that "the state is commonly defined as a community which consists of a territory and a population subject to an organized political authority; that such a state is characterized by sovereignty" and that "the effects of recognition by other states are purely declaratory".</ref>▼ ▲The [[Switzerland]], although not a member of the European Union, adheres to the same principle, stating that "neither a political unit needs to be recognized to become a state, nor does a state have the obligation to recognize another one. At the same time, neither recognition is enough to create a state, nor does its absence abolish it."<ref>Switzerland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DFA, Directorate of International Law: "Recognition of States and Governments," 2005.</ref>▼ ▲[[Switzerland]] Actual state practices do not follow the Montevideo Convention exactly. While they play an important role, fulfilling its criteria do not automatically create a state because additional requirements must be met. The status of countries such as [[Kosovo]] and [[Somaliland]] largely depends on the recognition or non-recognition by other states.<ref name=EJIL>{{cite web |last1=Akande |first1=Dapo |title=The Importance of Legal Criteria for Statehood: A Response to Jure Vidmar |url=https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-importance-of-legal-criteria-for-statehood-a-response-to-jure-vidmar/ |website=EJIL: Talk! |language=English |date=7 August 2013}}</ref> ==See also== | |||